Within a few hours of Pandora's arrival at Tahiti, five of the Bounty mutineers had surrendered (Admiralty Records 1/5330). Within a further twenty-four hours, a total of eight mutineers had surrendered. The mutineers provided Edwards with the information that Fletcher Christian and his crew had sailed the Bounty for an unknown destination in September 1789. Of the 16 mutineers who remained at Tahiti, two had been killed in a conflict. Thus far, Edwards had accounted for ten of the 25 mutineers. Without further hesitation, arrangements were made to capture the remaining six that were known to be hiding on the island. Within a matter of days they too were on board the Pandora, bringing the total number captured to fourteen.
Edwards ordered a makeshift prison built on the ship's quarter deck where all of the mutineers were manacled and locked inside. Measuring just 3.3m x 5.4m with a height of 1.5m, the crew referred to it as 'Pandora's Box'. Life for the mutineers inside was extremely cramped and miserable (Hamilton in Thompson 1915).
Figure 2: Photograph of a model of the Pandora - demonstrating "Pandora's Box" on the aft quarter deck (left)
Figure 3: Bronwyn Searle's depiction of the captured Bounty mutineers inside "Pandora's Box"(right).
Image used courtesy of the Queensland Museum
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Last updated: Thu Mar 28 2002