Mutiny on the Bounty

The Mutiny on the Bounty was a mutiny aboard a British Royal Navy ship in 1789 that has been made famous by several books and films. 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.

Background

His Majesty's Armed Vessel (HMAV) Bounty began her career as the collier Bethia. She was purchased by the British Royal Navy on May 26, 1787, and renamed Bounty.

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

Displacement: 215 tons
Length: 91 ft (27.7 m)
Beam: 24 feet (7.3 m)
Complement: 46

The only two men to ever 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 disrepute, as it seems 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, an 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.

File:Fletcherchristian.jpg

Fletcher Christian

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 the wealthy botanist Joseph Banks, who recommended Lieutenant Bligh as the commander, and 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 25, 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 fasion. 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 "connexions" (sic) 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. They were assisted by petty officers, who were apprentices learning the trade of the skilled warrant officer. 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, and (P) indicates those who were tried and convicted of mutiny, but granted royal pardons.

Wardroom officers

William Bligh, Lieutenant and Commander
John Fryer, Sailing Master
Fletcher Christian, Master's Mate (M)
William Elphinstone, Master's Mate

Midshipmen

John Hallett, Midshipman
Thomas Hayward, Midshipman
Peter Heywood, Midshipman (P)
George Steward, Midshipman
Robert Tinkler, Midshipman
Edward Young, Midshipman (M)

Warrant officers

John Huggan, Surgeon (D)
William Cole, Boatswain
Charles Churchill, Ship's Corporal (M)
William Peckover, Gunner
Joseph Coleman, Armourer (A)
Peter Linklater, Quartermaster
John Norton, Quartermaster
Lawrence LeBogue, Sailmaker
Henry Hillbrandt, Cooper (M)
Robert Lamb, Butcher
William Purcell, Carpenter
William Brown, Gardener (M)
David Nelson, Botanist
John Samuel, Clerk
Richard Skinner, Barber (M)
William Muspratt, Tailor (P)
John Smith, Steward
Thomas Hall, Cook
Michael Byrne, Fiddler (A)

Petty officers

James Morrison, Boatswain's Mate (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)

Seamen

John Adams, Able Seaman (M)
Joe Besser, Able Seaman (M)
Thomas Ellison, Able Seaman (M)
Isaac Martin, Able Seaman (M)
William McCoy, Able Seaman (M)
John Millward, Able Seaman (M)
Matthew Quintal, Able Seaman (M)
John Sumner, Able Seaman (M)
Matthew Thompson, Able Seaman (M)
James Valentine, Able Seaman (D)

The mutiny

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 dragged 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, 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 41 day voyage first to Tofua and then to Timor equipped only with a sextant and a pocket watch -- 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 who was stoned to death by the natives of Tofua, the first island they tried to land on.

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 anchors and guns, are still visible in its waters.

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 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.

The voyage of HMS Pandora to capture the mutineers gave rise to the expression "bounty-hunting" now comes to mean a capture of fugitive motivated by a reward (bounty) of some sort.

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. The other three men were convicted and hanged. In other trials, both Bligh and Edwards were tried for the loss of their ships, 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 was 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, rediscovered 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 nine Taihitian women, two were killed in falls while gathering eggs from a cliff.

Fletcher Christian was survived by Maimiti and their son Thursday October Christian, the first child born on the island. Rumors 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.

Motivations behind the mutiny

To this day, there is considerable debate on what caused the mutiny to occur. 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.

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.

On the other hand, Bligh was reputed to have a harsh tongue, and to criticize substandard performance at length in front of other crewmembers. While he may have been comparatively lenient in actual discipline, 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. Most ships of the time carried more officers than the Bounty did, and there were no Marines on board. This too 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 had both more officers and a complement of Marines.

As mentioned previously, while at Tahiti the men found they liked the place, especially the native women. Those who hold the crew responsible felt that after spending so much time on Tahiti they did not want to return to the ordinary life of a seaman and instead live a life of ease and sexual excess on that island.

The mutiny in literature and cinema

The novel Mutiny on the Bounty, and the movies and television shows based on it, relate fictionalized versions of the mutiny. At least one of the movies has Fletcher Christian dying of burns after attempting to douse the fire aboard Bounty.

The first movie version was the Austalian film In the Wake of the Bounty (1932), 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.

The movie "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" also contained a reference to the Bounty when the captured Klingon ship Kirk and crew had stolen was named HMS Bounty. The crew had acquired the ship while undertaking an unauthorized mission, against Starfleet orders, committing a number of offences in the process. Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelly) took this into account and thought Bounty would be an appropriate name.

Modern reconstructions

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 was reconstructed twice. MGM had a reconstruction of Bounty built for their 1962 film, named the Bounty II. This vessel was built, of wood, to the original plans, in a traditional manner in a shipyard in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. However, all the dimensions were increased by approximately one third to accommodate the large cameras in use at that time. 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, and though expensive maintenance caused the vessel to lose her USCG license for a time, Tall Ship Bounty has been restored and is again available for charter, excursions, sail-training and movies (most recently in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean 3).

A reconstruction was also built for the 1984 film The Bounty. That vessel was built of steel, clad in wood.

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 1875989749, London ISBN 0060195320
Caroline Alexander, The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, Viking Penguin, 2003, hardcover, 512 pages, ISBN 067003133X
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

External links

Reference

A Voyage to the South Sea by William Bligh, 1792, from Project Gutenberg. Bligh's own account of the mutiny
The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of H.M.S. Bounty: Its Cause and Consequences by Sir John Barrow, published in 1831, from Project Gutenberg
MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY - An English Graphical Bibliography
A Bounty of Science
HMS Pandora (at the Museum of Tropical Queensland web site)
A Brief History Of Mutiny by Richard Woodman (London: Constable & Robinson Ltd., 2005)
History of Pitcairn
Pitcairn Island Study Center

Replica vessels

Films