A night when nothing goes right
Also on this page:
Aided by the rising tide, the crew managed to refloat the vessel after several hours aground. She came to anchor at about midnight in 16 fathoms on the other side of Pandora Reef.
The hull was damaged and leaking badly. The carpenter had reported that within 90 minutes of striking there was 8 feet (approximately 2.5 metres) of water in the hold. Three prisoners were let out of "the box" to assist at the pumps.
By all accounts, the crew performed splendidly-whether at the pumps, below decks attempting to make repairs and stop leaks, fothering (covering with sails) the hull or heaving guns overboard to lighten the ship. They continued to do so in spite of two fatal accidents during what Surgeon Hamilton called an "exceeding dark, stormy night". (The identity of the two men killed before the Pandora sank is not revealed in Captain Edwards' list of the 31 crew members "lost with the ship".)
Just how "dark and stormy" a night it was is uncertain (Hamilton was a medical man, not a seaman, after all!). Perhaps there was no bright moon. However, no other first-hand accounts mention "stormy" weather. Although any swell or wind would have complicated the crew's efforts to stay afloat, unusually bad weather does not appear to have been a major factor in the Pandora running aground and subsequently sinking.
Surgeon Hamilton:
"The guns were ordered thrown overboard; and what hands could be spared from the pumps, were employed thrumbing a topsail to haul under her bottom to endeavour to fother her … We baled between life and death … She now took a heel, and some of the guns they were endeavouring to throw over board run down to leeward, which crushed one man to death; about the same time, a spare topmast came down from the booms and killed another man … During this trying occasion the men behaved with the utmost intrepidity and obedience, not a man flinching from his post."
During the night one of the pumps broke down, so the crew could not keep ahead of the water flowing in. At dawn, it was clear that nothing more could be done to save the stricken vessel; more water was coming in than the pump crews were able to deal with. Orders were given to abandon ship and to release the remaining prisoners.
There she goes!
Joseph Hodges, the Armourer's mate, was sent into Pandora's Box with tools to knock off the prisoners' shackles and irons. It appears that by then it was "too little, too late" as, according to Morrison's account, the ship began to sink suddenly before all of the prisoners had been released from their fetters and let out of the box. The fear and panic the prisoners undoubtedly experienced are not hard to imagine.
James Morrison (prisoner):
"At daylight the boats were hauled out and, most of the officers being aft on top of the box, we begged that we not be forgot when by Captain Edwards' orders Joseph Hodges, the armourer's mate, was sent down to take the irons off; but Skinner, being too eager to get out, got hauled up with his handcuffs on, and there being two following him close, the scuttle was shut and barred again. I begged the Master-at-Arms to leave the scuttle open when he answered 'Never fear my boys; we'll all go to hell together!' The words were scarce out of his mouth when the ship took a sally and a general cry of 'there she goes' was heard. Burkitt and Hillbrandt were still handcuffed and the ship under water as far as the mainmast and it was now flowing in fast on us when Divine providence directed William Moulter to the place. He was scrambling up on the box and, hearing our cries, took out the bolt and threw the scuttle overboard. On this, we all got out except Hillbrandt."
William Moulter's humane deed, which undoubtedly saved several other mutineers from a certain death, was recognised in 1984 when one of the sand cays in Pandora Entrance was named after him. The cay referred to by Captain Edwards as "Entrance Cay" is now called "Moulter Cay". The survivors made for "Escape Cay", about three miles away. Four prisoners and 31 Pandoras had died.