In 1787, William Bligh, commander of the Bounty, sailed under Captain Cook on a voyage to Tahiti to collect plants of the breadfruit tree, with a view to acclimatizing the species to the West Indies. During their six-month stay on the island, his men became completely demoralized and mutinied on the return voyage. But a resentful crew, coupled with ravaging storms and ruthless savages, proved to be merely stages leading up to the anxiety-charged ordeal to come. Bligh, along with eighteen men, was cast adrift in an open boat only twenty-three feet long with a small stock of provisions—and without a chart.
His narrative, deeply personal yet objective, documents the voyage and Bligh's relationship to his men, thereby exposing the oft debated question of what kind of man he really was.
William Bligh (1754-1817) was an officer of the British Royal Navy and a colonial administrator eventually rising in rank to vice admiral. During his command of the Bounty in 1789, a notorious mutiny occurred. William Bligh and eighteen of his loyal seamen were expelled from the Bounty onto a small boat and began the greatest open-boat voyage in history, sailing some 4,000 miles to protection in Timor. Bligh returned to Britain and reported the mutiny to the Admiralty two years and two and a half months after leaving England.
Bernard Mayes is a teacher, administrator, corporate executive, broadcaster, actor, dramatist, and former international commentator on US culture. He is best known for his readings of historical classics.
Overview
In 1787, William Bligh, commander of the Bounty, sailed under Captain Cook on a voyage to Tahiti to collect plants of the breadfruit tree, with a view to acclimatizing the species to the West Indies. During their six-month stay on the island, his men became completely demoralized and mutinied on the return voyage. But a resentful crew, coupled with ravaging storms and ruthless savages, proved to be merely stages leading up to the anxiety-charged ordeal to come. Bligh, along with eighteen men, was cast adrift in an open boat only twenty-three feet long with a small stock of provisions—and without a chart.
His narrative, deeply personal yet objective, documents the voyage and Bligh's relationship to his men, thereby exposing the oft debated question of what kind of man he really was.
