1789

The mutiny on the HMS Bounty is one of the most well known mutinies that ever occurred in the British Royal Navy.

 

On 28 April 1789, led by Fletcher Christian, Master's Mate, mutineers seized control of the Bounty from their captain, Lieutenant William Bligh, and cut him and 18 of his crew adrift in the Pacific Ocean in the ship's open launch.

 

HMS Bounty set sail from England on 23 December 1787 on an expedition to Tahiti to collect breadfruit saplings to transport to the West Indies. It was a long and difficult voyage and discipline was a problem. The Bounty was overcrowded and there were no marines on board to enforce the captain's authority. The Bounty reached Tahiti on 26 October 1788,

10 months after leaving England, but it was the wrong season to collect breadfruit saplings, so they were forced to layover on the island for 5 months.

 

During the layover, Bligh allowed the crew to live onshore to tend the breadfruit saplings. While ashore they enjoyed the balmy climate and comfortable life. Many took temporary Tahitian 'wives' and got Polynesian tattoos. Fletcher Christian married Maimiti, a Tahitian woman. Other warrant officers and seamen were also said to have formed 'connections'

with native women. In total, they collected and prepared over a 1,000 breadfruit saplings. The crew were becoming unsettled as the Bounty prepared to weigh anchor, with whispers of desertion.

 

On 4 April 1789, the Bounty set sail from Tahiti for the West Indies with her breadfruit cargo onboard. The men were ill prepared for the return to ship conditions and discipline. There had been friction between Bligh and Christian ever since they had left England and things escalated.

 

On 28 April 1789, after 23 days out at sea and some 1,300 miles west of Tahiti, near Tonga, Christian and his men woke Bligh in the middle of the night, pointed a bayonet at him and forced him on deck. No blood was shed. Instead the mutineers ordered Bligh and 18 of his men into the Bounty's 23ft open launch and cut them adrift in the Pacific Ocean with

meagre rations and left them for dead.

 

On 14 June 1789, in one of the greatest survival feats in British maritime history, Bligh and his 18 crew arrived safely on Timor, the nearest European settlement. After navigating through 48 days and 3,618 miles in an open boat across the Pacific Ocean (Tonga to Timor), with the loss of only one man, who was killed by natives on Tonga. His voyage has been the subject of numerous epic films, articles, documentaries and thousands of books.

 

Bligh was a skilled navigator with a keen attention to detail. He was armed with a coconut bowl, a bullet-weight for measuring the meagre rations, a horn beaker and a magnifying glass for lighting cooking fires. He was also armed with a magnetic compass, a 10-inch sextant, a quadrant and 2 books containing mathematical, astronomical and geographical information. He continued to write in his logbook during the gruelling voyage. His logbook can be found at the State Library, New South Wales, Australia.

 

The mutineers, having seized the Bounty, and dumped the breadfruit saplings into the drink, returned to Tahiti to resume the life they had been enjoying. However, fearing the arrival of a Royal Navy ship and the consequences of their mutiny, Christian and 8 mutineers sailed the Bounty for the remote and ill-charted Pitcairn Island. After landing, they burnt the Bounty to avoid detection. Despite having risked everything, they now

began fighting each other, Christian was among those killed. Of the surviving mutineers at court martial: 4 were acquitted, 3 were pardoned, and 3 were hanged.

 

October 1790, Bligh was acquitted at court-martial of any wrong doing for the loss of his ship. December 1790, he was promoted to captain and resumed his naval career. 1794, he was awarded the Society of Arts medal for his remarkable feat of navigation during the voyage from Tonga to Timor. 1801, he was made a fellow of the Royal Society for services

to navigation and botany. 1811, he was appointed Rear Admiral of the Blue. 1814, he was appointed Vice Admiral of the Blue. He died on 7 December 1817, aged 63, in Bond Street, London and his family grave can be found at Lambeth churchyard, London.

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The reasons for the mutiny continue to be debated!