The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty

by Caroline Alexander

  It is instructive to contrast these findings with those of a similar investigation conducted on Tubuai, where the mutineers had attempted to construct a fort. According to James Morrison, “the Fort was laid out in a quadrangular form, measuring 100 yards on each square,” but when Glynn Christian visited in 1980, he found the remains to measure “48 yards square” (Glynn Christian, Fragile Paradise, rev. ed. [Sydney and New York, 1999], pp. 211ff.). Morrison’s inaccuracy may be a result of both the distance in time from which he was describing the events and his overly grandiose recollection of the mutineers’ achievements.

  The rationing of food that Bligh’s men swore to honor is best appreciated from artifacts of the voyage, the actual tiny cup, coconut scale, and bullet weight that were used to measure each meal (now in NMM). The bullet, which remained in the Bligh family for generations, was identified by Bligh with the following label: “This bullet,of a lb. was the allowance of Bread which supported 18 men for 48 days, served to each person three times a-day” (the Reverend Thomas Boyles Murray, Pitcairn: The Island, the People, and the Pastor; With a short account of the mutiny of the Bounty [London, 1853]. Bligh still wore the bullet weight, “strung on a blue ribbon round his neck,” at the end of his life (Alfred Gatty, “Barker and Burford’s Panoramas,” Notes and Queries, 4th s., 7, [May 20, 1871], p. 432).

  Bligh’s role in the European exploration of the Fiji Islands is described in G. C. Henderson, The Discoverers of the Fiji Islands: Tasman, Cook, Bligh, Wilson, Bellingshausen (London, 1933). For a succinct overview of this work as it pertains to Bligh, see Owen Rutter, “The Vindication of William Bligh,” The Quarterly Review 261 (October 1933), pp. 279-91.

  Bligh’s letter from Coupang to his wife is in the Mitchell Library, ZML Safe 1/45, pp. 17- 24 (published in facsimile in Paul Brunton, ed., Awake Bold Bligh! [Sydney, 1989]).

  The mutinous incident at Surabaya and the formal inquiry held on his men is described by Bligh in his personal log (his official log of events between his departure from Coupang and his arrival in England is missing; it may be that the Admiralty did not require an account of this portion of the voyage). Bligh’s account is substantiated by VOC records, which contain a lengthy dispatch regarding Bligh’s arrival from the governor of North-East Java, Jan de Greve, to the governor general and council, dated September 25, 1789. Following Bligh’s insistence on the arrest and interrogation of the troublemakers, Governor de Greve, “according to the enclosed documents, had reported that these three persons had nothing against their commander and therefore had asked him immediately to excuse them and had been forgiven by him, while on the contrary the other two rebels Fryer and Purcell according to the request of Bligh had been put on spice vessels” (VOC 3862). Bligh’s remarks about Fryer’s “vicious” disposition, that his men wished to stay in Batavia town, and that the Dutch captain of the Vlijt was afraid are also from her personal log.

  The unfavorable impression left by Bligh’s interaction with his officers in the Dutch Indies is recorded by Amasa Delano, Narrative of Voyages and Travels, in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres: Comprising Three Voyages Round the World; Together with a Voyage of Survey and Discovery in the Pacific and Oriental Islands (Boston, 1817), pp. 145 ff.

  Bligh’s remarks about the sale of the Bounty launch are found in his Voyage to the South Sea . . . (London, 1792), p. 257.

  John Fryer, “Narrative, letter to his wife and documents. 4 April 1789-16 July 1804,” is in ML, Safe 1/38.

  For Ledward’s letter, see Arthur Denman, ed., “Captain Bligh and the Mutiny of the Bounty,” Notes and Queries 9th ser., 12 (December 26, 1903), pp. 501-2.

  Bligh’s voyage in the Bounty launch is generally reckoned, among historically known and documented voyages of survival at sea, to be challenged only by Sir Ernest Shackleton’s great boat voyage in the James Caird, made in April-May 1916, from Elephant Island to South Georgia in the South Atlantic.

  Bligh’s presentation to the King is reported in the General Evening Post, March 16-18, 1790.

  Advertisements for the more titillating account of the mutiny are found in a number of papers—for example, the notice under the caption “MUTINY—OTAHEITIAN FEMALES” in Diary or Woodfall’s Register, June 4, 1790. Similarly, the Royalty Theatre Drury Lane production of The Pirates is advertised in a number of London papers; see Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser, May 15, 1790, and Diary or Woodfall’s Register, May 11, 1790.

  Fanny Burney’s characteristically vivid account of meeting with Windham is found in Diary and Letters of Madame D’Arblay, edited by her niece, vol. 3 (London, 1843), pp. 113ff.

  For letters of commiseration to Banks on the failure of the breadfruit expedition, see Joshua Steele to Banks, May 24, 1790, BL Add. MS 33979.34; Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (the cranial enthusiast) to Banks, June 9, 1790, BL Add. MS 8097.261-262; Olof Swartz to Banks, March 31, 1790, BL Add. MS 8097.344-345. The expression of hope that the mutineers would be hanged is made by Hinton East in a letter of October 6, 1790, Kew (BC 2.19); quoted with permission of the trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England.

  James Mario Matra’s letter to Banks of May 7, 1790, is found at BL Add. MS 33979.29-30.

  For the public description of Fletcher Christian, see English Chronicle or Universal Evening Post, March 16-18, 1790.

  Charles Christian’s memoir, which includes Bligh’s conversation with Captain Taubman, is found in MNHL MS 09381, pp. 27ff.

  The biography of Captain Sir Hugh Cloberry Christian is given in The Naval Chronicle 21 (1809), pp. 177-89. For the biography of John Christian Curwen, see Edward Hughes, North Country Life in the Eighteenth Century, vol. 2 (Oxford, 1965); and Henry Lonsdale, The Worthies of Cumberland (London, 1867).

  Bligh’s theory that Fletcher Christian deliberately mishandled the ship is given in Edward Christian’s “Appendix” to Stephen Barney’s Minutes of the Proceedings . . . (London, 1794), p. 71.

  The majority of correspondence to or from the Heywood family is from “Correspondence of Miss Nessy Heywood,” E5. H5078, the Newberry Library, Chicago. Some letters are printed in Edward Tagart, A Memoir of the Late Captain Peter Heywood, R.N., with Extracts From his Diaries and Correspondence (London, 1832).

  Bligh’s letters to Elizabeth Bligh, Duncan Campbell, and Joseph Banks are in Brunton, Awake Bold Bligh!

  The Times’s comments remarking on the lack of resistance to the mutineers are from March 26, 1790.

  The transcripts of the courts-martial held for both the loss of the Bounty and William Purcell are in Adm. 1/5328 (part 2). Purcell’s mutinous behavior is described in Bligh’s Narrative . . . , p. 55. The suggestion that Purcell was recommended by Banks is made in Edward Christian, A Short Reply to Capt. William Bligh’s Answer (London, 1795), p. 10.

  Bligh’s comments to Banks about the courts-martial are given in his letter of October 24, 1790, SLNSW: the Sir Joseph Banks Electronic Archive, 46.03.

  Purcell and Fryer played modest but significant roles in another naval drama at the Cape, en route from Batavia to Europe. Toward the end of February 1790, the Guardian, a British ship that had been crippled by an encounter with an iceberg, limped into Table Bay under the skillful and courageous command of Lieutenant Edward Riou—another of Cook’s men. Finding the remainder of the Bounty’s company on hand, Riou had gratefully taken the opportunity to recruit skilled British seamen to help him make necessary repairs and had officially taken on Purcell, Fryer, and Robert Tinkler. Purcell, who was in no blazing hurry to get back to England, being still technically a “prisoner at large,” was as a professional carpenter an especially welcome addition to Riou’s shattered crew. As for John Fryer, this stint at the Cape was probably the high point of his long and dogged ordeal and, spreading his cramped wings, he had risen to the occasion, proving a reliable and invaluable mover of stores. When, in early June, Riou at last prepared to send the detained men home, he had entrusted Fryer with letters for his family and the Admiralty. “Mr. Fryer will give you this,” he had writt
en to his family, “he is [a] good honest plain modest man.” Riou’s correspondence is found in M. D. Nash, ed., The Last Voyage of the Guardian: Lieutenant Riou, Commander, 1789-1791 (Cape Town, 1990).

  Francis Masson discusses John Fryer and the seeds in a letter to Banks of May 27, 1790, SLNSW: the Sir Joseph Banks Electronic Archive, 13.45. Masson used a number of the other Bountys as seed couriers.

  John Fryer’s visit to Joseph Christian is referred to in the pamphlet by Edward Christian, A Short Reply . . . , p. 4 (reprinted in facsimile by the Australiana Society, Melbourne, 1952). For Jane Austen’s patronage, see Deirdre Le Faye, ed., Jane Austen’s Letters, 3d ed. (Oxford, 1997), p. 211 and note on p. 506. That John Christian resided with Joseph Christian following his elopement is evident from Andrew Oliver, ed., The Journal of Samuel Curwen, Loyalist, vol. 2 (Salem, Mass., 1972), pp. 879 ff.

  The merchandise “proposed to be Shipped for Capt. William Bligh” from Joseph Christian is found in Adm. 1/1507; the fact that this invoice survives amid official Admiralty papers, and not Bligh’s personal correspondence, is in itself intriguing. Bligh’s list of personal losses to the Admiralty is also found at Adm. 1/1507.

  Correspondence of Bligh and Banks regarding the second breadfruit voyage is found in SLNSW: the Sir Joseph Banks Electronic Archive; for Bligh’s memo, see “Capt. Bligh, Hints for an outfit, March 1791,” 49.05; Banks’s orders to his new gardeners are found in his memo of June 25, 1791, “Instructions for Mr. James Wiles,” 49.09; Bligh’s letter to Banks concerning Peckover, dated July 17, 1791, is in 50.05.

  For Fanny Burney’s remark about her brother and Bligh’s narrative, see Diary and Letters . . . , part 3, pp. 101 ff. James Burney’s role in the preparation of Bligh’s published accounts is discussed in Rolf du Rietz, “Three Letters from James Burney to Sir Joseph Banks,” Ethnos, no. 1-4 (1962), pp. 115-25.

  PORTSMOUTH

  Descriptions of Portsmouth at this time can be found in A New Portsmouth Guide; Being a Description of the Ancient and Present State of the Place (Portsmouth, 1790); and G. J. Marcus, A Naval History of England, vol. 1 (Boston, 1962), pp. 394 ff.

  Advance press concerning the capture of the mutineers is found, for example, in Scots Magazine 54 (April 1792), pp. 196f.; the General Evening Post, April 10-12, 1792, describes Heywood’s tattoos.

  The description of Nessy Heywood is found in Lady Diana Belcher, The Mutineers of the Bounty and their Descendants in Pitcairn and Norfolk Islands (London, 1870), p. 142. Nessy’s biographer was A. W. Moore; his Nessy Heywood (Douglas, Isle of Man, 1913) also gives descriptions of Douglas at this time. Both of these works also quote from the Heywood family correspondence, as does Edward Tagart, A Memoir of the Late Captain Peter Heywood, R.N. with Extract from his Diaries and Correspondence (London, 1832). The petition served on Mrs. Heywood and her daughters for debts, with reference to their “contumacious” behavior, is found in MNHL (MS M4 Lib. Wills, 9L 725 1791 [1], Braddon and Douglas—Episcopal, 13/8/02). Nessy’s claim that her father died of gout is found in Nessy Heywood to Dr. Thorkelin, October 9, 1790, Edinburgh University Library, Edinburgh, Scotland, La. III. 379/446ff. 818-19. All quoted correspondence between Nessy and other members of the Heywood family is from “Correspondence of Miss Nessy Heywood,” E5. H5078, the Newberry Library, Chicago.

  The Dictionary of National Biography (London, 1917) has entries for a number of the naval officers referred to in this chapter.

  Information about Thomas Pasley is found in The European Magazine, and London Review, September 1805, pp. 162 ff.; Louisa M. Sabine Pasley, Memoir of Admiral Sir Thomas Sabine Pasley (London, 1900); and Rodney M. S. Pasley, ed., Private Sea Journals 1778-1782, Kept by Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley, Bart. when in command of H. M. Ships Glasgow (20), Sybil (28) and Jupiter (50) (London, 1931).

  Captain Edwards’s letter to C. Christian of July 17, 1792, is in the Papers of Edward Edwards, Admiralty Library MSS 180, held at the Royal Naval Museum and Admiralty Library, Portsmouth. The only known contenders for this “C. Christian” are Fletcher’s brother Charles Christian, whose own papers make no mention of the Heywoods, and Captain Hugh Cloberry Christian, known as Captain Christian—and whom John Curwen informed Nessy he would be meeting, and whom he recommended to her as the person most likely to be of assistance to Peter.

  Montagu’s career is given in James Ralfe, Naval Biography of Great Britain, vol. 2 (Boston, 1828), p. 6; and John Marshall, Royal Naval Biography, vol. 1 (London, 1823-1835), p. 39.

  For the career of Colpoys, see Naval Chronicle 11 (1804), p. 265. Hamond’s biography is found in Marshall, Royal Naval Biography, vol. 2, pp. 54-60; and Records of the Trinity House (Adm. 81449).

  Lord Hood’s correspondence with the Admiralty regarding the allocation of ships, and other matters relating to the court-martial, is found in Captains Letters, Adm. 1/1002.

  A number of memorials describe Duckworth’s life and career: G. G. Cunningham, Lives of Eminent and Illustrious Englishmen (Glasgow, 1836), pp. 198-202; The Annual Biography and Obituary (London, 1818), pp. 136ff.; British Naval Biography: Comprising the lives of the most distinguished admirals, from Howard to Codrington; with an outline of the naval history of England, from the earliest period to the present time (London, 1839), pp. 597 ff.; his physical description is given in Gentleman’s Magazine, September 1817, p. 275, and October 1817, pp. 372 ff. His fondness for his own pigs is described in Mrs. Cornwell Barron-Wilson, Memoirs of Miss Mellon, Afterwards Duchess of St. Albans (London, 1886).

  The scant career notes of Captain Bazely can be found in David Syrett and R. L. DiNardo, eds., The Commissioned Sea Officers of the Royal Navy 1660-1815, rev. ed., vol. 1 (Brookfield, Vt., 1994), p. 52; and Gentleman’s Magazine, April 1809, p. 389. Details of his finest hour on the Alert are found in William Laird Clowes and Clements Robert Markham, The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Times to the Present, vol. 4 (London, 1899), pp. 8 ff.

  Curtis’s biography is given in The Annual Biography and Obituary (London, 1817), pp. 380-91; Naval and Martial Biography (1806), pp. 120-24. The anecdote about his coach ride is told in “Old Sailor,” The Log Book; or Nautical Miscellany (London, 1830), p. 461.

  Keats’s biography is from his obituary in the Times (London), April 8, 1834; and Marshall, Royal Naval Biography, vol. 1, pp. 342-47.

  For biographies of Captain John Knight, see Marshall, Royal Naval Biography, vol. 1, pp. 154-65; and Naval Chronicle 11 (1804), p. 425.

  An obituary in the Maidstone Journal, February 24, 1807, contains biographical information about Colonel Holwell. In his will much can be learned about this military man from the cherished objects he passes on: a Falkland Island stone seal “with my crest set in gold,” “my pistols and fiddle,” a “model of the monument erected over the Black Hole Calcutta ‘in petrified water,’ ” “my faithful horse Dicky” (PROB 11/1457, 201).

  The outline of Aaron Graham’s biography is given most straightforwardly in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5, 1801-1820, (Toronto, 1991), pp. 361-62, where he is referred to as “incomparably the greatest civil servant in the history of Newfoundland”; and in The Annual Biography and Obituary (1820), pp. 402-22. His family details are confirmed by the records at Holy Trinity Church, Gosport. Adm. 36/7517 confirms Graham’s naval service with Pasley. Other aspects of his multifaceted career must be pieced together from other sources. His early love of theatrics is attested to in Sir R. Vesey Hamilton and John Knox Laughton, eds., Recollections of James Anthony Gardner, Commander R.N. (London, 1906), Publications of the Navy Records Society, vol. 31; Gardner served with Graham in Newfoundland. Graham’s correspondence with Sheridan is found in Cecil Price, ed., The Letters of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, vol. 2 (Oxford, 1966), passim. Graham’s service during the Nore mutiny is documented in James Dugan, The Great Mutiny (New York, 1965), passim; his relationship with Coutts and Harriet Mellon is found in Ernest Hartley Coleridge, The Life of Thomas Coutts, Banker (London, 1920), passim.

  There is a tantalizing suggesti
on that Aaron Graham was related to Dr. James Graham, a Scottish quack doctor who had achieved enormous notoriety for his Temple of Health, a London “spa” in which nubile beauties were displayed clad in healthful mud and not much else before a leering public; Emma Hart, the future Lady Hamilton beloved by Nelson, made her London debut here. The relation to James Graham is suggested by A. G. K. L’Estrange, Lady Belcher and Friends (London, 1891), p. 13.

  The various legal considerations before and after the court-martial are discussed in D. Bonner Smith, “Some Remarks About the Mutiny of the Bounty,” Mariner’s Mirror 22 (1936), pp. 200-237, which also discusses the mustering of the witnesses.

  Events at Portsmouth for September 8 are described in Gentleman’s Magazine, September 1792, p. 860.

  The life of the Right Honorable Samuel Lord Viscount Hood, Baron of Catherington and a Baronet, is amply covered in a number of memorials and biographies: see, for example, The Annual Biography and Obituary (1817), pp. 371-79; British Naval Biography . . . , pp. 414-18.

  The letter from Lord Hood to Lord Bridport is found in BL, Bridport Papers, Add. MS, 35194 f. 166.

  Contemporary news accounts of the French massacres are found, for example, in Gentleman’s Magazine, September 1792, pp. 854 ff.; and the Times, September 12, 1792.

  Morrison’s and Muspratt’s letters of character are published in Owen Rutter, ed., The Court-Martial of the “Bounty” Mutineers (Edinburgh, 1931).

  PROB 11/1301 establishes Cam’s Hall, Fareham, as the place of employment of Muspratt’s brother Joseph. Information on the Delmé family is found in Christine Bartlett et al., Titchfield: A History (Titchfield, Hampshire, 1982). Information about Stephen Barney was kindly provided by the Portsmouth City Council, Museums and Records Service, taken from the Hampshire Directories of 1784 and 1792, Fareham sections; St. Peter & St. Paul, Fareham records; and Corporation records 1782-1788 (CF 18/2); and by the Isle of Wight Record Office (JER/BAR/3/12/45-48, 212). Barney’s house in Fareham is now the Lysses House hotel.