Editing William Bligh (section)

==Later life==

In February 1797, while Bligh was captain of {{HMS|Director|1784|6}}, he surveyed the [[Humber]] estuary, preparing a map of the stretch from [[Spurn]] to the west of [[Sunk Island]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Survey of the Humber |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/70b410fb-00ca-4e8b-a8f2-4ca2ede86f49 |website=The National Archives |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref> In April–May, Bligh was one of the captains whose crews mutinied over "issues of pay and involuntary service for common seamen" during the [[Spithead and Nore mutinies]].{{sfn|Gill|1913|p=102}} The mutinies were not triggered by any specific actions by Bligh; the mutinies "were widespread, [and] involved a fair number of English ships". Whilst ''Director'''s role was relatively minor in this episode, she was the last to raise the white flag at its cessation. It was at this time that he learned "that his common nickname among men in the fleet was 'that Bounty bastard'."{{sfn|Mundle|2010|pp=288–291}}

As captain of ''Director'' at the [[Battle of Camperdown]] on 11 October, Bligh engaged three [[Batavian Navy]] vessels: ''Haarlem'', ''Alkmaar'' and [[Dutch ship Vrijheid|''Vrijheid'']]. While the Batavians suffered serious casualties, only seven seamen were wounded on ''Director''. ''Director'' captured ''Vrijheid'', the flagship of Batavian Vice-Admiral [[Jan Willem de Winter]].<ref name="Maritime">{{cite web |title=William Bligh at war |url=https://www.sea.museum/2019/11/05/william-bligh-at-war |website=Australian National Maritime Museum |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref> For his actions during the battle, Bligh was awarded the [[Naval Gold Medal]].<ref>{{cite web |title=William Bligh |url=https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/trailblazers/william-bligh/ |website=The Australian Museum |access-date=18 April 2023}}</ref>

Bligh went on to serve under [[Admiral Nelson]] at the [[Battle of Copenhagen (1801)|Battle of Copenhagen]] on 2 April 1801, in command of {{HMS|Glatton|1795|2}}, a 56-gun [[ship of the line]], which was experimentally fitted exclusively with [[carronades]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Battle of Copenhagen |url=https://www.britishbattles.com/napoleonic-wars/battle-of-copenhagen/ |website=British Battles |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref> After the battle, Nelson personally praised Bligh for his contribution to the victory.<ref name="Maritime"/> He sailed ''Glatton'' safely between the banks while three other vessels ran aground. When Nelson ignored [[Hyde Parker (Royal Navy officer, born 1739)|Admiral Parker]]'s signal "43" (stop the battle) and kept the signal "16" hoisted to continue the engagement, Bligh was the only captain in the squadron who could see that the two signals were in conflict. By choosing to fly Nelson's signal, he ensured that all the vessels behind him kept fighting.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

Bligh was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in May 1801 for distinguished services in navigation, botany, etc.<ref name="Pacific Union"/><ref name="Dictionary"/>

===Governor of New South Wales===
{{Main|Rum Rebellion}}

Bligh had gained a reputation as a firm disciplinarian. Accordingly, he was offered the position of [[Governor of New South Wales]] on the recommendation of Sir [[Joseph Banks]] (President of the Royal Society and a main sponsor of the breadfruit expeditions) and appointed in March 1805, at £2,000 per annum (equal to £{{Inflation|UK|2000|1805|fmt=c}} today), twice the pay of the retiring governor, [[Philip Gidley King]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Mary Bligh O'Connell |url=https://www.riverstonehistoricalsociety.org.au/blog/?page_id=811 |website=Riverstone & District Historical Society Museum |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref> He arrived in Sydney on 6 August 1806,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18516841 |title=A Place In History. |newspaper=[[The Sunday Herald (Sydney)|The Sunday Herald]] |location=Sydney |date=9 November 1952 |access-date=2 May 2012 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> to become the fourth governor. As his wife Elizabeth had been unwilling to undertake a long sea voyage, Bligh was accompanied by his daughter, [[Mary Putland]], who would be the Lady of Government House; Mary's husband John Putland was appointed as William Bligh's [[aide-de-camp]].<ref>Whitaker, Anne-Maree, 'William Bligh', in David Clune and Ken Turner (eds), ''The Governors Of New South Wales 1788–2010'', Federation Press, Sydney, 2009, pp. 87–105, {{ISBN|978-1-86287-743-6}}.</ref> During his time in Sydney, his confrontational administrative style provoked the wrath of influential settlers and officials. They included the wealthy landowner and businessman [[John Macarthur (wool pioneer)|John Macarthur]], and prominent Crown representatives such as the colony's principal surgeon, [[Thomas Jamison]], as well as senior officers of the [[New South Wales Corps]]. Jamison and his military associates were defying government regulations by engaging in private trading ventures for profit, a practice that Bligh was determined to end.<ref>{{cite web |title=Governor William Bligh |url=https://www.ruleoflaw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Governor-William-Bligh.pdf |website=Rule of Law |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref>

The conflict between Bligh and the entrenched colonists culminated in another mutiny, the [[Rum Rebellion]],<ref>Evatt, H. V., Rum Rebellion: A Study of the Overthrow of Governor Bligh, Dawson Publishing, Folkestone, 1937.</ref> when, on 26 January 1808, 400 soldiers of the New South Wales Corps under the command of Major [[George Johnston (British Marines officer)|George Johnston]] marched on [[First Government House, Sydney|Government House]] in Sydney to arrest Bligh.<ref>{{cite web |title=Governor William Bligh is deposed in the Rum Rebellion |url=https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/rum-rebellion |website=National Museum Australia |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref> A petition written by John Macarthur and addressed to George Johnston was written on the day of the arrest but most of the 151 signatures were gathered in the days after Bligh's overthrow.<ref>{{cite web|title=The petition against Governor Bligh|url=http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/terra_australis/rebellion/petition.html|work=Discover Collections|publisher=State Library of NSW|access-date=12 December 2013}}</ref> A rebel government was subsequently installed and Bligh, now deposed, made for Hobart in Tasmania aboard {{HMS|Porpoise|1804|6}}. Bligh failed to gain support from the authorities in Hobart to retake control of New South Wales, and remained effectively imprisoned on the ''Porpoise'' from 1808 until January 1810.<ref>{{cite web |title=Exploration: William Bligh |url=http://www.ourtasmania.com.au/exploration-bligh.html |website=Our Tasmania |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref>
[[File:Arrest of Govenor Bligh.jpg|thumb|right|Propaganda cartoon of Bligh's arrest in Sydney in 1808, portraying him as a coward. [[State Library of New South Wales]], Sydney]]

Shortly after Bligh's arrest, a watercolour illustrating the arrest by an unknown artist was exhibited in Sydney at perhaps Australia's first public art exhibition.<ref name=Australiana>{{cite journal|last=Neville|first=Richard|title=The Arrest of Governor Bligh: Pictures and Politics|journal=Australiana|date=May 1991|volume=13|issue=2|pages=38–42}}</ref> The watercolour depicts a soldier dragging Bligh from underneath one of the servants' beds in Government House, with two other figures standing by. The two soldiers in the watercolour are most likely John Sutherland and Michael Marlborough and the other figure on the far right is believed to represent Lieutenant [[William Minchin]].<ref name=Australiana/> This cartoon is Australia's earliest surviving political cartoon and like all political cartoons it makes use of caricature and exaggeration to convey its message.<ref name=100Objects>{{cite web|title=Governor Bligh's Arrest, 1808|url=http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/events/exhibitions/2010/onehundred/100-objects/Exhibit-026.htm|access-date=8 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015162122/http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/events/exhibitions/2010/onehundred/100-objects/Exhibit-026.htm|archive-date=15 October 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> The New South Wales Corps' officers regarded themselves as gentlemen, and in depicting Bligh as a coward, the cartoon declares that Bligh was not a gentleman and therefore not fit to govern.<ref name=100Objects/>

Of interest, however, was Bligh's concern for the more recently arrived settlers in the colony, who did not have the wealth and influence of Macarthur and Jamison. From the tombstones in Ebenezer and Richmond cemeteries, (areas being settled west of Sydney during Bligh's tenure as governor), can be seen the number of boys born around 1807 to 1811 who received "William Bligh" as a [[given name]], e.g. William Bligh Turnbull, ancestor of former Prime Minister of Australia, [[Malcolm Bligh Turnbull]];<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article72543348 |title=Death of an Early Hawkesbury Settler. |newspaper=[[Windsor and Richmond Gazette]] |location=NSW |date=9 July 1892 |access-date=23 October 2015 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and James Bligh Johnston, who designed Ebenezer Chapel, Australia's oldest extant church and oldest extant school.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The heritage of Historic Ebenezer Church - since 1809 |url=http://ebenezerchurch.org.au/heritage.htm |access-date=2025-01-20 |website=ebenezerchurch.org.au}}</ref>

[[File:Captain Bligh House London.jpg|thumb|right|William Bligh House in London]]

===Aftermath of the Rum Rebellion===

Bligh received a letter in January 1810, advising him that the rebellion had been declared illegal, and that the British Foreign Office had declared it to be a mutiny. [[Lachlan Macquarie]] had been appointed to replace him as governor. At this news Bligh sailed from Hobart. He arrived in Sydney on 17 January 1810, only two weeks into Macquarie's tenure.{{sfn|Mundle|2010|pp=330–332}} There he would collect evidence for the coming court martial in England of Major Johnston. He departed to attend the trial on 12 May 1810, arriving on 25 October 1810. In the days immediately prior to their departure, his daughter, Mary Putland (widowed in 1808), was hastily married to the new Lieutenant-Governor, [[Maurice Charles O'Connell]], and remained in Sydney.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mary Putland |url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/version_history/mary-putland/recognitions/?p=2&revision_no=2 |website=Design & Art Australia |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref> The following year, the trial's presiding officers sentenced Johnston to be [[cashiered]], a form of disgraceful dismissal that entailed surrendering his commission in the [[Royal Marines]] without compensation.{{sfn|Yarwood|1967}} (This was a comparatively mild punishment that enabled Johnston to return a free man to New South Wales, where he could continue to enjoy the benefits of his accumulated private wealth.) Bligh was court martialled twice again during his career, being acquitted both times. Soon after Johnston's trial had concluded, Bligh received a backdated promotion to [[rear admiral]]. In 1814, he was promoted again to [[vice-admiral of the blue]].<ref name="Pacific Union"/> Perhaps significantly, he never again received an important command, though with the Napoleonic Wars almost over there would have been few fleet commands available.<ref name="Greenwich"/>

===Final years and death===
Bligh was recruited to chart and map [[Dublin Bay]], and recommended the building walls for a refuge harbour at what was then known as Dunleary; the large harbour and naval base subsequently built there between 1816 and 1821 was called Kingstown, later renamed [[Dún Laoghaire]]. Many sources claim that Bligh designed the North [[Bull Wall]] at the mouth of the [[River Liffey]] in Dublin. He did propose the construction of a sea wall or barrier at the north of the bay in order to clear a sandbar by [[Venturi effect|Venturi action]], but his design was not used. The wall that was constructed used a design by [[George Halpin]] and resulted in the formation of [[North Bull Island]] by the sand cleared by the river's now more narrowly focused force.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Daly|first=Gerald J.|date=1991|title=Captain William Bligh in Dublin, 1800–1801|journal=Dublin Historical Record|volume=44|issue=1|pages=20–33|jstor=30100863|issn=0012-6861}}</ref>

[[File:Grave of William Bligh, Lambeth, London - geograph.org.uk - 1411724.jpg|right|upright|thumb|Bligh's tomb, surmounted by an [[eternal flame]], sits in the Sackler Garden at the Garden Museum.]]
Bligh died of cancer in [[Bond Street]], London, on 7 December 1817 and was buried in a family plot at St. Mary's, [[Lambeth]] (this church is now the [[Garden Museum]]).<ref name="Dictionary">{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |title=Bligh, William (1754–1817) |id2=bligh-william-1797 |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref> His tomb was notable for its use of [[Coade stone]] (''Lithodipyra''), a compound of clay and other materials that was moulded in imitation of carved stonework and fired in a kiln. This stoneware was produced by Eleanor Coade at her factory in Lambeth. The tomb is topped by an eternal flame, not a breadfruit.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Woodward|first=Christopher|date=April 2016|title=Captain Bligh's tomb|url=http://britain-australia.org.uk/uploads/3rdparty/AGHVol27-Bligh.pdf|journal=Australian Garden History|volume=27|issue=4|pages=18–20|via=The Britain-Australia Society|accessdate=29 August 2018|archive-date=29 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829212118/http://britain-australia.org.uk/uploads/3rdparty/AGHVol27-Bligh.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> A plaque marks Bligh's house, half a mile (700m) east of the Garden Museum at 100 Lambeth Road,{{sfn|Rennison|2009}} opposite the [[Imperial War Museum]].<ref name="english-heritage.org.uk">{{Cite web |title=William Bligh {{!}} Commander of the 'Bounty' {{!}} Blue Plaques |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/william-bligh/ |access-date=22 January 2024 |website=English Heritage}}</ref>

He was related to [[Admiral (Royal Navy)|Admiral]] Sir [[Richard Rodney Bligh]] and Captain [[George Miller Bligh]], and his British and Australian descendants include [[Native Police]] Commandant [[John O'Connell Bligh]] and the former [[Premier of Queensland]], [[Anna Bligh]].<ref>[http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/features/bligh-out-to-make-history/story-e6freor6-1111118940460 Couriermail.com.au]</ref> He was also distantly related to the architect and psychical researcher [[Frederick Bligh Bond]].<ref name="english-heritage.org.uk"/>

The New South Wales suburb of [[Bligh Park, New South Wales|Bligh Park]]&nbsp;is named after William Bligh, as at the time of the&nbsp;[[Rum Rebellion]], the Hawkesbury settlers supported the then-deposed governor.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bligh Park |url=https://www.hawkesburyaustralia.com.au/info/towns/bligh-park/ |website=Hawkesbury Australia |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref>