Editing Mutiny on the Bounty (section)

=== To Cape Horn ===
On 15 October 1787, ''Bounty'' left [[Deptford]] for [[Spithead]], in the [[English Channel]], to await final sailing orders.{{sfn|Hough|1972|p= 78}}{{#tag:ref|Dates are given as recorded by Bligh in ''Bounty''{{'}}s log (where applicable), which was kept according to the [[nautical time|"nautical", "navy" or "sea" time]] then used by the Royal Navy—each day begins at noon and continues until noon the next day, twelve hours ahead of regular "civil", "natural", or "land" time. The nautical "15 October", for example, equates to the land time period between noon on the 14th and noon on the 15th.{{sfn|McKinney|1999|p=180}}|group="n"|name="nauticaltime"}} Adverse weather delayed arrival at Spithead until 4 November. Bligh was anxious to depart quickly and reach Cape Horn before the end of the short southern summer,{{sfn|Alexander|2003|pp= 70–71}} but the Admiralty did not accord him high priority and delayed issuing the orders for a further three weeks. When ''Bounty'' finally sailed on 28 November, the ship was trapped by contrary winds and unable to clear Spithead until 23 December.{{sfn|Alexander|2003|pp=72–73}}{{sfn|Hough|1972|pp=78–80}} With the prospect of a passage around Cape Horn now in serious doubt, Bligh received permission from the Admiralty to take, if necessary, an alternative route to Tahiti via the [[Cape of Good Hope]].{{sfn|McKinney|1999|pp=25–26}}

As the ship settled into its sea-going routine, Bligh introduced Cook's strict discipline regarding sanitation and diet. According to the expedition's historian Sam McKinney, Bligh enforced these rules "with a fanatical zeal, continually fuss[ing] and fum[ing] over the cleanliness of his ship and the food served to the crew."{{sfn|McKinney|1999|pp=13–14, 28}} He replaced the navy's traditional [[watch system]] of alternating four-hour spells on and off duty with a three-watch system, whereby each four-hour duty was followed by eight hours' rest.{{sfn|Hough|1972|p=83}} For the crew's exercise and entertainment, he introduced regular music and dancing sessions.{{sfn|Hough|1972|p=88}} Bligh's despatches to Campbell and Banks indicated his satisfaction; he had no occasion to administer punishment because, he wrote: "Both men and officers tractable and well disposed, & cheerfulness & content in the countenance of every one".{{sfn|Alexander|2003|p=86}} The only adverse feature of the voyage to date, according to Bligh, was the conduct of the surgeon Huggan, who was revealed as an indolent, unhygienic drunkard.{{sfn|Hough|1972|p=88}}

From the start of the voyage, Bligh had established warm relations with Christian, according him a status which implied that he was Bligh's second-in-command rather than Fryer.{{sfn|Alexander|2003|p=79}}{{#tag:ref|An early example of Bligh's esteem for Christian was indicated at [[Tenerife]], where ''Bounty'' stopped between 5 and 11 January. On arrival, Bligh sent Christian ashore as the ship's representative to pay respect to the island's governor.{{sfn|Alexander|2003|p=79}}{{sfn|Bligh|1792|p=27}}|group="n"|name="tenerife"}} On 2 March, Bligh formalised the position by assigning Christian to the rank of acting-Lieutenant.{{sfn|Bligh|1792|p=25}}{{#tag:ref| This was not a formal naval promotion, but it gave Christian the authority of a full lieutenant on the voyage, and greatly increased his chances of a permanent lieutenant's commission from the Admiralty on his return.{{sfn|Alexander|2003|pp=86–87}}{{sfn|McKinney|1999|p=31}} |group="n"|name="promotion"}} Fryer showed little outward sign of resentment at his junior's advancement, but his relations with Bligh significantly worsened from this point.{{sfn|Hough|1972|p=87}} A week after the promotion, and on Fryer's insistence, Bligh ordered the [[flogging]] of seaman [[Matthew Quintal]], who received twelve lashes for "insolence and mutinous behaviour",{{sfn|Bligh|1792|p=27}} thereby dashing Bligh's expressed hope of a voyage free from such punishment.{{sfn|Dening|1992|p=22}}

On 2 April, as ''Bounty'' approached Cape Horn, a strong [[gale]] and high seas began an unbroken period of stormy weather which, Bligh wrote, "exceeded what I had ever met with before&nbsp;... with severe squalls of [[hail]] and [[Rain and snow mixed|sleet]]".{{sfn|Bligh|1792|p=30}} The winds drove the ship back; on 3 April, it was further north than it had been a week earlier.{{sfn|Alexander|2003|p= 90}} Again and again, Bligh forced the ship forward, to be repeatedly repelled. On 17 April, he informed his exhausted crew that the sea had beaten them, and that they would turn and head for the Cape of Good Hope—"to the great joy of every person on Board", Bligh recorded.{{sfn|Bligh|1792|p=33}}