Just before the Sun rose on 28 April 1789, Captain William Bligh of the HMS Bounty was woken at cutlass point. The weapon was held by crewmember Fletcher Christian. Bligh was forcibly relieved of his command by a mob of mutineers, and bundled rudely onto a 7-metre-long boat.
Eighteen loyal crewmembers were crammed alongside Bligh in a vessel designed to carry a maximum of 15 over short distances. They were given four cutlasses, a quadrant and compass, 28 gallons of water, 150lbs of bread, 32lbs of salted pork, six quarts of rum and six bottles of wine, and cast adrift on the Pacific Ocean.
Two and a quarter centuries on, the mutiny on the Bounty is part of naval folklore and, thanks to Hollywood, Christian is regarded as a dashing rebel (played on screen by leading men such as Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Marlon Brando and Mel Gibson) while Bligh is remembered as a spiteful tyrant. The truth is more complicated, but it’s what happened immediately after the mutiny that underpins Bligh’s legacy in maritime history, if not in popular culture.
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