The watering party were therefore ordered to go on board, and it was determined to sail; the ship was accordingly unmoored and got under weigh.

A grapnel, however, had been stolen, and Bligh informed the chiefs that were still on board, that unless it was returned, they must remain in the ship, at which they were surprised and not a little alarmed.

'I detained them,' he says, 'till sunset, when their uneasiness and impatience increased to such a degree, that they began to beat themselves about the face and eyes, and some of them cried bitterly.

As this distress was more than the grapnel was worth, I could not think of detaining them longer, and called their canoes alongside.

I told them they were at liberty to go, and made each of them a present of a hatchet, a saw, with some knives, gimlets, and nails.