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Mutiny on the Bounty

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For other uses, see Mutiny on the Bounty (disambiguation)
The mutineers turning Lt Bligh and some of the officers and crew adrift from HMAV Bounty, 29 April 1789.

The mutiny on the Bounty was a mutiny aboard a British Royal Navy ship on April 28, 1789 that has been made famous by several books, films, and other media such as songs. The mutiny was led by Fletcher Christian against the captain, William Bligh. Bligh was then cast adrift in a small open boat with 18 loyal men.

A typical mutiny in the Royal Navy during the 18th century involved sailors simply refusing to obey certain orders until some condition was met, such as the receipt of overdue pay, and they most commonly took place when a ship was in port — essentially, a mutiny was the naval equivalent of a labour strike, and though technically punishable by death, often resulted in no punishment at all. The Spithead and Nore mutinies several years after the Bounty were along the same line, but larger and better organized. The Mutiny on the Bounty, involving no demands from the crew, the seizure of a ship by violence, and setting the captain and loyal crew members adrift, was extremely unusual.

Background

His Majesty's Armed Vessel (HMAV) Bounty began her career as the collier Bethia, built in 1784 at the Blaydes shipyard near Hull.[1] Later she was purchased by the British Royal Navy for £2,600 on May 26, 1787 (JJ Colledge/D Lyon say 23rd May), and was refitted and renamed Bounty. [2]

She was a relatively small sailing ship at 215 tons, mounting only four four pounders (2 kg cannon) and ten swivel guns. By way of comparison, Cook's Endeavour displaced 368 tons, and Resolution 462 tons.

General characteristics

Plan and section of the Bounty Armed Transport showing the manner of fitting and stowing the pots for receiving the bread-fruit plants, from William Bligh's 1792 account of the voyage and mutiny, entitled A Voyage to the South Sea, available from Project Gutenberg.
  • Displacement: 215 tons
  • Length: 91 ft (27.7 m)
  • Beam: 24 feet (7.3 m)
  • Complement: 46

-See links at bottom of page-

The only two men ever to command her as the Bounty were Lieutenant William Bligh, and Fletcher Christian, who illegally took command through mutiny. Bligh was appointed Commanding Lieutenant of Bounty on August 16, 1787, at the age of 33, after a career that included a tour as sailing master of James Cook's HMS Resolution during Cook's third voyage (1776-1779). Though commonly portrayed as the epitome of abusive sailing captains, this portrayal has recently come into dispute. Caroline Alexander, in her book The Bounty points out that Bligh was relatively lenient compared to other British naval officers. Bligh received the appointment because he was considered an exceptionally capable naval officer—an evaluation that would prove to be correct. He enjoyed the patronage of Sir Joseph Banks, a wealthy botanist and influential figure in Britain at the time. That, and his experience sailing with Cook and familiarity with navigation in the area and local customs, were probably prime factors in his appointment.

The ship had been purchased by the Royal Navy for a single mission in support of an experiment: they were to travel to Tahiti, pick up breadfruit plants, and transport them to the West Indies in hopes that they would grow well there and become a cheap source of food for slaves. The experiment was proposed by Sir Joseph Banks, who recommended Bligh as commander, and was promoted through a prize offered by the Royal Society of Arts.

In June 1787, Bounty was refitted at Deptford. The great cabin was converted to house the potted breadfruit plants, and gratings fitted to the upper deck. Her complement was 46 officers and men.

On December 23, 1787, Bounty sailed from Spithead for Tahiti. For a full month, she attempted to round Cape Horn, but adverse weather blocked her. Bligh ordered her turned about, and proceeded east, rounding the Cape of Good Hope and crossing the width of the Indian Ocean. During the outward voyage, Bligh demoted the ship's Sailing Master, John Fryer, replacing him with Fletcher Christian, whom he appointed acting Lieutenant. This act seriously damaged the relationship between Bligh and Fryer, and Fryer would later claim Bligh's act was entirely personal.

Bounty reached Tahiti on October 26, 1788, after ten months at sea.

Bligh and his crew spent five months in Tahiti, then called Otaheite, collecting and preparing a total of 1015 breadfruit plants. Bligh allowed the crew to live ashore and care for the potted breadfruit plants, and they became socialised to the customs and culture of the Tahitians. Many of the seamen and some of the "young gentlemen" had themselves tattooed in native fashion. Master's Mate and Acting Lieutenant Fletcher Christian married Maimiti, a Tahitian woman. Other warrant officers and seamen of the Bounty were also said to have formed "connections" with native women.

Bligh was not surprised by his crew's reaction to the Tahitians. He recorded his analysis (spelling and capitalisation is retained as in the original):

The Women are handsome ... and have sufficient delicacy to make them admired and beloved--- The chiefs have taken such a liking to our People that they have rather encouraged their stay among them than otherwise, and even made promises of large possessions. Under these and many other attendant circumstances equally desirable it is therefore now not to be Wondered at ... that a Set of Sailors led by Officers and void of connections ... should be governed by such powerful inducement ... to fix themselves in the midst of plenty in the finest Island in the World where they need not labour, and where the alurements of disipation are more than equal to anything that can be conceived. --A Narrative of the Mutiny, etc., by Lieut. W. Bligh, 1790, p. 9.

Three crewmen deserted and were recaptured. Instead of hanging them, as the crime of desertion was usually punished, Bligh ordered them flogged. Of these, at least one, James Morrison, would be among the mutineers.

William Bligh in 1814, some years after the events described here

Crew complement

In the 18th century Royal Navy, rank and position onboard ship was clearly defined in a social hierarchy. At the top were the Wardroom Officers, commissioned by the British crown to lead the vessel. These included the ship's commissioned officers, the sailing master, and the master's mates who were the most experienced men aboard. The midshipmen, that is to say the officers-in-training, were next in seniority. Warrant officers were skilled specialists who were granted shipboard commissions by the vessel's captain and had rights to access the quarterdeck and, upon invitation, dine in the wardroom. Warrant officers were also immune from punishment by flogging. They were assisted by petty officers, who were apprentices learning the trade of the skilled warrant officer, or skilled specialists who served without the benefit of a warrant. At the bottom of the social tree were the seamen, divided into Able Seamen and Ordinary Seamen. Aboard some vessels, an even lower grade existed called Landsman, who were seamen-in-training with very little or no naval skill.

The crew complement of the HMAV Bounty is listed below. (M) indicates a mutineer, (D) indicates death before the mutiny, (A) indicates those who were formally accused of participating in the mutiny but were later acquitted, (P) indicates those who were tried and convicted of mutiny, but granted royal pardons, and (E) indicates those convicted and executed. Any execution that was made consisted of torturing, beating, and/or flogging of wrong-doing towards the seamen and crew members of the "Bounty".

Wardroom Officers

Midshipmen

Midshipmen Mustered as Able Seamen

Warrant Officers

Petty Officers

  • James Morrison, Boatswain's Mate (M), (P)
  • Thomas Ledward, Surgeon's Mate
  • George Simpson, Quartermaster's Mate
  • John Williams, Armourer's Mate (M)
  • Thomas McIntosh, Carpenter's Mate (A)
  • Charles Norman, Carpenter's Mate (A)
  • John Mills, Gunner's Mate (M)
  • William Muspratt, Tailor (M) (P)
  • John Smith, Steward
  • Thomas Hall, Cook
  • Richard Skinner, Barber (M)
  • John Samuel, Clerk
  • William Brown, Gardener's Assistant
  • Robert Lamb, Butcher

Able Seamen

  • John Adams, Able Seaman (M)
  • Thomas Burkitt, Able Seaman (M) (E)
  • Michael Byrne, Able Seaman (A)
  • Thomas Ellison, Able Seaman (M) (E)
  • Isaac Martin, Able Seaman (M)
  • William McCoy, Able Seaman (M)
  • John Millward, Able Seaman (M) (E)
  • Matthew Quintal, Able Seaman (M)
  • John Sumner, Able Seaman (M)
  • Matthew Thompson, Able Seaman (M)
  • James Valentine, Able Seaman (D)

The Mutiny

In her ill-fated voyage, The Bounty left Tahiti on April 4, 1789. On April 28, in the Friendly Islands, Fletcher Christian led the famous mutiny. From all accounts, Christian and several of his followers entered Bligh's cabin, which he always left unlocked, awakened him, and pushed him on deck wearing only his nightshirt, where he was guarded by Christian holding a bayonet. When Bligh entreated with Christian to be reasonable, Christian would only reply, "I am in hell, I am in hell!" Despite strong words and threats heard on both sides, the ship was taken bloodlessly and apparently without struggle by any of the loyalists except Bligh himself. Of the 42 men on board aside from Bligh and Christian, 18 joined Christian in mutiny, 2 were passive, and 22 remained loyal to Bligh. The mutineers ordered Bligh, the ship's master, two midshipmen, the surgeon, and the ship's clerk into Bounty's launch. Several more men voluntarily joined Bligh rather than remaining aboard, as they knew that those who remained on board would be considered de facto mutineers under the Articles of War.

In all, 18 of the loyal crew were in the launch with Bligh; the other 4 were forced to stay and man the ship with the mutineers. The mutiny took place about 30 nautical miles (56 km) from Tofua. In a remarkable feat of seamanship and navigation, Bligh navigated the overcrowded 23 foot (7 m) open launch on an epic 47-day voyage first to Tofua and then to Timor equipped only with a sextant and a pocket watch, with no charts or compass. He recorded the distance as 3,618 nautical miles (6710 km). He passed through the difficult Torres Strait along the way and landed on June 14.1 The only casualty of his voyage was a crewman, John Norton, who was stoned to death by the natives of Tofua, the first island on which they attempted to land. At Tofua (Bligh spelled it Tofoa), Bligh and eighteen loyalists had sought refuge in a cave (which they called "Murderers' Cove") in order to augment their meager provisions (see Tofua for debate on cave's location). [3]

Meanwhile, the mutineers sailed for the island of Tubuai, where they tried to settle. After three months of terrorizing the natives, however, they returned to Tahiti to put 16 of the crew ashore. Christian, eight other crewmen, six Tahitian men, and 11 women, one with a baby, set sail in Bounty hoping to elude the Royal Navy. According to a journal kept by one of Christian's followers, the Tahitians were actually kidnapped when Christian set sail without warning them, the purpose of this being to acquire the women.

The mutineers passed through the Fiji and Cook Islands, but feared that they would be found there. Moving on, they rediscovered Pitcairn Island, which had been misplaced on the Royal Navy's charts. On January 23, 1790, they burned the ship in what is now Bounty Bay. Some of her remains, such as her ballast stones, are still partially visible in its waters. Her rudder is displayed in the Fiji Museum in Suva.

Aftermath of the mutiny

Return to England and court-martial

Lieutenant Bligh returned to England and reported the mutiny to the Admiralty on March 15, 1790. HMS Pandora, under the command of Captain Edward Edwards, was dispatched November 7, 1790, to search for Bounty and the mutineers. Pandora carried twice the normal complement, as it was expected that the extras would man the Bounty when it was recovered from the mutineers. Pandora reached Tahiti on March 23, 1791. Four of the men from Bounty came on board Pandora soon after its arrival, and ten more were arrested in a few weeks. These fourteen, mutineers and loyal crew alike, were imprisoned in a makeshift cell on Pandora's deck, which they derisively called "Pandora's Box". On May 8, 1791, Pandora left Tahiti, and spent about three months visiting islands to the west of Tahiti in search of Bounty and the remaining mutineers, without finding anything except flotsam (some spars and a yard). Heading west through the Torres Strait, Pandora ran aground on a reef (part of the Great Barrier Reef) on August 29, 1791. The ship sank the next day, and 31 of the crew and four of the prisoners were lost. The remaining 89 of the ship's company and ten prisoners (released from their cage at the last moment) assembled in four small boats and sailed for Timor, arriving there on September 16, 1791.

After being repatriated to England, the ten prisoners were tried by a naval court. During the trial, great importance was attached to which men had been seen to be holding weapons during the critical moments of the mutiny, as under the Articles of War, failure to act when able to prevent a mutiny was considered no different from being an active mutineer. In the judgement delivered on September 18, 1792, four men whom Bligh had designated as innocent were acquitted. Two were found guilty, but pardoned; one of these was Peter Heywood, who later rose to rank of captain himself. Another was reprieved due to a legal technicality, and later also received a pardon. The other three men were convicted and hanged. In other trials, both Bligh and Edwards were court-martialled for the loss of their ships (an automatic proceeding under British naval law, and not indicative of any particular suspicion of guilt), and both were acquitted.

Bligh resumed his naval career and went on to attain the rank of Vice Admiral. However, his career was marked by another challenge to his authority when he was a Governor of New South Wales; in 1808 the troops of New South Wales arrested Bligh in an incident known as the Rum Rebellion.

Even before Edwards had returned from his search for Bounty, HMS Providence and her tender Assistant began a second voyage to collect breadfruit trees on August 3, 1791. This mission was again championed by Joseph Banks and again commanded by Bligh, now promoted to Captain Bligh. The second voyage they considered a complete success, collecting 2126 breadfruit plants and hundreds of other botanical specimens and delivering them to the West Indies. Departing Tahiti on July 19, 1792, Bligh once again successfully navigated the Torres Strait.

Fate of the mutineers

When the American sailing ship Topaz, commanded by Mayhew Folger, reached Pitcairn Island in 1808, only John Adams, nine women and some children still lived. Five of the mutineers, including Fletcher Christian, had been murdered by Tahitians on Pitcairn Island; one died after a drunken fall; one was killed by the other two survivors after he attacked them; and one died of natural causes. All six of the Taihitian men were killed during the fighting. Of the eleven Tahitian women, two were killed in falls while gathering eggs from a cliff.

Fletcher Christian was survived by Maimiti and their son Thursday October Christian. Rumours persist that Fletcher left the island and made it back to England. In 1825, John Adams was granted amnesty for his mutiny; Pitcairn's capital, Adamstown, is named for him. On November 30, 1838, the Pitcairn Islands (which include the uninhabited islands of Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno) were incorporated into the British Empire.

As of 2007 Pitcairn Islands is a British Overseas Territory with a small population.

Motivations behind the mutiny

To this day, there is considerable debate on why the crew mutinied. Some people blame Captain Bligh for causing the mutiny. They feel that Bligh was a villain and tyrant, who abused the crew to the point that Christian and the crew felt they had no choice but to mutiny. Others feel the blame rests entirely with Fletcher Christian and the crew. They feel that Bligh was not an unusually harsh captain, that he was for the most part a man of his times.

Here, then, are a few points which illustrate the situation during the voyage, and could explain how and why the mutiny occurred.

(1) Class differences. Bligh himself, as the son of a customs officer, was of good, solid, yeoman stock. The crew included sons of the gentry, among them members of two prominent Isle of Man families: Peter Heywood, the lone charged officer, belonging to a wealthy and well-connected family (one of the court-martial judges was related by marriage to the Heywood's), and Fletcher Christian. John Fryer, one of the most experienced men on the Bounty, was appointed to the position of Master on the Bounty by the Admiralty.

(2) Bligh was only a lieutenant. Being Captain of a ship is a "position", but Bligh's personal rank was that of a Lieutenant. That, in addition to point (1), may have caused Bligh to feel "inadequate" on occasion, and may have felt that the gentlemen amongst the crew considered him beneath them. Such class distinctions were taken very seriously in the 18th century.

(3) Lack of officers. Most ships of the time carried more officers than the Bounty did.

(4) Lack of Royal Marines. The Admiralty did not allocate the Bounty any Royal Marines, the shipboard police force. The reasons for this were twofold. As previously noted, Bligh did not hold the rank of captain and therefore was not automatically entitled to a company of Royal Marines. Furthermore, the Bounty was too small to warrant a company of Royal Marines. This was a factor in the success of the mutiny and had been a subject of worry for Bligh, who had seen his idol, Captain Cook, slain for the lack of adequate Marine protection. On his second trip to Tahiti, he brought more officers and a complement of Marines.

(5) Bligh's "progressive" regimen. His health-oriented shipboard regimen was not popular with the men (compulsory dancing and excessive deck-scrubbing for exercise; anti-scurvy diet, including sauerkraut and lime juice). Captain Cook had imposed similar policies but had qualities - diplomacy and physical stature - which Bligh lacked.

(6) Bligh's sharp tongue. For the book 'Mr. Bligh's Bad Language', Greg Dening analyzed ships' logs for the statistics on floggings at sea between 1765 and 1793. Fleet-wide, 21.5% of sailors received at least one lash, and the average number of lashes per flogging was five. At one extreme, George Vancouver had 45% of his crew flogged, averaging 21 strokes per flogging; Bligh was well below average, with 19 percent of his crew receiving an average of 1.5 lashes; whatever Bligh's faults, unusually harsh discipline was not among them. This is also brought out by the fact that three deserters during the voyage were flogged instead of being hanged. Further, Bligh noted within his official log that he needed every man.

However, his manner (he was obviously the type that didn't suffer fools gladly) was often reflected in the way he talked to people. It is well documented that he very often gave tongue-lashings to individual sailors, often in front of the whole crew, especially after leaving Tahiti, which caused great offence, particularly to Christian.

Some historians have speculated that his demanding character cost him the loyalty necessary to maintain good order among the crew, especially in light of six months of soft living in Tahiti.

(7) Attempted circumnavigation. The long, drawn-out failure to round Cape Horn after the Bounty first left Britain, necessitating the ship's longer journey east via the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa caused a great deal of strain amongst the crew. His decision to try Cape Horn again after they left Tahiti (so he could attain circumnavigation) was regarded with dread.

(8) Suspicion of financial irregularity. At Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania), Bligh traded ship's supplies with the indigenous people for fruit and vegetables; this was healthier than the official policy of buying dry food from European outposts but raised suspicions that Bligh was embezzling ship's funds.

(9) Extended stay at Tahiti. After the delay imposed by the failure to round South America, and the jouney east round Africa, Bligh found that when he finally reached Tahiti the wind was against him, necessitating a stay of many months.

This resulted in Bligh's greatest mistake - letting the (mostly inexperienced with life at sea) men have the run of the island, and allowing them to form relationships with the all-too-friendly women. There seems to have been little effort in maintaining discipline or assigning work details, and no attempt at maintaining the ship or using it for exploratory missions.

When the time came to leave, the men, now used to luxurious living, found it extremely difficult to revert back to a seaman's life.

(10) An overcrowded ship. The ship's decks and cabins were now host to many pots of growing breadfruit plants, which resulted in severe overcrowding in the rest of the ship, greatly increasing tensions in an already tense ship. Also, Breadfruit is a tropical plant, and requires a significant amount of fresh water to survive. This meant that the crew's daily water ration was severely reduced during the hot April South Pacific weather, adding to the many other tensions.

(11) Fletcher Christian's financial dependency on William Bligh When the Bounty put in for repairs at False Bay, Christian borrowed a sum of money from Bligh. This was a constant issue between the men during the rest of the voyage. Christian's family had, after all, moved to the Isle of Man to avoid Debtor's Prison in England after his deceased Father left the family bankrupt. Christian knew that if he returned to England he would have to repay his debt to Bligh and forfeit any wages that he might have earned during the voyage.

The mutiny in literature and cinema

File:LaughtonasBligh.jpg
Actor Charles Laughton as Bligh in the 1935 version of "Mutiny on the Bounty"

A trilogy of novels, (Mutiny on the "Bounty", Men Against the Sea, and Pitcairn Island) and the movies and television shows based on it, relate fictionalized versions of the mutiny. The 1962 movie has Fletcher Christian dying in the fire aboard Bounty.

The first movie version was the Australian film In the Wake of the Bounty (1933), starring Errol Flynn as Fletcher Christian. The next movie was Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), which won the Oscar for Best Picture that year. It starred Charles Laughton as Bligh and Clark Gable as Christian.

Another Mutiny on the Bounty was released in 1962, starring Trevor Howard as Bligh and Marlon Brando as Christian. A fourth film, The Bounty (1984), starred Anthony Hopkins as William Bligh and Mel Gibson as Fletcher Christian. Of all the films portraying the mutiny, the 1984 version is generally agreed to hold the most historical accuracy.

C.S. Lewis's book Prince Caspian features a race of humans allegedly descended from lost survivors of the Bounty. While this is never stated in the book itself, it is likely the inspiration.[citation needed]

The Simpsons portrayed the "Mutiny on the Bounty" story in the episode The Wettest Stories Ever Told (#HABF11 / SI-1711).

Val McDermid explores the fate of Fletcher Christian in her novel The Grave Tattoo.

Discovery of the wreck of the Bounty

Luis Marden discovered the remains of the Bounty in January 1957. After spotting a rudder from this ship in a museum on Fiji, he persuaded his editors and writers to let him dive off Pitcairn Island, where the rudder had been found. Despite the warnings of one islander -"Man, you gwen be dead as a hatchet!" [4]— Marden dove for several days in the dangerous swells near the island, and found the remains of the fabled ship. He subsequently met with Marlon Brando to counsel him on his role as Fletcher Christian in the 1962 film Mutiny on the Bounty. Later in life Marden wore cuff links made of nails from the Bounty.

Modern reconstructions

A replica of Bounty in Darling Harbour, Sydney.

When the 1935 film was made sailing vessels were still in wide use: existing vessels were adapted to play Bounty and Pandora.

The Royal Navy's Bounty has been reconstructed twice. MGM commissioned a replica of Bounty for their 1962 film, named the Bounty II. This vessel was built to the original plans and in the traditional manner in a shipyard in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. However, all the dimensions were increased by approximately one third to accommodate the large 70mm cameras used. MGM kept this vessel in service. When Ted Turner bought MGM he used this vessel for entertaining. Eventually MGM donated the vessel to a charity.

Though expensive maintenance caused the vessel to lose her United States Coast Guard license for a time, Tall Ship Bounty was restored, initially at the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard in 2002, with restoration of the vessel's bottom planking. Moored in its winter home in St. Petersburg, Florida, it again became available for charter, excursions, sail-training and movies (most recently in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, and the adult film Pirates). In April 2006 the Bounty again arrived in Boothbay Harbor for further renovation, a refurbishing of the ship's front end and topside decking. Following this renovation, the Bounty was scheduled to repeat the famous voyage of the original Bounty [1]

The second reconstruction was built for the 1984 Dino de Laurentiis film The Bounty. That vessel was built of steel, clad in wood, and has modern conveniences. It is currently located in Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia, where it serves the tourist excursion market.

See also

==Notes==

  1. ^ Portland, Maine Press Herald, May 2 2006

References

  • Captain Bligh's Portable Nightmare: From the Bounty to safety--4,162 Miles Across the Pacific in a Rowing Boat, by John Toohey, New York ISBN 1-875989-74-9, London ISBN 0-06-019532-0
  • Caroline Alexander, The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, Viking Penguin, 2003, hardcover, 512 pages, ISBN 0-670-03133-X
  • William Bligh - Meuterei auf der Bounty, Erdmann Verlag Tuebingen . Description of actual travel logs by W. Bligh, published 1791 and 1793 by Georg Forster and his father in Berlin as "Magazin von merkwuerdigen neuen Reisebeschreibungen"
  • Christiane Conway, Letters from the Isle of Man - The Bounty-Correspondence of Nessy and Peter Heywood. Published by The Manx Experience, Isle of Man 2005, 182 pages. ISBN 1-873120-77-X

Replica vessels

Films

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