Matthew Thompson - AB

Mutineer, age 37

Matthew Thompson was considered one of the most violent of the crew. He was 5'8" tall, with a very dark complexion, short black hair, slender build, and was tattooed in several places.

After the mutiny, in an attempt to heal the many rifts that had developed among the crew, Christian and Churchill drew up articles of forgiveness for all mutineers to sign (and thus dispell all grudges between themselves), Thompson was the only man to refuse to sign. He was one who wished to settle on Tahiti. He settled down with Churchill and John Brown, a Tahitian refugee from another ship, the 'Mercury'.

Thompson, likely while drunk, was accused of raping and beating a young girl who happened to belong to one of the leading families on the island. In revenge, her brother knocked him down and then fled. Thompson seems to have gone berserk, for his next action was to fire his musket, killing a man and his child, and breaking the jaw of a woman. When confronted by Churchill, a violent argument broke out between the two men revolving around an earlier incident where Churchill had arranged the theft of all the muskets on Tahiti. Thompson turned the musket on Churchill, killing him instantly.

A young man named Patirre, a close friend of Churchill and 'subject' of the white chief, was determined to be avenged on Thompson. Having got five or six more to join him, they went to Thompson's house, saluting him as Chief, and flattering him until Patirre could work his way between Thompson and his musket. Patirre then knocked him down, and the others whipped a short plank across his chest, placed men on either end, while Patirre ran for a large rock with which he bashed in Thompson's skull. The Tahitians then cut off his head and buried the body.