Well, now, the time that Bligh came down to Helford was a few months
before he sailed for Australia, and that will be a hundred years ago
next summer: and I guess the reason of his coming was that the folks
at the Admiralty couldn't stand him in London, the weather just then
being sultry. So they pulled out a map and said, "This Helford looks
a nice cool far-away place; let the man go down and take soundings
and chart the place"; for Bligh, you must know, had been a pupil of
Captain Cook's, and at work of this kind there was no man cleverer in
the Navy.
To do him justice, Bligh never complained of work. So off he packed
and started from London by coach in the early days of June; and with
him there travelled down a friend of his, a retired naval officer by
the name of Sharl, that was bound for Falmouth to take passage in the
Lisbon packet; but whether on business or a pleasure trip is more
than I can tell you.
So far as I know, nothing went wrong with them until they came to
Torpoint Ferry: and there, on the Cornish side of the water, stood
the Highflyer coach, the inside of it crammed full of parcels
belonging to our Vicar's wife, Mrs.
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