^lUBRARYQ^ >i ij.-' -7» o A — On- -< ^ <3 \ /i. ^lOSANCEl^^ ^•OFCAllFOff^ ^OFCAilFO/?^ .^WEUfJIVERJ/A > 5; r>i 3^ c> %a3AiNn3Wv ^avaaivi^ <riij'jKvsui-^^ %aMiN 5MF I'\'!VFPV/A.^ ^lOSAKCFl£r^ inr: 1 5 Si o \^ >(> %, ^.OFCAIIFOI?^ <\\F l!K'IVr??/A ^lOSANCElfj-^ i? :a s g \./S^s p >^ ; I vr .^ ^. vAa3AiNn-3^\v ^i^Aavaaiii^"^ ^(^ ^illBRARYf?/- ^HIBRARYQ^ ^WE•l]NIVER5•/^ ^lOSAN «:;»• c- ^ %aiAiNilMV'^' '^^OJIIVOJO^ "^(i/OillVJJV) ^^OfCAllFOKfc <j^OFCAllF0te ^\ttMINIVEB% ^lOSAN %a 0?^ iroc MiiVWIiit-' '^OAbVdillli"*^' '^Jili'JNV-iOV^' ^^AdiAi vaos-wiifr> ^WMIPRARY.-?/ A\MIB'- ir; .^ ^. ^F-r,M!Fnf,'f', .aOF-CAII #. .^EIJNIvr. ^^MMIN'IVFR^.^O, ^MFIJNIVfRy//, _V Si s -n l-J ?2 == i 33 P ii_ CAPTAIN BLIGH'S SECOND VOYAGE TO THE SOUTH SEA Captain \\"ii.i.i\m Hi kui CAPTAIN BLIGH'S SECOND VOYAGE TO THE SOUTH SEA IDA LEE (MRS. CHARLES BRUCEJVIARRIOTT, F.R.G.S., Hon. F.R.A.H.S.) AUTHOR OF "THE COMING OF THE BRITISH TO AUSTRALIA," "COMMODORE SIR JOHN HAYES HIS VOYAGE AND LIFE," "THE LOG-BOOKS OF THE 'LADY NELSON " WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON FOURTH AVENUE & 30th STREET, NEW YORK BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS 1920 PREFACE. The second voyage of Captain Bligh to the South Sea, so far as I know, has never been published. A short description of the passage of his ships, the '* Providence" and the "Assistant," through Torres Strait, was included in his work Terra Australis, by Matthew Flinders, who served as a midshipman in the "Providence". These particulars, however, were taken from Flinders' own log. Written in 1791-93 Bligh's log-books, after being for some time at the Admiralty, were lent to the Great Exhi- bition of 1 85 1. They were not afterwards returned to Whitehall, but remained at South Kensington undis- turbed and unsought for, until Mr. Perrin, the present Admiralty Librarian, to whom my cordial thanks are due for permission to transcribe them, recovered the forgotten volumes and replaced them in the Admiralty Library. Interest in this second voyage of Bligh may possibly have been over-shadowed by the popularity of the story of his first voyage, which included the " Mutiny of the 'Bounty'". Dampier, Anson, and Cook on returning to England had given glowing accounts of the virtues of the breadfruit, and in 1787, when King George IIL com- plied with a request from the merchants of the West Indies to introduce the tree into those islands, Bligh was placed in command of the ship chosen to carry out this object. William Bligh was a Cornishman, although LIB SETSr'^^^''*^'^''-'M VI PREFACE at least one biographer^ tells us that he was born in Xent. According to his own account, however,''' he was born in 1753 in the parish of St. Tudy. Another bio- grapher ^ says that an entry appears in the register of St. Andrew's, Plymouth, to the effect that William, son of Francis and Jane Bligh, was baptised in that church on October 4th, 1754, Francis being the son of Richard Bligh, of Tintern, a duchy estate in St. Tudy, a few miles from Bodmin. William Bligh joined the Royal Navy at an early age. He was only twenty-three when he set sail with Cook on June 15th, 1776, on his third and last voyage. Return- ing home after an absence of four years, Bligh became a Lieutenant, and carried out some important surveys for the Admiralty. He fought in the battle off the Dogger Bank in 1781 and again under Lord Howe in the follow- ing year at Gibraltar. In 1787 he proceeded in the "Bounty" to Tahiti in order to collect the breadfruit. The history of the mutiny which brought the voyage of that ship to a disastrous conclusion, and nearly cost Bligh and his loyal comrades their lives, has been told many times. A brief account of it has been included here, but primarily for comparison of the course taken by the ship's launch in which Bligh was turned adrift by the muti- neers with that of the "Providence" and "Assistant". The second voyage contained no such thrilling incidents, yet it also deserves a place in history exploration the of ; not only because Bligh succeeded in carrying out the mis- sion entrusted to him, but also because of the new and valuable information that he was able to give concerning the different places visited by the ships, and the various islands which lay in their track. On Bligh s return to ' Gates. ^ Polwhele's Biographical Sketches in Cornwall. Waller. PREFACE vii England after his boat voyage in March, 1790, he had been warmly welcomed by the nation and praised for his courage and skill, being promoted first to the rank of Commander, and soon afterwards to that of Post Captain. King George was particularly enthusiastic, and directed that Captain Bligh should be assigned two ships, and that he should go a second time to Tahiti and carry out the instructions which had been previously given to him. He was also ordered to make a complete examination of Torres Strait. The first ship to be secured was the " Providence," which was launched at Blackwall with that name on April 23rd, 1791. She was purchased from Mr. Perry, and is described as being a superior ship of 420 tons burthen with three decks, while her length of keel was over 98 feet. Her complement numbered 134 men. A smaller ship, a brig of 1 10 tons burthen, called the "Assis- tant," was chosen to accompany the " Providence". Her length of keel was 51 feet, and the command of her was given to Lieutenant Nathaniel Portlock ; she carried a complement of 27 men. On the recommendation of Sir Joseph Banks, two skilled botanists, Mr. James Wiles and Mr. Christopher Smith, were appointed to accompany the expedition. The management of the plants was placed in their charge, and, as well as taking care of the breadfruit intended for Jamaica, they had orders to bring home a collection of rare plants for the King's Garden at Kew, The ships began to fit out at Deptford, and on June " 22 dropped down to Galleons. Here the " Providence took on board 12 carriage guns and 14 swivels, while the "Assistant" received as her share four 4-pounders and 8 swivels. The vessels then sailed to the Little Nore where they were joined by Lieutenant Pearce, I sergeant, 2 corporals, i drummer, and 15 privates of Vlll PREFACE marines from the Chatham division. After a short stay at Sheerness in order to take in more ballast, the " Pro- vidence " and the "Assistant" sailed on July 12th, and passin^r through the Downs anchored four days later at Spithead. From Spithead they voyaged to the Cape of Good Hope, touching on their way first at Teneriffe, and after- wards at Porto Praya. Late in the afternoon of November 6th they arrived in Table Bay. During his sojourn at the Cape, Captain Bligh wrote an account of the country in those early times, which should prove interesting reading for South Africans to-day. From Table Bay the ships sailed to Tasmania, following very closely the track that the " Bounty " had previously taken, and coming to an anchorage in Adventure Bay where she also had lain. Here Captain Bligh saw natives, and gained new knowledge of Bruni Island and of the harbours within D'Entrecasteaux Strait as yet undiscovered. His charts are important testimony as to what he there learned, and form a connecting-link in the chain of early Tasmanian discovery, helping to show how the coast-line of the country first made its appearance on the old world- maps. Leaving Tasmania, Bligh steered far southward of New Zealand, to enable him to be in a new track, and the ships kept in these latitudes until they had gained the longitude of Tahiti, whence they worked northwards, and discovered the low-lying Tematangi or Bligh's Lagoon Island, which in one of his letters he describes as a " half-drowned island ". At Tahiti, Captain Bligh met many of his old friends among the nativ(;s, who received him with every mark of joy, and " literally thanked God' that he had survived the perils of the boat voyage. The natives related the PREFACE ix story of the arrival at Tahiti of the mutineers and of their final departure. Captain Bligh also learned of the visits of Captain Edwards and Captain Vancouver to the island, and of the capture of some of the mutineers by the former. Bligh stayed over three months in Matavai Bay collecting breadfruit plants, and, after leaving, touched at Aitutaki on his way to the Tonga Islands. He then made his way to Fiji in order to survey his former dis- coveries. In his second voyage through Fiji Captain Bligh entered the group to the northward of where he had brought the " Bounty's" launch in May, 1789. His ships passed between Mothe and Oneata, or rather between Mothe and the reef Thakau Lekeleka, which forms the south side of the Oneata channel. The vessels were kept plying off and on Mothe Island, and in the middle of the night the "Providence" was visited by some Fijians. With the exception of Cook's mention of a Fijian seen at Tongataboo, Bligh's description of these men appears to be the earliest account of the natives of Fiji in exist- ence. From Mothe he bore away on a north-westerly course, passing between Naiau and Vanua Vatu Islands, and catching a glimpse of a considerable island (La- kemba) whereon several fires were burning.