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Fryer was sent out with a party to get oysters, and two men dispatched inland for fruit. Cole and Purcell were set to putting the boat in order, in case we should find savages about. I was among four or five whom the captain ordered to rest throughout the morning. Nelson lay beside me in the shade.

“What the devil is Cole up to?” he remarked.

The boatswain was wading about the launch, moving in circles and staring down into the water. After some time he came ashore with a long face. Bligh was writing in his journal, and glanced up as Cole addressed him.

“The lower gudgeon of the rudder’s gone, sir,” he said. “It must have dropped off as we was entering the bay. It’s not on the sand—that I’ll vouch for.”

Bligh closed his journal with a snap, and stood up. “Unship the rudder. Are you sure it’s nowhere under the boat?”

“I’ve made certain of that, sir.”

“Then lend Mr. Purcell a hand.” He turned to Nelson. “We’ve Providence to thank that this did not happen a few days ago! I had grummets fixed on either side of the transom, as you observed, in case we were forced to steer with the oars; but in severe weather it would have been next to impossible to keep afloat with them. We should have broached-to, almost certainly.”