The Mutiny
The mutiny
On 5 April 1789, after five months in Tahiti, the Bounty set sail with its breadfruit cargo.
On 28 April, some 1,300 miles west of Tahiti, near Tonga, mutiny broke out.
"I've been in hell for this fortnight past, and am determined to bear it no longer."
With these words the English seaman Fletcher Christian rebelled against Capt. William Bligh, and the famed mutiny on the Bounty took place.
From all accounts, Fletcher Christian and several of his followers entered Bligh's cabin, which he always left unlocked, awakened him, and pushed him on deck wearing only his nightshirt, where he was guarded by Christian holding a bayonet.
When Bligh entreated Christian to be reasonable, Christian would only reply, "I am in hell, I am in hell!"
Despite strong words and threats heard on both sides, the ship was taken bloodlessly and apparently without struggle by any of the loyalists except Bligh himself.
Of the 42 men on board aside from Bligh and Christian, 18 joined the mutiny, two were passive, and 22 remained loyal to Bligh.
Bligh and 18 of the crew were set adrift in a lifeboat, and the mutineers attempted to establish themselves on Tubuai in the Austral Islands. This attempt was abandoned, and 16 crewmen who requested to return to Tahiti were permitted to do so. Christian and eight others, together with some Tahitian men and women (including Mauatua, who became Christian's wife), sailed away, not to be heard of again until 1808, when a lone survivor (John Adams, who called himself Alexander Smith) and the mutineers' descendants were found on Pitcairn Island.
The mutineers ordered Bligh, the ship's master, two midshipmen, the surgeon's mate (Ledward) and the ship's clerk into Bounty's launch.
Several more men voluntarily joined Bligh rather than remaining aboard, as they knew that those who remained on board would be considered de jure mutineers under the Articles of War.
Christian safely sailed the pirated and under-manned Bounty on an epic 8,000 mile Pacific voyage in
search of a haven.
He sailed to Tahiti and with six Tahitian men and twelve women aboard eventually came upon Pitcairn Island where they settled in 1790.
The Mutineers who elected to stay at Tahiti were captured and sailed back to England on board H.M.S. Pandora where they faced Court Martial.
On 5 April 1789, after five months in Tahiti, the Bounty set sail with its breadfruit cargo.
On 28 April, some 1,300 miles west of Tahiti, near Tonga, mutiny broke out.
"I've been in hell for this fortnight past, and am determined to bear it no longer."
With these words the English seaman Fletcher Christian rebelled against Capt. William Bligh, and the famed mutiny on the Bounty took place.
From all accounts, Fletcher Christian and several of his followers entered Bligh's cabin, which he always left unlocked, awakened him, and pushed him on deck wearing only his nightshirt, where he was guarded by Christian holding a bayonet.
When Bligh entreated Christian to be reasonable, Christian would only reply, "I am in hell, I am in hell!"
Despite strong words and threats heard on both sides, the ship was taken bloodlessly and apparently without struggle by any of the loyalists except Bligh himself.
Of the 42 men on board aside from Bligh and Christian, 18 joined the mutiny, two were passive, and 22 remained loyal to Bligh.
Bligh and 18 of the crew were set adrift in a lifeboat, and the mutineers attempted to establish themselves on Tubuai in the Austral Islands. This attempt was abandoned, and 16 crewmen who requested to return to Tahiti were permitted to do so. Christian and eight others, together with some Tahitian men and women (including Mauatua, who became Christian's wife), sailed away, not to be heard of again until 1808, when a lone survivor (John Adams, who called himself Alexander Smith) and the mutineers' descendants were found on Pitcairn Island.
The mutineers ordered Bligh, the ship's master, two midshipmen, the surgeon's mate (Ledward) and the ship's clerk into Bounty's launch.
Several more men voluntarily joined Bligh rather than remaining aboard, as they knew that those who remained on board would be considered de jure mutineers under the Articles of War.
Christian safely sailed the pirated and under-manned Bounty on an epic 8,000 mile Pacific voyage in
search of a haven.
He sailed to Tahiti and with six Tahitian men and twelve women aboard eventually came upon Pitcairn Island where they settled in 1790.
The Mutineers who elected to stay at Tahiti were captured and sailed back to England on board H.M.S. Pandora where they faced Court Martial.