About book The Bounty: The True Story Of The Mutiny On The Bounty (2015)
If I ever own a boat the name will be: Bounty’s Launch.Alexander’s The Bounty is an excellent and thorough read about all that makes the Mutiny on The Bounty still intriguing today.On the morning of April 28, 1789 Lieutenant William Bligh’s H.M.S. Bounty was taken in the South Pacific, near Tahiti, by a band of mutineers led by Master Mate, Fletcher Christian. Bligh, in just his night shirt, was forced into the small, 23-foot launch, weighed down with eighteen loyalists and enough provisions for five days. The launch was just seven inches above the calm seas as Bligh called to Christian as they pushed away, “I have a wife and four children in England and you have danced my children upon your knee.”Christian replied, “I am in hell – I am in hell.”Bligh managed to sail the overcrowded Bounty launch on a 48-day, 3,618 mile voyage to Timor, through the uncharted and dangerous Endeavor Strait without losing a single man, with the exception of John Norton who was stoned to death by natives on the island of Tofua while scavenging for supplies. This brutal slaying of Norton, no doubt, reminded Bligh of his earlier voyage with the legendary Captain Cook, his third and final to the South Pacific, where he went half-crazy and was clubbed to death in the surf by the Hawaiians, in what was then called the Sandwich Islands.Bligh’s feat of sailing the Bounty’s launch to safety is unmatched in maritime history. However, the years to come would not be easy for William Bligh although he initially returned to England a hero.The age old debate rages: Was Lt. Bligh a cruel and unjust commander that deserved to have his ship taken from him and banished to the sea in a small overcrowded launch with little food or water?Or Was Lt. Bligh the victim of circumstances and an excellent captain on the fast-track to glory his Majesty’s Navy?Caroline Alexander, author of The Bounty, argues convincingly that Lt. Bligh was an excellent captain and navigator, but fell victim to circumstances outside of his control.A short list of immediate items relating the Bounty outside of Bligh’s control:- The Admiralty’s late sailing orders to the South Pacific. Bad weather caused Bligh to switch course and sail to the Cape after a month-long battle to navigate The Horn on his way to Tahiti to pick-up breadfruit plants and deliver them to the West Indies.- The Admiralty refused to give him the rank of captain.- The Admiralty refused to give him commissioned officers.- The Admiralty refused to give him Marines to carry out his orders/law. - The Admiralty insisted on a smaller crew and less pay, for his mission was not one vital the protection of the empire. Instead, the Admiralty grudgingly succumbed to Sir Joseph Banks’ horticulture breadfruit mission to Tahiti by cutting corners at every turn.- Because the orders were received so late, Bligh had to switch course and head to the Cape adding months to the mission. Worse, he arrived in Tahiti to collect the breadfruit plants as the monsoon season set-in forcing his men to stay in beautiful Tahiti for months where many of his men took to the Tahitian people for a variety of reasons: their kindness, the beautiful location of black beaches and palm trees, their sensual women, and the crew were treated quite well, much differently than they would’ve been treated in London, where they were low-class and crude.- His crew was second rate. They were for the most part misfits (fuck-ups) and deviants with a touch of anti-social and anti-authoritarian behaviors. Which would be fine with commissioned officers and marines to keep them in line, but it was only Lt. Bligh to enforce the rules on a long, long voyage to a beautiful and exotic location.Bligh, with a lack of commissioned officers and a contingent of marines, had to enforce the rules of the sea without help. He was alone and resorted to tough words and lenient punishments for he knew it was going to be a long journey and need all the help he could get from his bare-bones, second-rate crew. Bligh didn't have the sadistic cruelty to carry out the most severe punishments; he just wanted his crew to do their jobs. When he did resort to punishment, he did so usually doling out a fraction of each punishment under British Maritime customs. Bligh was not without imperfections: he was quick to verbally abuse crew members, had mandatory dancing each evening for three hours, and demanded that the ship be scrubbed and washed with vinegar each week.A year after losing his ship Bligh returned to England a hero and to face a court-martial. The Admiralty court-martialed Bligh, a standard procedure, to make sure he did all he could to save the ship - for they really only cared for the ships due to their exorbitant costs for men are expendable and replaceable. Bligh was acquitted and quickly sent back to the South Pacific on the same mission: collect breadfruit plants in Tahiti and map the Endeavor Strait.Before Bligh left for his second voyage, immediately upon his return, the Admiralty sent out the HMS Pandora to find the mutineers and map the Endeavor Strait. The Pandora sunk at the Strait and caused those captured Bounty mutineers, if not killed, an even longer voyage home to England and their court-marshal.The mutineers’ court-marshal is a disgusting piece of the Bounty history. Those with connections and titles received differential treatment, while most of the mutineers on trial partook in backstabbing and blaming Lt. Bligh for the mutiny and their current lot. Sadly, Bligh was picking breadfruit for The Crown and could not defend himself. Upon Bligh’s return his hero status was no longer intact as he was abused by those mutineers with connections in high places. Bligh’s career was stunted while the mutineers’ image, especially Christian’s, was bolstered with the help of the romantic Lake Poets of Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey. Fletcher Christian took on a legendary status of epic proportions and became a hero.What really happened to Fletcher Christian and the Bounty? Christian returned to Tahiti, dropped off a few that wanted to stay, kidnapped a bunch of Tahitian women and men, sailed for the uninhabited and wrongly charted Pitcairn Island, burned the Bounty, and attempted to start his own colony using the Tahitian men as slaves. He died a mysterious death. I believe he was killed by his own kidnapped slaves. Pitcairn was discovered by an American ship fifteen years later which relayed the news to Britain. This new discovery prompted a resurgence of interest in the Bounty, most of it bad for Bligh and good for the mutineers, once the Romantics hijacked the true story: that Christian and the other mutineers acted on impulse while drunk, with sex on the brain and the tricky Straits ahead, to return to the paradise of Tahiti.It is really a depressing and sad story. Bligh would eventually be named a Fellow of the Royal Society and retire a Vice-Admiral and die in 1817, while the legend of Fletcher Christian carries on to this day.
This is an amazing book. We are familiar with the story of the Bounty, captained by William Bligh, and the mutiny, headed by Fletcher Christian but the story has morphed over the years into more of a myth. The author attempts to set the record straight but since there are so many factions for and against Bligh and Christian, that it is a matter of sorting through the conflicting stories and deciding on whose side you fall. And with that said, I can say that it is really not possible to place blame but it appears that the majority of opinion is against Christian.Being a seafaring nation, the British Naval rules were very strict and a man could be flogged for almost anything that the Captain thought was against those rules. Mutiny was punishable by death and was the worst crime that a crew could commit. Bligh, who in the myth of the mutiny, was painted as a martinet who flogged his men constantly and treated them like animals. In truth, he seldom had men flogged although his temper was notorious and he cursed his men regularly. What drove Christian and those who joined him to mutiny seems to be based on the fact that Christian was accused of stealing a coconut; hardly a reason to abandon your captain and the 18 men who remained loyal to him in a 23 foot open launch in the middle of the ocean. The most amazing feat of the entire Mutiny saga is the 48 day voyage of the open boat across 3,600 miles to Java without the loss of a man. The HMS Bounty leaves some of the mutineers on Tahiti to live with the native population and continues to Pitcairn Island where the descendants of these men still exist. But that is not the end of the story by any means and I would recommend that you read this well written history to fill in your knowledge of the ending.
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I was really excited to continue my obsession with seafaring adventures and open boat journeys. This book, while well researched, gets so bogged down in the details of every person ever connected with any part of the story, that you never get a clear idea of what is going on. Perhaps if you were already familiar with the story of the Bounty (which I am not) and you really want to know extensive details like the biographies of the 12 Sea Captains who sat on the Court Martial of the mutineers, this is your book.
—Lorien
“All our experience with history should teach us, when we look back, how badly human wisdom is betrayed when it relies on itself” ~Martin Luther Warning: the following review contains historical facts that may be considered spoilers if you desire to read this book without previous knowledge of the events.I love to read books about people and events that I know little to nothing about. I had certainly heard of Captain Bligh and the Mutiny on the Bounty, but that was the extent of my knowledge. I have never seen any of the movies so I didn't know the reasons for the mutiny. This book is a thorough examination of not only the mutiny but what happened before and after the historic event. The commonly accepted reason for the mutiny was Bligh's "harsh tongue and unfair treatment of his crew"; however, the author does an exceptional job of disproving this theory. Below are some interesting things I learned while reading the book:- Bligh served as master on one of Captain James Cook's voyages. Cook was the most highly regarded royal naval officer of his day. - Bligh was on the expedition where Cook was murdered by the natives in Hawaii.- The primary purpose of the voyage was to acquire breadfruit specimens from Tahiti.- Life on the seas at the time was very regimented, strict, and difficult. It was not an easy life. Bligh did indeed flog people for insubordination; however, Alexander does an excellent job of showing that if anything he was easy on his men in comparison to other captains of the time. - Bligh and his men spent nearly eight months in Tahiti tending the breadfruit nursery and waiting for fairer weather.- Bligh's crew loved life on Tahiti and many of the men added the traditional Tahitian tattoos and became enamored with the women and the freedom of the islands.- The mutiny was led by Fletcher Christian. The author argues that the primary reason for the mutiny was due to many of the men desiring to return to Tahiti.- They put Bligh and the men loyal to him in a small boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The boat was very heavy laden and appeared dangerously close to sinking. There were men that wanted to join the captain but were not allowed due to the skills they possessed.- The penalty for mutiny at the time was death by hanging.- Bligh and his men were able to get their boat to safety and many thought it was the most amazing open boat voyage of its day. Many of them were able to make it back to England.- A ship was sent to Tahiti to apprehend the mutineers. Many of the mutineers were in Tahiti; however, the primary players in the revolt had left on the Bounty and for decades it was unknown where they went.- The ship bringing the mutineers back to England shipwrecked. Some of the prisoners died. The remaining nine were succesfully brought to England for trial.- There were four mutineers that were fingered by Bligh as innocent. After the trial they were released. Five of the mutineers were found guily and sentenced to hang. Two of the men were pardoned by the king thanks to their connections and family's money. The other three were hung. Much of the book is focused on Peter Heywood, one of the two pardoned prisoners. It really is unclear who is innocent and who is guilty. Everyone had a different story of the event. The worst offenders were somewhere free and here were the not-so-innocent bystanders that were being put to death. Injustice is a primary thread throughout the book.- Chistian and some of his loyal friends picked up their women and a few men in Tahiti and sailed to a remote uncharted island called Pitcairn. There the mutineers(all but one) were all killed by Tahitian men who were being treated as prisoners. The descendents and the last mutineer were discovered years later by Americans who helped solve the mystery of what happened to the remaining mutineers.- Since that time in many ways Christian was heralded as a man that overthrew the tyrant. Many saw him as a hero and his family back home helped to build his reputation and in the meantime disparaged Bligh.The above bullet points are all for my benefit since I have such a terrible memory.It is obvious that the author did a lot of research for the book; however, that may also be my primary complaint of the book. It was much too long and too many pages were focused on the trial. It is obvious that this is where many of the author's sources came from. I think it could have been a lot shorter. I really don't care to know the personal history of every passenger on the Bounty.I would recommend this book if you are curious about the Mutiny on the Bounty; however, don't say I didn't warn you about the length and the data overkill. I really enjoyed a previous book that was also written by Caroline Alexander. That book was The Endurance which tells of Shackleton's Antarctic expedition and shipwreck. It really is one of the most amazing survival stories of all time. If you are looking for a good sailing adventure I would start there.
—Ralph
If you want to get into the mind of main mutineer, Fletcher Christian, you won't. You will, however, see another sight of William Bligh who was a lowly Lieutenant on the HMS Bounty ill equipped with the right sailors, no Marines to keep order, and on the hunt for breadfruit. It talks of Sir Joseph Banks who subsequently sent Bligh on another breadfruit expedition after he was on court martial for losing the Bounty to a mutineer who decided he was "in hell" for two weeks when he was really just heart broken for having to leave a slew of Tahitian women behind--I surmise.So don't expect a movie re-telling. Expect a different adventure where Bligh keeps a hopeless crew alive on an unprotected, small boat in viscous open waters.Another saga of the trial for the remaining mutineers continues in this book---there's quite a lot of stories interwoven for what its worth.The extensive research Alexander did and how she synthesized this into the best apology ever written for someone else besides Plato is what you should read it for.
—Tess McCarthy
