Revised Jun 13, 2021
Nor must it be forgotten, that one chief cause of all the quarrels and miseries of the mutineers was intemperance. M'Coy had unhappily become acquainted with the art of distilling. With the aid of a copper boiler, which had been taken from the Bounty, and which was altered into a still, he soon made an ardent spirit out of the ti-root (Dracaena terminalis). This served to thin yet further the number of the original male settlers, until only one of them was left remaining.