By JOHN BARROW, Esq., _Secretary to the Admiralty. With Five Plates
from Original Sketches._
“The Author of this little volume has brought into one connected view
what has hitherto appeared only in detached fragments--and some of
these not generally accessible--the historical narrative of an event
which deeply interested the public at the time of its occurrence, and
from which the naval service in particular, in all its ranks, may still
draw instructive and useful lessons.
“The story in itself is replete with interest. We are taught by the
Book of Sacred History, that the disobedience of our first parents
entailed on our globe of earth a sinful and a suffering race; in
our time there has sprung up from the most abandoned of this sinful
family--from pirates, mutineers, and murderers--a little society,
which, under the precepts of that sacred volume, is characterized
by religion, morality, and innocence. The discovery of this happy
people, as unexpected as it was accidental, and all that regards their
condition and history, partake so much of the romantic, as to render
the story not ill-adapted for an epic poem.”--_Author’s Preface._