A Voyage to the South Sea. William Bligh
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William Bligh
A Voyage to the South Sea
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4057664109378
Table of Contents
A VOYAGE TO THE SOUTH SEAS, ETC.
LIST OF THE PLATES.
Head of Lieutenant Bligh.
Plan and profile of the deck of the Bounty.
Plan of Toahroah harbour.
Copy of the draught from which the Bounty's launch was built.
Chart of Islands discovered from the launch.
Chart of part of the north-east coast of New Holland.
Chart of the track of the launch from Tofoa to Timor.
Plan and Section of Part of the Bounty Armed Transport, showing the manner of Fitting and Stowing the Potts, for receiving the Bread-fruit Plants.A VOYAGE TO THE SOUTH SEAS, ETC.
CHAPTER 1.
Plan of the Expedition.
Outfit and Occurrences to the time of leaving England.
Description of the Breadfruit.
1787.
The King having been graciously pleased to comply with a request from the merchants and planters interested in his Majesty's West India possessions that the breadfruit tree might be introduced into those islands, a vessel proper for the undertaking was bought and taken into dock at Deptford to be provided with the necessary fixtures and preparations for executing the object of the voyage. These were completed according to a plan of my much honoured friend, Sir Joseph Banks, which in the event proved the most advantageous that could have been adopted for the intended purpose.
August 16.
The ship was named the Bounty: I was appointed to command her on the 16th of August 1787. Her burthen was nearly two hundred and fifteen tons; her extreme length on deck ninety feet ten inches; extreme breadth twenty-four feet three inches; and height in the hold under the beams at the main hatchway ten feet three inches. In the cockpit were the cabins of the surgeon, gunner, botanist, and clerk, with a steward-room and storerooms. The between decks was divided in the following manner: the great cabin was appropriated for the preservation of the plants and extended as far forward as the after hatchway. It had two large skylights, and on each side three scuttles for air, and was fitted with a false floor cut full of holes to contain the garden-pots in which the plants were to be brought home. The deck was covered with lead, and at the foremost corners of the cabin were fixed pipes to carry off the water that drained from the plants into tubs placed below to save it for future use. I had a small cabin on one