Lot 552
Hamilton, George, surgeon
Rare Books, Maps, Manuscripts & Photographs
Auction: 10 January 2007 at 11:00 GMT
Description
A Voyage round the World in His Majesty's Frigate Pandora. Performed under the Direction of Captain Edwards in the Years 1790, 1791 and 1792. Berwick: Printed by and for W. Phorson, B. Law and Son, London, 1793, first edition, 8vo, engraved frontispiece portrait, contemporary quarter calf with marbled sides and vellum tipped corners
Footnote
Note: A very good copy of the first edition in a contemporary binding.
"With Bligh's return to England in 1790, the news of the mutiny on the Bounty became known. The authorities sent the frigate Pandora, under the command of Captain Edward Edwards, to capture the mutineers. George Hamilton, the ship's surgeon, maintained this account of the voyage. In 1791, the expedition arrived at Tahiti and arrested fourteen of the mutineers. A cage constructed on the quarterdeck of the ship to hold the prisoners was nicknamed "Pandora's Box."After leaving Tahiti, the ship was wrecked on the Pandora Reef in Endeavor Strait. Captain Edwards left the prisoners to drown, but the master-at-arms dropped the keys to the mutineers and ten of the fourteen survived. Returning to England in 1792, the mutineers were tried by a court-martial; three were hanged, the rest aquitted or pardoned" (Hill, 766); Ferguson 151
Provenance: Sir Henry Hay Makdougall of Makerstoun, armorial bookplate.