Mutiny on the Bounty

This article needs more sources for reliability. Please help improve this article by adding reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged or removed. Find sources: "Mutiny on the Bounty" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Mutiny on the Bounty has become a famous story, leading to many books, movies, and songs. The HMS Bounty was a small, three masted,^[1] fully rigged, sailing ship. The Bounty became famous when the crew (seamen) mutinied (took over) the ship on 28 April 1789. The captain of the Bounty was named William Bligh.

The ship was built in Hull, England in 1784 and was first called Bethia. In 1787 the ship was rebuilt to carry breadfruit trees. Heat and water were added to the cabins so the trees would survive in cold weather. The British government was hoping the breadfruit trees growing wild in Tahiti could be grown in Jamaica. This would provide cheap food for the slaves working on the sugar farms. The ship was very small - 90 feet 10 inches (27.7 metres) long and 24 feet 4 inches (7.4 metres) wide. The tallest mast was 53 feet (16.1 metres) high.^[2]

The Bounty was captained by Lieutenant William Bligh and he took command on 16 August 1787. On 23 December, 1787, Bounty set off on the long trip to Tahiti. On the journey, William Bligh tried to go around Cape Horn. He tried for over a month but bad weather and winds stopped the ship. The Bounty was turned around and went the longer way around the Cape of Good Hope.

The Bounty reached Tahiti on 25 October 1788. She had been at sea for ten months. The crew stayed for five months and lived on the island. They collected 1015 breadfruit plants. The crew were very happy living in Tahiti and Fletcher Christian fell in love with a Tahitian girl named Maimiti. They did not want to have another long journey and go back to England.

The Bounty left Tahiti on 4 April 1789, on the way to Jamaica. On 28 April, near the Friendly Islands, Fletcher Christian led the mutiny (take over). Bligh and 18 sailors were left at sea in a small boat, while Christian and the Bounty went back to Tahiti. Christian and a small group of sailors, 11 Tahitian women, and 6 Tahitian men then went to the remote Pitcairn Island. After they arrived they took everything they could from the ship. A sailor called Matthew Quintal, burned and destroyed the Bounty on 23 January 1790.

Pitcairn Island is a remote island in the Pacific Ocean. The Polynesians knew about the island and people had once lived there. There was nobody living on Pitcairn when it was discovered by an English sailor, Philip Carteret on 2 July 1767. He made a mistake and marked it on the map 200 miles from its real location. The people from the Bounty had the remote island to themselves. There was a lot of fighting between the new settlers. Fletcher Christian, 4 other mutineers and all 6 of the Tahitian men were killed. One of the 4 surviving mutineers fell off a cliff while drunk. Matthew Quintal was killed by the remaining 2 mutineers after he attacked them. When the American seal-hunting ship Topaz visited the island in 1808 they found only 1 mutineer, John Adams, still alive along with 9 Tahitian women. In 1856, the British government moved all the island people to Norfolk Island. Most stayed on Norfolk, but about 22 people found their way back and their descendants still live on Pitcairn. Norfolk has about 1000 Bounty descendants, which is about half its population.^[3]

Lieutenant William Bligh was able to sail the small boat 6500 km back to Batavia. He returned to England and reported the mutiny to the Admiralty on 15 March 1790. On 7 November 1790, HMS Pandora was sent to Tahiti look for the Bounty and to bring back the mutineers for punishment. The Pandora was able to capture the mutineers left on Tahiti, but could find no sign of the group that was hiding on Pitcairn. The Pandora was wrecked on the way back to England.

The following list tells what happened to the crew of the Bounty.^[4]
Two died before the mutiny:

• James Valentine, sailor, died from an infection caused by surgery, before arriving in Tahiti
• Thomas Huggan, Surgeon, died 6 weeks after arriving on Tahiti

From the 19 left in the small boat, only 12 got back safely to England

• Lieutenant William Bligh, Commander
• Lawrence Lebogue, sail maker, sailed with Bligh on next trip
• Thomas Hayward, midshipman, went back to Tahiti on HMS Pandora, survived and went back to England
• John Fryer, Sailing Master
• William Cole, boatswain
• William Peckover, gunner
• William Purcell, carpenter
• John Hallett, Midshipman
• George Simpson, quartermaster’s Mate
• John Smith, sailor/Commander’s Servant
• John Samuel, clerk /steward
• Robert Tinkler, sailor

One sailor was killed on the trip to Timor:

• John Norton, quartermaster, killed by natives on Tofua

One sailor died from disease when they reached Timor:

• David Nelson, botanist, died in Timor

Three sailors died from disease not long after getting to Batavia:

• William Elphinstone, master’s mate, died from malaria at Batavia
• Peter Linkletter, quartermaster, died from malaria at Batavia
• Thomas Hall, sailor/ship's cook, died from disease in Batavia

Two sailors died on their way home from Batavia to England:

• Thomas Denman Ledward, surgeon’s mate, lost at sea
• Robert Lamb, sailor/butcher, died on the trip from Batavia

Seven sailors were forced to stay on the Bounty after the mutiny. There was not room in the small boat. They were all taken prisoner in Tahiti by the Pandora to be taken back to England to be charged:

• George Stewart, acting midshipman, drowned in the Pandora wreck
• Peter Heywood, acting midshipman, found guilty but pardoned
• James Morrison, boatswain’s mate, found guilty but pardoned.
• Charles Norman, carpenter’s mate, found not guilty
• Michael Byrne, sailor/fiddler, found not guilty
• Thomas McIntosh, carpenter’s crew, found not guilty
• Joseph Coleman, armorer, found not guilty

Two of the mutineers who stayed on Tahiti died before the Pandora arrived:

• Charles Churchill, master-at-arms, killed by Matthew Thompson
• Matthew Thompson, sailor, killed by the Tahitians

Three mutineers who were captured by the Pandora, drowned in the wreck:

• Henry Hillbrant, sailor/cooper
• Richard Skinner, sailor/barber
• John Sumner, sailor

Four mutineers survived the wreck and were taken to England for trial:

• Thomas Burkett, sailor, found guilty and hanged
• Thomas Ellison, sailor, found guilty and hanged
• John Millward sailor, found guilty and hanged,
• William Muspratt, sailor/tailor and assistant cook, sentenced to death, but released on appeal

Only two of the mutineers who went to Pitcairn died peacefully:

• Isaac Martin, sailor, killed by the Tahitian men on Pitcairn
• William McCoy, sailor, fell from cliff on Pitcairn while drunk
• Matthew Quintal, sailor, killed by John Adams on Pitcairn
• John Williams, sailor, killed by the Tahitian men on Pitcairn
• William Brown, gardener, mutineer, killed by the Tahitian men on Pitcairn
• Fletcher Christian, master’s mate, killed by the Tahitian men on Pitcairn
• John Mills, gunner’s mate, killed by the Tahitian men on Pitcairn
• Edward Young, acting midshipman, died of illness on Pitcairn
• John Adams, sailor, died from natural causes on Pitcairn

• William Bligh
• Fletcher Christian
• Pitcairn Island