The captains of the fleet sat assembled around Lord Hood on the poop deck and were served delicacies and port as they chatted and waited the proceedings. At eleven Hood motioned to his aide Captain Curtis for the prisoners to be summoned up. Curtis stood and gave instructions to his marine lieutenant who disappeared below with a platoon of redcoats.          A hush fell over the crowd as the mutineers emerged from their darkness. They blinked as they looked around, startled at the brightness and the noise, and size of the crowd which in roared and shouted to each other. People strained around corners, over heads, under awnings, to catch a sight of the condemned. People in boats layed their hands on the shoulders of the people before then, fathers lifted children and loved ones high in the air to get a better view, others stood on tiptoe, upon gunwales, upon next to nothing, all trying to observe every inch of those about to die.

        Pasley, seated with Hood and the other captains on the poop, watched the condemned arrive. Like tired actors about to play their final scene, he thought, but suddenly, he noted they took their lead from Millward and they stiffened with resolve. They stepped forward, heads up, and passed through the lines of the assembled crew to make their way aft to the quarter deck. Like hundreds of others Pasley gasped when he observed the bearing and proud splendour of young Tom Ellison who smiled and waved as he walked between the two adults. Then even more surprise when his gaze then fell on a grim trio of Graham, Morrison and a clergyman following behind. It was the first time he had sighted Graham since the tribunal, and in a place he least expected.
         By naval regulation able and common seamen were arranged along the deck in three columns of twenty men. Yard ropes stretched along each line passing through each man's hands and up to three separate block and tackle that hung and exact twelve inches below the mizzen yard. The block and tackle were to ensure a slow and even pull on the ropes. Two of the tackle were to port and one to starboard. From these blocks, and reaching to five feet above the deck, were the plaited nooses.
         Some of the sailors nervously fingered the ropes as if they were serpents instead of simple woven hemp while others just looked at the mutineers and wondered which would step into their particular noose.
         The prisoner's separation took place amidships with Ellison and Millward to be hanged on the port arm. Graham went to stand behind Ellison. Except for the leg irons the chains on all three had been removed.
         As required a corporal read out the charges and the sentence then invited last words from the condemned. On the cat head Millward paused and motioned to Morrison who handed him a paper. He looked at it, raised up his head, surveyed the audience. Then in a voice that began with a falter but soon boomed out across the water he addressed the ship's company;
         "My Lords, officers and fellow crew members. I speak for myself and for my two companions when I say we deeply regret out part in the mutiny on HMS 'Bounty'. We would like to apologise to the families who lost husbands and sons in the unfortunate consequences of that event, especially those who were lost by accident or illness. They were Thomas Leward Surgeon, David Nelson Botanist, William Elphinstone Master's Mate, Peter Linkletter Quarter Master, Seaman Thomas Hall, Seaman Robert Lamb and big John Norton. They did us no harm and did not deserve to die so far from home. For that we are truly sorry.
         We three common sailors that stand before you now, were not pressed men, nor were we recruited from prison, instead, we actively chose the life of a sailor. Yes, we were aware of the hardships, exploitations and brutalities that lay in our path, and we welcomed them. The reality of our life was salt sores, it was of freezing or sweating it was of poor pay and the barren taste of ship's biscuit. It was of hardship and the stench of bilges but it was also of mateship and sharing. We shared hammocks and biscuit, heads and whores. We fought and bitched and looked after one another. We have no regrets, we were well aware of the dangers. My heart touches the many remembrances long fallen asleep of close friends, of shared hunger, of cold and wet backs, of women, ale and the good times. My desire then, from my youth was to see strange countries and fashions.
         Many have asked me why we mutinied and my answer is this?ateship is our privilege, and one that the landsman should not presume upon or quickly judge. Perhaps you should all remember the words of Mr Garrick's song;
        
         'Now cheer up my lads, 'tis to glory we steer,
         To add something more to this wonderful year:
         Tis to honour we call you, as freemen not slaves,
         For who are so free as the sons of the waves?'
        
         'Millward looked up from his notes and a braced purpose entered his body while a kind of inspiration shone from his eyes. It not only contradicted his manner but changed and raised the man. He turned to the youth standing beside him, "We are not afraid to die ... even young Tom." And he stared long at the regally attired youth shaking his head – "and if the country will profit by our death ..." his voice wavered and he finished quickly, "May God forgive us all." He turned to his executioners, "we forgive you mates, look sharp and pull hard on the ropes."
         A marine whispered to Ellison who nodded his understanding. He carefully, gratefully, unlocked the silver clasp, shed his cloak, folded it and handed it to Graham. Then he turned and presented his arms behind his back to the man with the binding cords.They tied his arms and those of Milward and Burkitt. A little time was spent in personal devotion during which Morrison performed the last officers to Millward and Burkitt by placing the nooses over their heads. Graham did the same for Ellison. For a while Millward and the boy stood together and they spoke as if they were alone. Voice to voice, eye to eye, heart to heart, like two children of the same God. Together they viewed the same dark highway. Together they would travel it and Millward promised to lead the way.

Graham stepped forward, bent over and whispered into Ellison's ear then, taking a shoulder under each hand, viewed him closely. The youth smiled, and in an unexpected and strange movement leaned forward and he kissed the older man.          Graham stiffened and pushed the youth away.          Again the cannon fired and the long columns hauled on the ropes and the mutineers were slowly hoisted above the crowd. The able seamen that pulled mostly looked down at their hands where the plaited hemp shook; where they felt the struggle of life pass along the rope?nto their hands, up their arms to lodge as part of their memory rarely to be visited hence. They were destined to pull many more ropes but few would feel as heavy and require so little strength.

        The clergyman, who felt he needed to say something. shouted out. 'So the rustling of an angel's wings blends with the echoes of the watchers' gasps and its victims are no longer wholly of earth but have about them that breath of heaven.'
         The bodies rose further into the air and as Ellison felt the rope tighten he held his breath. He kept his body completely stiff and tried to control his bladder and bowel. The concentration made him sweat, stare and bulge his eyes. It was difficult but he knew he must try, and keep trying. If only he could hold himself back.
         Graham's stood four paces in front of Ellison and watched his eyes. He saw the glassy concentration, the widening of the pupils as the boy's body tried to resist the ropes stranglehold. By the time Ellison's his feet reached Graham's eye level Graham knew the boy was losing the battle. The limbs were twitching and the body was beginning its involuntary spasms. The eyes grew even wider as Ellison's alarm slid toward panic.
         The crowd turned their attention to Burkitt who had somehow managed to free his arms. Even though he was unconscious his hands alternatively tore at his neck flayed uselessly in the air?ut to no avail, too late.
         For the next thirty minutes most watched and felt comforted by their life ...their petty complaints disappeared as surely as the futile struggle above would cease. As usual some thought of having more children.
         Death by strangulation with a yard rope pulled by their comrades was the way of all naval executions. In the end with tongues and eyes protruding the fouled bodies appeared strangely shrunk. Nothing as quick as the French guillotine, thought Pasley, it would have dispatched thirty in the same time?nd was currently doing so. He wished Bligh were present... and Christian.