At the age of fourteen I began my love affair with Mutiny on the Bounty after watching the 1962 film starring Marlon Brandon. He was cute to me at the time, which was another reason I loved the story, but it was also about the locale and history behind the movie. Usually I hate movies about ships and seafaring tales, but this film spoke to me because since the age of ten I have had an obsession with Polynesian history and culture. If the film had only taken place in England I probably would not have been as spellbound, but the setting in Tahiti caught my attention and I wanted to learn more about the real story behind the HMAV Bounty.

Fletcher Christian and William Bligh were both upset after the mutiny, and basically the former had just revolted because he could no longer take the pressure of being at sea. The 1935 and 1962 versions of the film Mutiny on the Bounty portray William Bligh as being a harsh dictator upon this tiny ship, but the truth was Christian was young and some what tempestuous when he decided to mutiny. The historical record has shown that Bligh was a fair captain and a great navigator, although he did have some what of a temper and liked to swear quite a bit. However, he never keel hulled his men, and he flogged his sailors quite less than many sea captains of his day.

The best way to learn more about mutiny on the Bounty is by reading books on the subject and watching more accurate movies. I still love the 1962 and 1935 versions of the film Mutiny on the Bountybecause these are based on one of my favorite novels, but I view these as highly fictionalized accounts. The 1984 film The Bounty is more historically accurate than previous films, but even this movie makes a few historical faux paus. For example, Christian mutinies against Bligh in the 1984 because he decides to take the ship back around Cape Horn, but this never happened in real life. Actually the true to live events as described in Caroline Alexander's book The Bounty are much more compelling than the fictionalized account in movies. Christian mutinied because he did not want to leave Tahiti, plus he and Bligh were having somewhat of a personal falling out. Have you ever seen two people who were friends and then decide to start a business together? Christian's mutinying against Bligh can be likened to the falling out of two business partners that were once good friends.

Breadfruit: A Cheap Source of Food For the Slaves in Jamaica:

Slave owners in the West Indies were very cheap and wanted to keep down their overhead, plus after the American Revolution they lost the United States as a nearby source of food for the slaves working on their plantations. So how would slave owners obtain a cheap food source for their work labor? These crocked and heartless people decided to bring it to their islands and grow it there. What type of starchy food source is easy to grow in the tropics? Well that would be breadfruit and it was the job HMAV Bounty to bring breadfruit plants from Tahiti to Jamaica. The HMAV Bounty left England on December 23, 1787 on the breadfruit mission, but little did the shipmates know the ship and many crew members would never see England again.

William Bligh was given the title of Lieutenant, but the Royal Navy failed to promote him to captain and give him a ship with adequate room for this expedition. Bligh was a man of humble origins and saw this voyage as a way to make a name for himself before he got too old because he was only 31 at the time, even though many of the films have wrongly portrayed him as an older man. Bligh was not one to forget his friends, so he appointed Fletcher Christian as master's mate even though the man was only in his early twenties. Bligh justified the appointment of Christian because they had been on several previous voyages together, and the young man's record showed he had great potential to do well in the British Royal Navy. However, Christian came from a wealthy background and it was not until recently that his immediate family had experienced financial difficulties, so he did not have as much of a drive to make a name for himself as Bligh since he already had family connections back at home.

Bligh had wanted to circumnavigate the globe and initially tried to round Cape Horn, but the harsh weather made this route impassable and Bligh redirected the ship towards the Cape of Good Hope. Bligh decided to promote his friend Christian at this juncture because he had shown more courage than Master John Fryer. The move to replace Fryer was a mistake on Bligh's part, which he would pay for later on because many men decided to follow Christian when he decided to mutiny.

Nevertheless, Bligh was a thoughtful person that had done his health research of the day and he helped to revitalize his men by feeding them sauerkraut and vinegar to help ward of scurvy. Later on sailors would eat limes in the British Navy to ward off scurvy, hence the nickname limees. Bligh also helped to make his men happy by giving them a daily allowance of rum, which was important on a long sea voyage. In forms of entertainment Bligh hired the blind violinist Michael Bryne to entertain his men and keep them happy, so all in all one can see Bligh was forward thinking and did not set out to become the tyrant.

Lieutenant William Bligh served under Captain Cook on his last voyage and had learned many navigational skills from this great sea captain. Bligh was a superb navigator and many of his maps and drawings of different islands were even used up until recent times with satellite maps became more prevalent and allowed for the easier navigation of Pacific Islands. However, unlike the legendary Captain Cook that had a very personable persona, Bligh was more of an introvert and very rigid about living according to the book of sea command. Whereas Captain Cook could get away with this because of his charisma, when Bligh attempted to do many of the same things he came across as a dictator and a harsh man.

The Bounty Reaches Tahiti In October 1788:

Unfortunately the HMAV Bounty reached Tahiti in October of 1788, which is the dormant season for the breadfruit plant. This set of events required that the HMAV Bounty had to stay five months longer than planned, which extended the amount of time the men were able to spend on the idle and resplendent Tahiti. Just imagine if you are poor man in England where it rains and is cold, plus you are not very attractive and most women are not going to want to date you. Guess what guys, that was not a problem in 1788 Tahiti because the Tahitian women were beautiful and thought the white men's looks were exotic and intriguing. Thus the men were able to cavort around on the island with beautiful women and eat all the fresh food they wanted. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out why many of the English men did not want to leave Tahiti, even if Lieutenant Bligh was less harsh than many commanders of his day. During this period the Bounty's crew were able to eat fresh food and experience the beauty of the South Seas, which made it very hard for few of them to leave. Three men tried to escape and were flogged as an example to the crew.

Bligh realized he had lost the discipline of his crew, so on the return voyage he used his harsh language and commands to try and get everyone back in check. Bligh was forced according to British naval law to flog three men who tried to escape, but by and large he did not use flogging as discipline as the 1935 and 1962 films would like us to believe. However, his harsh mouth and temper were annoying to the men, and especially Christian who was beginning to have a falling out with his one time friend.

From this point onward Bligh tried to clamp down on the Bounty's crew in a futile attempt to regain discipline . Bligh attempted to tighten discipline with daily verbal attacks and rages, which were beginning to grate the nerves of many men who had just left the lush and beautiful Tahiti. What did they have to look forward to back in England? Just think of it from this perspective and consider why they made Bligh out to be such a tyrant, he was taking them from a place where they were free and could have fun. On the voyage back Bligh's verbal outbursts became too much for Christian to bare, which resulted in the mutiny on April 28, 1789.

Christian decided to send Bligh adrift with the eighteen loyalist men who fit in the boat with him, but quite a few more wanted to go with Bligh and simply could not fit in the small boat. Bligh was a superb navigator who was able to take his men on a voyage from Tofua near the present day Tonga all the way to Timor, which is the present day island of Jakarta. The man navigated from memory and rationed two weeks supply of food to last two months. How many British navigators of the day could accomplish so much? Bligh was one of the few who could, and lets remember he was unceremoniously awakened and thrown off his own ship. Bligh did an admirable job of navigating the Bounty's launch and helping his crew stay alive, except for one man who was murdered by the natives on the island of Tofua. It was not until Bligh and the loyalists reached Timor where several died and became ill due to the flies that hovered around the Dutch canals on the island.

Bligh Seeks To Protect His Good Name In England:

Fletcher Christian and the mutineers that decided to go with him settled on Pitcairn's Island in January of 1790. Bligh remarkably made it back to England just two months after Christian was marooned on Pitcairn for what would be the next few years until he was murdered there . Bligh was able to reclaim his good name by showing he was brave and looked after his loyal crew that accompanied him in the Bounty's launch between Tofua and Timor.

In 1791 the loyalists and mutineers who remained on Tahiti were captured and brought back to England for trial on the HMAV Pandora.Those who had claimed not to take part in the mutiny were still imprisoned along with the mutineers in a small part of the ship referred to as the Pandora's Box. The court martial of the mutineers and accused mutineers took place a year later, and a few portayed Bligh as a harsh tyrant in order to protect their own good names and keep themselves from hanging. Peter Heywood had been a midshipman on the Bounty and had attempted to foil the mutiny against Bligh, but in the confusion that day he was not able to reach the deck before Bligh and the loyalists were set adrift in the launch. The confusion of the day's events and Heywood's not being on deck to beg to go with Bligh resulted in the lietaunant believeing his was a mutineer, but during his court martial he claimed he was not. Also, Heywood used his family connections and so did the Christian family to clear relatives names and labeled Bligh as a harsh dictator. Forever Bligh's image was changed in history, but Caroline Alexander's book The Bounty is a good place to learn the truth behind these events. Then and now people use family connections to clear their name, and in many ways Bligh's false image as tyrant can be attributed to two rich men who used social class and snobbery to muddy his achievements.

Christian Hides On Pitcairn Island:

Fletcher Christian and nine mutineers decided to accompany him to their final hiding place on the rocky and mischarted Pitcairn's Island, so named after a midshipman who spotted it back in 1766 midshipman Robert Pitcairn on the HMAV Swallow. Robert was the son of the oft heard of Major John Pitcairn who was British officer that died at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Since this island named in Pitcairn's honor was mischarted it was thus isolated and the perfect hiding place for the mutineers.

Christian crashed the Bounty against the rugged and rocky shores of Pitcairn and then set the ship on fire on January 23, 1790, which is a national holiday on Pitcairn, Norfolk Island, and is also celebrated by many Bounty enthusiasts and mutineer descendants by burning a model of the Bounty. Christian set off a catalyst of events that isolated the mutineers from the world for eighteen years when the American whaling ship Topaz discovered one mutineer, John Adams, had survived.

In 1793 five of the mutineers including Fletcher Christian had been murdered when one of Europeans had decided to steal the wife of one of the Tahitian men. In revenge the wives of the murdered mutineers killed their male Tahitian compatriots, which left four European men and several Tahitian women. The men began to have children freely with the women and two eventually died because of arguments and suicides over liquor. The remaining two men Edward Young and John Adams (Alexander Smith) decided to use the Bounty's Bible and teach everyone how to read and write. When the American Folger of the Topaz visited Tahiti in 1808 he was surprised to see an island where people spoke English and looked Polynesian. To this day Pitcairn is an exotic mix of Tahitian and English, which makes for an interesting and vibrant culture.