Rebel sailors & the Bligh seize
WHAT was the HMS Bounty? A small Royal naval warship that was on a voyage to transport breadfruit plants from the exotic island of Tahiti to British colonies in the West Indies.
Who was on board? There were 46 crew, including battle-hardened captain William Bligh, 34, who had already served with explorer Captain Cook. Chief mate, Fletcher Christian, 23, had sailed alongside family pal Bligh before. In fact, he owed him his position as an acting lieutenant.
Was Bligh a tyrant? While father-of-four Bligh could be bad tempered and insulting, he actually ordered fewer punishments than most captains and took care over the crew’s living conditions. He was a stickler for hygiene and held dancing sessions on deck.
Why was there a mutiny? The crew spent five months enjoying the easy charms of Tahiti and many struck up relationships with local women including Christian, who fell in love with a woman called Mauatua. Within weeks of leaving the island, Christian and others, enduring tough life back on board, were pining for paradise and arguments broke out with Bligh.
What happened next? The final trigger seems to have come when Bligh accused Christian of stealing a coconut. On the night
DRAMA on the high seas doesn’t get more gripping than the mutiny on HMS Bounty. In 1789 a disgruntled group led by Fletcher Christian took control of the ship from Lt William Bligh, right. It’s been the basis of several movies with the likes of Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Marlon Brando and Mel Gibson starring as Christian and Trevor Howard and Anthony Hopkins as Bligh. But was Christian really a tragic hero and was Bligh truly a monster as the story usually goes? With items including a pocket watch linked to the mutiny going up for auction, JAMES MOORE charts a course for the truth… of April 28, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, he and fellow discontented plotters armed themselves, tied up Bligh and took control of the ship, without bloodshed. Then Bligh, along with 18 of the crew who had remained loyal, were set adrift in a tiny 23ft launch, with few supplies or equipment. Did they live? A brilliant seaman, Bligh navigated 3,600 miles to the island of Timor arriving 47 days later with the loss of just one man. His voyage was recreated in a Channel 4 show starring Ant Middleton. Bligh returned to England, was cleared by a court martial and became a governor in Australia, where he again courted controversy during the Rum Rebellion. He died as an admiral, aged 63 in 1817.
What about the mutineers? Some chose to go back to Tahiti, but were later captured by the British, with three brought home to hang. Christian and eight others, with a dozen Tahitian women in tow, sailed on to uninhabited Pitcairn Island, where they burned the Bounty and settled down. Christian was killed in a fight in 1793. Most of the island’s current population descended from the mutineers.