At the time I published the Narrative of the Mutiny on Board the Bounty
it was my intention that the preceding part of the Voyage should be
contained in a separate account. This method I have since been induced to
alter. The reason of the Narrative appearing first was for the purpose of
communicating early information concerning an event which had attracted
the public notice: and, being drawn up in a hasty manner, it required
many corrections. Some circumstances likewise were omitted; and the
notation of time used in the Narrative being according to sea reckoning,
in which the days begin and end at noon, must have produced a degree of
obscurity and confusion to readers accustomed only to the civil mode. And
this would have increased as the remainder of the voyage, on account of
the numerous shore occurrences at Otaheite and elsewhere, could not, with
clearness and propriety, have been related in any other than the usual
manner of reckoning.

Besides remedying these inconveniencies I have thought a fuller account
of our passage from Timor to Europe than that contained in the Narrative
would not be unacceptable. These reasons, with the manifest convenience
of comprising the whole Voyage in one continued narrative, in preference
to letting it appear in disjointed accounts will, it is hoped, be allowed
a sufficient excuse for having varied from the original intention.
Nevertheless for the accommodation of the purchasers of the Narrative
already published those who desire it will be supplied with the other
parts of the Voyage separate; i.e. the part previous to the mutiny and
the additional account after leaving Timor.

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