Revised Jun 12 2021
But other horrors remained behind. In 1798, M'Coy, in a fit of Delirium tremens, brought on by drunkenness, threw himself from the rocks into the sea, and was drowned. Matthew Quintal, after threatening the lives of his companions, was killed by Young and Adams, who, in 1799, took away his life with an axe in self-defence. Thus, six of the mutineers were murdered, and one committed suicide. Edward Young died of asthma, in 1800. Adams, as has been seen, was severely wounded in one of the contests which took place, but recovered. Only two of the fifteen men who had landed from the Bounty (Young and Adams) died a natural death.
Here we may pause to reflect on the unhappy lives and dreadful deaths of men who had been guilty of a very heinous offence against the laws of God and man. Though Christian, when settled at Pitcairn, often wore a cheerful countenance and easy manner, there is reason to believe that the remembrance of the past was deeply painful to him, and that shame and remorse, mingled with the fear of detection, weighed heavily on his mind. On the top of a high rock is a spot which was called his "look-out." Whilst many hearts, thousands of miles off, were wounded, if not broken, by suspense and uncertainty respecting his fate, and that of his companions, he was either employed in surveying the ocean around him, under the apprehension of the approach of the officers of justice, or in endeavouring to control the turbulent community among whom he had irrevocably cast his lot.
It may be observed, that punishment in this life often bears a startling likeness to the sin which has been committed, and which not only thus finds the offender out, but shows him that it has done so. Within the narrow limits of the island, as in the confines of a ship, Christian had enemies at hand, who harassed, and at length took away his life; and it is a remarkable fact, that he who had raised his hand in a criminal manner against his superior in command, should have suffered death from those whom he looked upon as men under his authority.