16. Bligh named their resort Restoration Island
On May 30, Bligh and the men of the launch went ashore. Many could barely walk, after weeks of their limbs being forced to remain in cramped conditions. The only way a man could fully stretch out in the launch was to stand erect. Lying down required a fetal position, and even then, there was contact on all sides. Walking about the island was a tottering, painful affair, as the men worked the kinks out of weakened legs. Some of the men were so weakened by their ordeal in the boat they could not walk at all, and were carried to the beach, where they could lie on the ground. Those that could search for food.
Bligh’s magnifying glass soon produced a fire, and the men felt its warmth for the first time since leaving Tofua. The carpenter and boatswain repaired the weather cloth, and having discovered a damaged rudder pintle (which could have led to the loss of the rudder) they repaired that too. Forage parties returned with a large number of oysters, pried from their beds with cutlasses. The launch was equipped with a copper pot, brought aboard by one of the ship’s cooks. With the agreement of all, the day’s bread ration was added to the pot with the oysters, and the result was a stew “that might have been relished by people of more delicate appetites”. Each man received a full pint of stew.