| In history, William
Bligh's name will forever be associated with the famous book 'Mutiny on
the Bounty'. The mutiny, a true incident dramatized by novelists Charles
B. Nordhoff and James Norman Hall in 1932, occurred during Bligh's command
of the Bounty.
William Bligh was born in Cornwall, England, on
Sept. 9, 1754. He entered the navy in 1762, as a young boy. In 1787 he was
named captain of the Bounty. |
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| Due to a series of
delays, the Bounty spent five months in Tahiti and many of the crew
established relationships with the women on the island. Bligh would later
blame the mutiny that broke out in April 1789 on the attractions exerted
by the charms of these women, and the comfortable lives his men enjoyed
with them. The tale of the mutiny on the Bounty, filled with danger
and passion, feats of endurance, disobedience, punishment and death,
transfixed the British public, who eagerly bought Thomas Gosse’s
strangely beautiful print.
In the
South Pacific to transport breadfruit trees to the West Indies, the
215-ton Bounty was taken over on April 28, 1789, by members of the
crew headed by Fletcher Christian, the first mate. Bligh and 18 others
were set adrift in a 23-foot boat. Sailing without a chart and with few
provisions, Bligh and his companions endured severe hardships as they
traveled more than 3,600 miles (5,800 kilometers), arriving at Timor,
Java, almost two months later. The mutineers sailed to Pitcairn Island,
where the colony they founded remained undiscovered until 1808.
Bligh's career as a ship's captain and navigator
continued but was marred by two other mutinies. Many biographers maintain
that Bligh was overbearing and tyrannical. However, he commanded ships
with distinction at the battles of Camperdown in 1797 and Copenhagen in
1801. Named governor of New South Wales, Australia, in 1805, Bligh came
under new charges of oppressive behavior. In 1808 Bligh was arrested and
imprisoned by the deputy governor of the province, George Johnston, leader
of another mutiny. Eventually he was sent to England under arrest. Bligh
was reinstated and received promotions to rear admiral in 1811 and vice
admiral in 1814. He died in London on Dec. 7, 1817.
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information on William Bligh, go to: |
