"The Last of the Pandora-29 August 1791" we'll all go to H ell together! " At that point, almost as if in response to his comment, the ship took a great lurch and a general cry went up, "There she goes!" Hamilton described the final moments: "At that instant she took her last heel and while everyone was scrambling up to windward, she sunk in an instant. The crew had just time to leap overboard, accompanying it with a most dreadful yell." Inside the "box," the water had risen to waist deep and, had it not been for Pandora's bosun's mate, William Moulter, the trapped prisoners and Hodges wo uld surely have perished; Moulter ripped off the hatch and threw it into the sea. All but o ne of the prisoners escaped to the water to cling to floating spars and detritus from the wreck for upwards of an hour and a half when they were picked up by one of the ship's boats. Ultimately, four of the fourteen perished, one in the "box" and three in the sea. That Edwards did not order all the prisoners released has been the subject of debate ever since; of the four who drowned, two were still in manacles. Had it not been for the master at arms dropping the keys
SEA HISTORY 12 1, WINTER 2007-08
by Paul Garnett
into the box, Moulter tearing off the hatch at the last minute, and Hodges releasing as many as he could, all the mutineers wo uld have succumbed. Geoffrey Rawson, a British writer who wrote a book on the subject (Pandora Last Voyage, Longmans, Green And Co. Ltd., London, 1963) , called the captain's behavior "atrocious" and wro te that his actions "cannot be condoned. There was absolutely no reason for it. It was, in modern parlance, sheer murder and it is surprising that none of the senior officers on board did not take actio n to release the men ." He went on to add, "Edwards ... showed a wicked and wanton disregard which, in al l circumstances, was totally inexcusable." The now cast-away sailors made for a small stretch of beach abo ut fo ur miles distant (now called Sand Cay), totally devoid of any vegetation, where they wo uld spend a day or so regrouping, taking stock of their provisio ns, and determining their course of action. A boat was sent to the wreck to scavenge, but came away with nothing but some bits of rigging, a chain , and the ship's cat, found clinging ro a stay just above the water. Little had been put
s
into the boats in preparation for abandoning and provisions were spare at best. A sail was spread to provide som e shelter from the relentless sun, and the crew were put on a strict allowance of food and water. Each wo uld receive, daily: three o unces of bread, half an ounce of portable soup, half an ounce of essence of malt (to combat scurvy) , and two small glasses of water and one of wine. Many had swallowed a surfei t of salt water during their travail in the sea and, though their thirst was intolerable, no water was allowed issued the first day. The officers gathered in the captain's tent in the evening to share, by joining their allowance of water, a pot of tea (a paper of tea had been thrown into one of the boats at the time of the wreck), each receiving about one spoonful. The prisoners had no such luxury; Their request for a spare boat sail to use as a shelter from the sun was denied, even though the sail was no t being used. They were, for the most pan, naked and thus fully exposed to the full fury of the sun's rays . Even in these dire circumstances, Edwards was still suspicio us of them. They were kept separate from the crew and given
23