Читать книгу Men Against the Sea – Book Set. The Greatest Maritime Adventure Novels: The Bounty Trilogy, Lost Island, The Hurricane, Botany Bay, The Far Lands, Tales of the South Seas… онлайн

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“In all the annals of our maritime history there has never been such an open-boat voyage as this,” Dr. Hamilton continued. “You will understand the excitement and interest aroused when Bligh reached England. I was then in London, and for weeks the story of the mutiny and the voyage of the launch were the chief topics of conversation everywhere. The whole country rang with Bligh’s praises, and the sympathy for him is universal. It would be useless to deny the fact, Mr. Byam—those who remained in the Bounty are all considered scoundrels of the blackest description.”

“But did Captain Bligh say nothing,” I asked, “of the men who were kept against their inclination? I fully understand, now, his bitterness toward me, but there are others whom he knows to be innocent, and he pledged himself to do them justice if ever he reached England. Stewart and Coleman are in irons at this moment, as you may know. They are as guiltless as any of those who went with Captain Bligh.”

“I have read the instructions furnished to Captain Edwards by the Admiralty,” he replied. “They contain a list of the names of those who remained in the Bounty, and you are all considered mutineers. No distinction is made amongst you, and Captain Edwards is instructed to keep you so closely confined as to preclude all possibility of escape.”