The frigate sailed accompanied by a
cutter called the _Resolution_, which had been built by, and was taken
from, the _Bounty's_ people at Tahiti on May 19th, 1791, and spent till
the middle of August in a fruitless search among the islands for the
remainder of the mutineers. The _Pandora_ then stood away for Timor,
having lost sight of the _Resolution_, which Edwards did not see again
until he reached Timor.
On August 28th the ship struck a reef, now marked on the chart as
Pandora's Reef, and became a total wreck. All this time the prisoners had
been kept in irons in the round-house. The ship lasted until the following
morning, when the survivors--for thirty-five of the _Pandora's_ crew and
four of the prisoners (among them the unfortunate Stewart) were
drowned--got into the boats and began another remarkable boat voyage to
Timor. While the vessel was going down, instead of the prisoners being
released, by the express order of Captain Edwards eleven of them were
actually kept ironed, and if it had not been for the humanity of
boatswain's mate James Moulter, who burst open the prison, they would have
all been drowned like rats in a cage. This is not the one-sided version of
the prisoners only, but is so confirmed by the officers of the _Pandora_
that Sir John Barrow in his book says that the "statement of the brutal
and unfeeling behaviour of Edwards is but too true.
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