Pandora’s Box

A British frigate of 24 guns

Three-masted, shipped rigged

Crews-of-fiction, pressed-ganged

Captain Bligh commanded.

November of 1790, Portsmouth sailed

Sent out by the British Admiralty

Steered a direct course to Otaheite

In order to capture the Bounty mutineers.

Pure conjecture as-to where Christian’s crew rendezvoused

March of 1791, the Pandora arrived at Tahiti

Bligh – eighteen officers and seaman stood by him

Captured 14 – shackled in chains, the ‘Box’ awaited them.

From a deck cell, the Bounty crewmen cried farewell

To their wives and children on Tahiti

One consort gashed her scalp in grief

May of 1791, the Pandora sailed with prisoners manacled.

August of 1791, the Pandora through darkening waters slid

Struck submerged coral – began to take on seawater

Prisoners begged to be freed – most were unbolted

Pandora’s crew (most) and mutineers were eventually rescued.

Of the 10 surviving prisoners, 7 were acquitted

3 others were yardarmed – had been convicted

Bligh was never court-martialed – rear admiral was appointed

“I am now in a part of the world I never expected.”

Copyright © 2007 Tinka Boukes & R. Lance Sheridan