In the
course of two days afterwards, the whole of the remainder of the
_Bounty's_ crew (in number sixteen) then on the island surrendered
themselves, with the exception of two, who fled to the mountains where,
as it afterwards appeared, they were murdered by the natives.
Nearly twenty years elapsed after the period of the above occurrences,
and all recollection of the _Bounty_ and her wrecked crew had passed
away, when an accidental discovery, as interesting as unexpected, once
more recalled public attention to that event. The captain of an American
schooner having, in 1808, accidentally touched at an island up to that
time supposed to be uninhabited, called Pitcairn's Island, found a
community speaking English, who represented themselves as the descendants
of the mutineers of the _Bounty_, of whom there was still one man, of the
name of Alexander Smith, alive amongst them. Intelligence of this
singular circumstance was sent by the American captain (Folger) to Sir
Sydney Smith at Valparaiso, and by him transmitted to the Lords of the
Admiralty. But the government was at that time perhaps too much engaged
in the events of the continental war to attend to the information, nor
was anything further heard of this interesting little society until 1814.
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