Editing William Bligh (section)

==Voyage of ''Bounty''==
{{main|Mutiny on the Bounty}}

The mutiny on the [[Royal Navy]] vessel HMAV ''Bounty'' occurred in the South Pacific Ocean on 28 April 1789.<ref name="Greenwich">{{cite web |title=William Bligh |url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/william-bligh |website=Royal Museums Greenwich |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref> Led by [[Master's Mate]] / Acting [[Lieutenant (Royal Navy)|Lieutenant]] [[Fletcher Christian]], disaffected crewmen seized control of the ship, and set the then Lieutenant Bligh, who was the ship's captain, and 18 loyalists adrift in the ship's open launch.<ref name="Greenwich"/> The mutineers variously settled on [[Tahiti]] or on [[Pitcairn Island]]. Meanwhile, Bligh completed a voyage of more than {{convert|3,500|nmi|km mi|abbr=off}} to the west in the launch to reach safety north of Australia in the [[Dutch East Indies]] (modern Indonesia) and began the process of bringing the mutineers to justice.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mutiny on the Bounty |url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/mutiny-on-bounty |website=Royal Museums Greenwich |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref>

===First breadfruit voyage===
In 1787, Lieutenant Bligh, as he then was, took command of [[His Majesty's Armed Vessel|HMAV]] ''Bounty.'' In order to win a premium offered by the [[Royal Society]], he first sailed to [[Tahiti]] to obtain [[breadfruit]] trees, then set course east across the South Pacific for South America and the [[Cape Horn]] and eventually to the [[Caribbean Sea]], where breadfruit was wanted for experiments to see whether it would be a successful food crop for enslaved Africans on British colonial plantations in the [[West Indies]] islands.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite web |title=William Bligh |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Bligh |website=Britannica |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref> According to one modern researcher, the notion that breadfruit had to be collected from Tahiti was intentionally misleading. Tahiti was merely one of many places where the esteemed seedless breadfruit could be found. The real reason for choosing Tahiti has its roots in the territorial contention that existed then between [[Kingdom of France|France]] and [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] at the time.<ref>Lorbach, Karl Ernst Alwyn. 'Conspiracy on the Bounty: Bligh's Convenient Mutiny'. 2012, printed University of Queensland, hardcover/Kindle, 366 pages, {{ISBN|978-0-9806914-1-2}}.  [see Appendix Four – An Afterword on Banks and his Breadfruit, pp. 309–314].</ref> ''Bounty'' never reached the Caribbean, as [[mutiny]] broke out on board shortly after the ship left Tahiti.

The voyage to Tahiti was difficult. After trying unsuccessfully for a month to go west by rounding South America and [[Cape Horn]], ''Bounty'' was finally defeated by the notoriously stormy weather and opposite winds and forced to take the longer way to the east around the southern tip of Africa ([[Cape of Good Hope]] and [[Cape Agulhas]]). That delay caused a further delay in Tahiti, as Bligh had to wait five months for the breadfruit plants to mature sufficiently to be potted in soil and transported. ''Bounty'' departed Tahiti heading west in April 1789.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Voyage of HMAV Bounty |url=https://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/bounty/voyage.shtml |website=Pacific Union College |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref>

===Mutiny===
[[File:Mutiny HMS Bounty.jpg|thumb|The [[Mutiny on the Bounty|mutineers]] turning Lt Bligh and some of the officers and crew adrift from His Majesty's Ship {{HMS|Bounty||6}}. By [[Robert Dodd (artist)|Robert Dodd]]]]
Because the vessel was rated only as a [[Cutter (boat)|cutter]], ''Bounty'' had no commissioned officers other than Bligh (who was then only a lieutenant), a very small crew, and no [[Royal Marines]] to provide protection from hostile natives during stops or to enforce security on board ship. To allow longer uninterrupted sleep, Bligh divided his crew into three watches instead of two, placing his ''protégé'' [[Fletcher Christian]]—rated as a [[Master's Mate]]—in charge of one of the watches. The [[Mutiny on the Bounty|mutiny]], which took place on 28 April 1789 during the return voyage, was led by Christian and supported by eighteen of the crew.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mutiny of the Bounty|url=http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/terra_australis/mutiny.html|work=Discover Collections|publisher=State Library of NSW|access-date=12 December 2013}}</ref> They had seized firearms during Christian's night watch and surprised and bound Bligh in his cabin.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

[[File:Wr Bligh Journal fl3156809 a286171.jpg|thumb|upright=1.18|Account of arrival at Timor, 14 June 1789. Log of the Proceedings of His Majesty's Ship ''Bounty'', 1789.]] Despite being in the majority, none of the loyalists put up a significant struggle once they saw Bligh bound, and the ship was taken over without bloodshed. The mutineers provided Bligh and eighteen loyal crewmen a {{convert|23|ft|0|adj=mid}} [[Launch (boat)|launch]] (so heavily loaded that the [[gunwale]]s were only a few inches above the water). They were allowed four [[cutlass]]es, food and water for perhaps a week, a [[Quadrant (instrument)|quadrant]] and a compass, but no charts, or [[marine chronometer]]. The gunner, [[William Peckover]], brought his pocket watch, which was used to regulate time.<ref name="Bligh"/> Most of these instruments were obtained by the clerk, Mr Samuel, who acted with great calm and resolution, despite threats from the mutineers. The launch could not hold all the loyal crew members, so four were detained on ''Bounty'' for their useful skills; they were later released in Tahiti.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

Tahiti was upwind from Bligh's initial position, and was the obvious destination of the mutineers. Many of the loyalists claimed to have heard the mutineers cry "Huzzah for Otaheite!" as ''Bounty'' pulled away. [[Timor]] was the nearest European colonial outpost in the [[Dutch East Indies]] (modern Indonesia), {{convert|3618|nmi|abbr=on}} away. Bligh and his crew first made for Tofua, only a few leagues distant, to obtain supplies. However, they were attacked by hostile natives and John Norton, a quartermaster, was killed.<ref>"The Bounty" by Caroline Alexander.</ref> Fleeing from Tofua, Bligh did not dare to stop at the next islands to the west (the [[Fiji]] islands), as he had only a pair of cutlasses for defence and expected hostile receptions. He did however keep a log entitled "Log of the Proceedings of His Majesty's Ship Bounty Lieut. Wm Bligh Commander from Otaheite towards Jamaica" which he used to record events from 5 April 1789 to 13 March 1790.<ref name="Bligh">{{cite archive|first= William|last=Bligh|item = [http://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110339148 Log of the Proceedings of His Majestys Ship Bounty Lieut. Wm Bligh Commander from Otaheite towards Jamaica, signed `Wm Bligh'] |type =Bound Manuscript |date = 13 March 1790 |series = William Bligh – Papers relating to HMS Bounty, 1787–1794|file = Safe 1 / 47|box= Item 2|collection = William Bligh – Papers |repository = [https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/ State Library of New South Wales] |institution =State Library of NSW |location =NSW, Au |ref=none}}</ref> He also made use of a small notebook to sketch a rough map of his discoveries.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

[[File:Mutineers of the Bounty by Jules Verne, illustration by Leon Bennett.jpg|thumb|upright=1.18|Original illustration by S. Drée from French author [[Jules Verne]]'s story ''[[The Mutineers of the Bounty]]'' (Les Révoltés de la Bounty) (1879).]]Bligh had confidence in his navigational skills, which he had perfected under the instruction of [[Captain James Cook]]. His first responsibility was to bring his men to safety. Thus, he undertook the seemingly impossible {{convert|3618|nmi|adj=on}} voyage to Timor, the nearest European settlement. Bligh succeeded in reaching Timor after a 47-day voyage, the only casualty being the crewman killed on Tofua.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bounty's Launch |url=https://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/bounty/launch.shtml |website=Pacific Union College |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref> From 4 May until 29 May, when they reached the [[Great Barrier Reef]] north of Australia, the 18 men lived on {{convert|1/12|lb|g|abbr=off|-1}} of bread per day. The weather was often stormy, and they were in constant fear of foundering due to the boat's heavily laden condition. On 29 May they landed on a small island off the coast of Australia, which they named [[Restoration Island]], 29 May 1660 being the date of the restoration of the English monarchy after the [[English Civil War]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Queensland Places – Restoration |url=https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/queensland-places-restoration |website=State Library of Queensland |date=6 November 2015 |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref> Strains were showing within the party; following a heated disagreement with Purcell, Bligh grabbed a cutlass and challenged the carpenter to fight. Fryer told Cole to arrest their captain but backed down after Bligh threatened to kill him if he interfered. Fryer later said Bligh "was as tyrannical in his temper in the boat as in the ship." Over the next week or more they island-hopped north along the Great Barrier reef—while Bligh, cartographer as always, sketched maps of the coast. Early in June they passed through the [[Endeavour Strait]] and sailed again on the open sea until they reached [[Kupang|Coupang]], a settlement on Timor, on 14 June 1789.<ref name="Bligh"/> Despite the hardships he and his men had endured, upon reaching Kupang Bligh maintained his stubborn adherence to Navy protocol, insisting that a makeshift Union Jack be made up and hoisted and that Fryer remain aboard the launch to guard her.<ref>[https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2023/03/what-really-happened-after-the-mutiny-on-the-bounty/ ''WHAT REALLY HAPPENED AFTER THE MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY?"''], {{smallcaps|Today I Found Out Blog}} (3 April 2024). Rubber erasers have been in use since approximately 1770. See {{smallcaps|Joseph Priestley, A Familiar Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Perspective}} xv n. (1769).</ref> Three of the men who survived this arduous voyage with him were so weak that they soon died of sickness, possibly malaria, in the pestilential [[Dutch East Indies]] port of [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]], the present-day Indonesian capital of Jakarta, as they waited for transport to Britain.{{sfn|Toohey|2000}} Two others died on the way to England.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

===Possible causes of the mutiny===
The reasons behind the mutiny are still debated; some sources report that Bligh was a tyrant whose abuse of the crew led them to feel that they had no choice but to take over the ship.<ref name="Historic UK">{{cite web |last1=Johnson |first1=Ben |title=Mutiny on the Bounty |url=https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Mutiny-on-the-Bounty/ |website=Historic UK |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref> Other sources argue that Bligh was no worse (and in many cases gentler) than the average captain and naval officer of the era.<ref>{{cite web |title=Righting a historic wrong: the real story of the mutiny on the Bounty |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/documentaries/righting-a-historic-wrong-the-real-story-of-the-mutiny-on-the-bounty/ |website=RadioTimes |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref> They also argue that the crew—inexperienced and unused to the rigours of the sea—were corrupted by the freedom, idleness and sexual licence of their five months in Tahiti, finding themselves unwilling to return to the "[[Jack Tar]]'s" life of an ordinary seaman. This view holds that most of the men supported Christian's prideful personal vendetta against Bligh out of a misguided hope that their new captain would return them to Tahiti to live their lives "hedonistically" and in peace, free from Bligh's acid tongue and strict discipline.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

The mutiny is made more mysterious by the friendship of Christian and Bligh, which dates back to Bligh's days in the merchant service. Christian was well acquainted with the Bligh family. As Bligh was being set adrift, he appealed to this friendship, saying "you have dandled my children upon your knee". According to Bligh, Christian "appeared disturbed" and replied, "That,—Captain Bligh,—that is the thing;—I am in hell—I am in hell".{{sfn|Bligh|1790}}

''Bounty''{{'}}s log shows that Bligh was relatively sparing in his punishments. He scolded when other captains would have whipped, and whipped when other captains would have hanged.<ref>{{cite web |title=The True Face of Captain Bligh  |url=https://welcome-tahiti.com/en/the-true-face-of-captain-bligh/ |website=Welcome Tahiti |access-date=18 April 2023}}</ref> He was an educated man, deeply interested in science, convinced that good diet and sanitation were necessary for the welfare of his crew.<ref name="Pacific Union"/> He took a great interest in his crew's exercise, was very careful about the quality of their food and insisted upon the ''Bounty'' being kept very clean.<ref>{{cite web |title=Captain Cook and Captain Bligh |url=https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BeaBlig-t1-body1.html |website=Victoria University of Wellington |access-date=18 April 2023}}</ref> The modern historian [[John Beaglehole]] has described the major flaw in this otherwise enlightened naval officer: "[Bligh made] dogmatic judgements which he felt himself entitled to make; he saw fools about him too easily … thin-skinned vanity was his curse through life … [Bligh] never learnt that you do not make friends of men by insulting them."{{sfn|Beaglehole|1974|p=498}} Bligh was also capable of holding intense grudges against those he thought had betrayed him, such as Midshipman [[Peter Heywood]] and ship's gunner [[William Peckover]]; in regard to Heywood, Bligh was convinced that the young man was as guilty as Christian. Bligh's first detailed comments on the mutiny are in a letter to his wife Betsy,<ref>[https://famous-trials.com/bounty/401-letters Bligh letter of 1789]</ref> in which he names Heywood (a mere boy not yet 16) as "one of the ringleaders", adding: "I have now reason to curse the day I ever knew a Christian or a Heywood or indeed a Manks{{sic}} man."<ref>Alexander, p. 152. Natives of the Isle of Man are known as "Manxmen".</ref> Bligh's later official account to the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] lists Heywood with Christian, [[Ned Young|Edward Young]] and George Stewart as the mutiny's leaders, describing Heywood as a young man of abilities for whom he had felt a particular regard.<ref>Bligh, Ch. 13.</ref> To the Heywood family, Bligh wrote: "His baseness is beyond all description."<ref>Alexander, p. 168.</ref> Peckover applied for a position as gunner on [[HMS Providence (1791)|HMS ''Providence'']] (the second breadfruit expedition to Tahiti) but was refused by Bligh. In a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, dated 17 July 1791 (two weeks before departure), Bligh wrote:{{sfn|Kennedy|1978|p=235}}

<blockquote>Should Peckover my late Gunner ever trouble you to render him further services I shall esteem it a favour if you will tell him I informed you he was a vicious and worthless fellow—He applied to me to render him service & wanted to be appointed Gunner of the Providence but as I had determined never to suffer an officer who was with me in the ''Bounty'' to sail with again, it was for the cause I did not apply for him.</blockquote>

Bligh's refusal to appoint Peckover was partly due to [[Edward Christian]]'s polemic testimony against Bligh in an effort to clear his [[Fletcher Christian|brother]]'s name.{{sfn|Kennedy|1978|p=235}} Christian states in his appendix:{{sfn|Kennedy|1978|p=235}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://fatefulvoyage.com/minutes/minutesMAppendix.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122223317/http://fatefulvoyage.com/minutes/minutesMAppendix.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 November 2010|title=The Appendix, Minutes of Bounty Court-Martial|date=22 November 2010|access-date=28 April 2020}}</ref>

<blockquote>In the evidence of Mr. Peckover and [[John Fryer (Royal Navy officer)|Mr. Fryer]], it is proved that [[David Nelson (botanical collector)|Mr. Nelson]] the botanist said, upon hearing the commencement of the mutiny, "We know whose fault this is, or who is to blame, Mr. Fryer, what have we brought upon ourselves?" In addition to this, it ought to be known that Mr. Nelson, in conversation afterwards with an officer (Peckover) at Timor, who was speaking of returning with Captain Bligh if he got another ship, observed, "I am surprized that you should think of going a second time with [Bligh] (using a term of abuse) who has been the cause of all our losses."</blockquote>

Popular fiction often confuses Bligh with [[Edward Edwards (Royal Navy officer)|Edward Edwards]] of {{HMS|Pandora|1779|6}}, who was sent on the Royal Navy's expedition to the South Pacific to find the mutineers and bring them to trial. Edwards is often made out to be the cruel man that Hollywood has portrayed. The 14 men from ''Bounty'' who were captured by Edwards's men were confined in a cramped 18′ × 11′ × 5′8″ wooden cell on ''Pandora''{{'}}s quarterdeck. Yet, when ''Pandora'' ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef, three prisoners were immediately let out of the prison cell to help at the pumps. Finally, Captain Edwards gave orders to release the other 11 prisoners, to which end Joseph Hodges, the armourer's mate, went into the cell to remove the prisoners' irons. Unfortunately, before he could finish the job, the ship sank. Four of the prisoners and 31 of the crew died during the sinking. More prisoners would likely have perished, had not William Moulter, a bosun's mate, unlocked their cages before jumping off the sinking vessel.<ref>{{Citation |url=http://www.southbank.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/Histories+of+Queensland/Transport+Maritime+History/~/media/4AC2615C4B2645F992EF72EB80A5BC99.pdf |title=The Pandora Story |publisher=Queensland Museum |date=14 August 2010 |first=Stephen |last=Wilson}}</ref>

===Aftermath===
In October 1790, Bligh was honourably acquitted at the [[court-martial]] inquiring into the loss of ''Bounty.''<ref name="Greenwich"/> Shortly thereafter, he published ''A Narrative of the Mutiny on board His Majesty's Ship "Bounty"; And the Subsequent Voyage of Part of the Crew, In the Ship's Boat, from Tofoa, one of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch Settlement in the East Indies.'' Of the 10 surviving prisoners eventually brought home in spite of ''Pandora'''s loss, four were acquitted, owing to Bligh's testimony that they were non-mutineers that Bligh was obliged to leave on ''Bounty'' because of lack of space in the launch. Two others were convicted because, while not participating in the mutiny, they were passive and did not resist. They subsequently received royal pardons. One was convicted but excused on a technicality. The remaining three were convicted and hanged.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Court-Martial of the Bounty Mutineers: An Account |url=https://www.famous-trials.com/bounty/392-story |website=Famous Trials |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref>

<div style="width: 97%; border: 1px solid black; padding: 2ex; background:#f9f9e9;">
;Comparative travels of ''Bounty'' and the small boat after mutiny:<ref>{{Citation |url=http://pgosse.chez.com/maquette/story.htm |title=Bounty Story |date=19 October 2005 |first=Philip |last=Gosse}}</ref>
{{col-begin|width=auto}}
{{col-break|width=auto}}
;Travel up to the mutiny (red):
:1. Tasmania, Adventure Bay (21 August 1788)
:2. first arrival at Tahiti (26 October 1788)
:3. departure for the Caribbean (4 April 1789)
:4. Palmerston
:5. Tofua
:6. 28 April 1789: mutiny
{{col-break|width=auto}}
[[File:Bounty Voyages Map.png|thumb|right|upright=1.35]]
{{col-end}}
{{col-begin|width=auto}}
{{col-break|width=auto}}
;Travel of the mutineers (yellow):
:7. Tubuai (6 July 1789)
:8. second arrival at Tahiti
:9. Tubuai (16 July 1789)
:10. third arrival at Tahiti (22 September 1789)
:11. departure from Tahiti (23 September 1789)
:12. Tongatapu (15 November 1789)
:13. 15 January 1790: Pitcairn, burning of the Bounty
{{col-break|width=auto}}
;Travel of Bligh's boat (green):
:14. Bligh's party set adrift (29 April 1789)
:15. Tonga
:16. Timor (14 June 1789)
{{col-end}}
</div>

===Bligh's letter to his wife, Betsy===
The following is a letter to Bligh's wife, written from Coupang, Timor, Dutch East Indies (circa June 1791), in which the first reference to events on the ''Bounty'' is made.
[[File:William Bligh - Project Gutenberg eText 15411.jpg|thumbnail|upright|William Bligh, pictured in his 1792 account of the mutiny voyage, ''A Voyage to the South Sea'']]

<blockquote>My Dear, Dear Betsy,

I am now, for the most part, in a part of the world I never expected, it is however a place that has afforded me relief and saved my life, and I have the happiness to assure you that I am now in perfect health....

Know then my own Dear Betsy, that I have lost the ''Bounty'' ... on the 28&nbsp;April at day light in the morning Christian having the morning watch. He with several others came into my Cabin while I was a Sleep, and seizing me, holding naked Bayonets at my Breast, tied my Hands behind my back, and threatened instant destruction if I uttered a word. I however call'd loudly for assistance, but the conspiracy was so well laid that the Officers Cabbin Doors were guarded by Centinels, so Nelson, Peckover, Samuels or the Master could not come to me. I was now dragged on Deck in my Shirt & closely guarded—I demanded of Christian the case of such a violent act, & severely degraded for his Villainy but he could only answer—"not a word sir or you are Dead." I dared him to the act & endeavoured to rally some one to a sense of their duty but to no effect....

The Secrisy of this Mutiny is beyond all conception so that I can not discover that any who are with me had the least knowledge of it. It is unbeknown to me why I must beguile such force. Even Mr. Tom Ellison took such a liking to Otaheite [Tahiti] that he also turned Pirate, so that I have been run down by my own Dogs...

My misfortune I trust will be properly considered by all the World—It was a circumstance I could not foresee—I had not sufficient Officers & had they granted me Marines most likely the affair would never have happened—I had not a Spirited & brave fellow about me & the Mutineers treated them as such. My conduct has been free of blame, & I showed everyone that, tied as I was, I defied every Villain to hurt me...

I know how shocked you will be at this affair but I request of you My Dear Betsy to think nothing of it all is now past & we will again looked forward to future happyness.<!-- Check source to determine spelling, if it's as shown here add " [sic] ", else please fix --> Nothing but true consciousness as an Officer that I have done well could support me....Give my blessings to my Dear Harriet, my Dear Mary, my Dear Betsy & to my Dear little stranger<ref>The Blighs' fourth child, another daughter, born a few months after Lt. Bligh sailed from England.</ref> & tell them I shall soon be home...To You my Love I give all that an affectionate Husband can give –

Love, Respect & all that is or ever will be in the power of your <br>ever affectionate Friend and Husband Wm Bligh.<ref>Alexander, Caroline, ''The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty'' (Viking Penguin, New York, 2003), pp. 154–156.</ref></blockquote>

Strictly speaking, the crime of the mutineers (apart from the disciplinary crime of [[mutiny]]) was not piracy but [[barratry (admiralty law)|barratry]], the misappropriation, by those entrusted with its care, of a ship and/or its contents to the detriment of the owner (in this case the [[British Crown]]).