4

the blacks. I then got below. Finding
no arms I thought it best to get
up the foreyard. When getting
up the rigging I found one
black half way up with an axe
and another started to follow. One
wounded me on the right arm,
& while struggling with him, the
other wounded me on the right
heel. I managed to get away &
take refuge on the foreyard.
I found the mate and a man
named W'm Laurie on the yard.
They bound my wounds and lashed
me on the yard. While we were
all on the yard I could hear
the blacks cutting at the body
of one of our shipmates, and
also cutting away the after
skylight. We sang out to the
Captain to try and shoot them,
and during the night I heard
the report of twelve or thirteen
pistol shots. At daylight
we heard the sound of
a man with boots running
and a few words of English.
After that two blacks came up
the rigging but we kept them
at bay by striking at them
with blocks strung on ropes.
One black then went down and
pelted us with the ballast stone
while the other kept striking
at us with the axes. The
black then came up from the