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A moment of deep silence followed the reading of Captain Bligh’s statement. I was conscious of the gaze of many pairs of eyes directed upon me. No more damning statement could have been brought forward, and it was only too plain how deep an impression it had made upon the Court. How, without Tinkler’s evidence, could it possibly be refuted? A sense of the hopelessness of my situation came over me. I knew that had I been in the place of any of my judges, I should have felt certain of the guilt of at least one of the prisoners.

The Judge Advocate asked: “Do you wish me to read the names on the appended lists, my lord?”

Lord Hood nodded. “Proceed,” he said.

The lists were then read—first the names of those who had gone in the launch with Bligh, then of those who remained with Christian’s party. One thing that astonished me was Bligh’s silence with respect to Coleman, Norman, and McIntosh. He well knew of their desire to go with him in the launch, and that they had been prevented from doing so by the mutineers. The barest justice demanded that he should have acknowledged their innocence; yet he made no distinction between them and the guiltiest members of Christian’s party. To this day I am unable to account for his injustice to these men.