The sixteen sailors on Tahiti had begun…
October 1789 CE
One group, led by Morrison and Tom McIntosh, has begun building a schooner, which they name Resolution after Cook's ship.
Morrison had not been an active mutineer; rather than waiting for recapture, he hopes to sail the vessel to the Dutch East Indies and surrender to the authorities there, hoping that such action will confirm his innocence.
Morrison's group maintains ship's routine and discipline, even to the extent of holding divine service each Sunday.
Churchill and Matthew Thompson, on the other hand, choose to lead drunken and generally dissolute lives, which end in the violent deaths of both.
Churchill is murdered by Thompson, who is in turn killed by Churchill's native friends.
Others, such as Stewart and Heywood, settle into quiet domesticity; Heywood spends much of his time studying the Tahitian language.
He adopts native dress and, in accordance with the local custom, is heavily tattooed on his body.