William Bligh may well be the most maligned man in history. His name has become a byword for cruelty; a tyrant who drove the crew of his ship, HMS Bounty, to such despair that they were forced into the most famous of all mutinies.
It’s almost complete nonsense. Bligh was no tyrant. Hot-tempered certainly, foul-mouthed occasionally – what naval officer wasn’t? But he was among the kindest and most considerate captains of his day.
He was particularly decent towards Fletcher Christian, an attractive but weak man, whom he had befriended and sponsored but who repaid him by sending him to pretty much certain death.
Ever since I was a boy who graduated from Treasure Island to Hornblower, I’ve been fascinated by the mutiny on the Bounty. It deserves its worldwide fame, but it should be for Bligh’s escape, one of the greatest maritime achievements of all time. And we’ve got the hero and the villain completely mixed up.
