Mutiny on the Bounty

by Peter Fitzsimons

  It is not possible to tell at the moment, perhaps not even for the ‘Captains’ Bligh and Christian. What is certain is that it is an explosive situation that could go either way, and Fryer, one of the King’s men, does his best to gather the dropped egg and put it back together again.

  ‘Mr. Christian, consider what you are about,’101 he begs this otherwise fine man, with whom he has always been on collegiate terms, even when Christian had vaulted above him in the chain of command.

  ‘Hold your tongue, sir, it is too late,’ Christian replies with unaccustomed roughness, the voice of a man who is desperate and committed to his course.

  ‘I have been in Hell for weeks past,’ he continues. ‘Captain Bligh has brought all this on himself.’102

  ‘You and Captain Bligh not agreeing is no reason for you taking the ship.’103

  ‘Hold your tongue, sir!’104

  ‘Mr. Christian, you and I have been on friendly terms during the voyage, therefore give me leave to speak. Let Mr. Bligh go down to his Cabin and I make no doubt but that we shall all be friends again in a very short time.’105

  Christian shoots the Master a quizzical look.

  Fryer tries a different tack, straight into the prevailing wind. ‘Please, in the name of God, lay down your arms.’106

  Not a single musket is lowered. Fryer has one card left to play, a difficult one given that the furious Bligh is watching him, but perhaps it is better than nothing?

  ‘If the Captain has done anything,’ says Fryer, without being specific about it, ‘confine him.’107

  As in, don’t force him from the Bounty – which would be akin to murder, under the circumstances, as even such a sailor as he can surely not survive – but keep the Captain a prisoner until they return to England.

  ‘No!’ Churchill has a reply. ‘Damn you, you ought to have done that months ago.’108

  This proves to be merely his opening remark, as Churchill now bursts forth with every ounce of venomous vitriol vis-a-vis Bligh he has had bottled up for months. The sailors gasp as they listen to the words Churchill dares utter to Bligh.

  ‘Mr. Christian,’ Fryer pleads, ignoring Churchill as best he can, ‘if you will not grant what I first asked you, do pray give Captain Bligh a better boat than the small Cutter, whose bottom is almost out, and let him have a chance to get on shore.’109

  ‘No, that Boat is good enough,’110 Christian replies flatly.

  Amid all the tumult, and Christian being momentarily distracted, Fryer draws in close to Bligh.

  ‘Keep your spirits up, Captain,’ he whispers. ‘If I stay on board I might soon be able to [seize back the ship].’111

  ‘By all means stay, Mr. Fryer,’112 Bligh replies, his words bearing the resonance of malice.

  Fryer will later note his amazement that Bligh, ‘spoke so loud that Christian could not avoid hearing him, but took no notice’.113

  In fact, Bligh continues to make mischief sotto voce, in a stage whisper, intended to be heard.

  ‘Isaac Martin is a friend,’114 he tells Fryer, wanting to be overheard.

  Oh, yes, Mr Fryer.

  ‘He is aft by the chicken coops,’115 Bligh goes on, shooting Fryer a look that says to go speak with him.

  Oh, and Bligh also has one last instruction for Fryer: ‘Knock Christian down!’116

  Captain, quiet, please!

  ‘Knock Christian down!’

  ‘Knock Christian down!’117

  Despite the gravity of the situation, Fryer is bemused by the perversity of Bligh’s whole approach. Instead of genuine whispers, and trying to organise a genuine retaking of the Bounty, for Bligh what is even more urgent, right now, is to taunt Christian.

  But if Bligh thinks Fryer is going to knock Christian down he must be mad. Just one move by the slender Fryer and the armed Mutineers would run him through. No, much better to try to follow Bligh’s other, far more reasonable order and speak to Martin.

  Alas, just as Fryer takes the first step past Christian, the new commander of the Bounty puts the pointy end of the bayonet to the old Master’s breast and says firmly, ‘Sir, if you advance an inch further, I will run you through.’118

  Turning to the two men who are clearly now his own key Lieutenants, Sumner and Quintal, Christian says sharply, ‘Take him down to his Cabin!’119

  Fryer walks back to the hatchway where he sees Millward and Morrison preparing to launch the Jolly Boat.

  ‘Morrison,’ Fryer challenges him. ‘I hope you have no hand in this business?’

  ‘No, sir,’ Morrison replies, seemingly mortified at the very suggestion. ‘I do not know a word about it.’120

  Fryer leans in close, and says to him in a low, conspiratorial voice, ‘If that’s the case, be on your guard. There may be an opportunity of recovering ourselves.’121

  But Morrison will have none of it. Yes, he really is a Loyalist, but in this instance what counts for much more than that is that he is a REALIST.

  Leaning in close himself, he offers sage advice: ‘Go down to your cabin, sir, it is too late.’122

  At Fryer’s suddenly crestfallen countenance, Morrison at least makes one promise: ‘I will endeavour to do my best.’123

  Hearing them, John Millward leans in, and whispers, ‘I will stand by you if opportunity offers.’124

  All three quickly shake hands. They are in this together.

  Alas, no sooner has Fryer opened his mouth to whisper one more thing, than Quintal’s arm is suddenly around his neck, even as a pistol is jammed in his side.

  ‘Come, Fryer, you must go down into your Cabin,’125 says Quintal in a level, calculated voice, as he hauls Fryer away.

  Meanwhile, Churchill strides towards Morrison, brandishing his cutlass like a hungry farmer with an axe who wants chicken for dinner.

  ‘What did Mr Fryer say?’126 demands Churchill.

  ‘He only asked me if they were going to have the Long-boat,’127 replies and lies Morrison.

  Alas, it is now that Alec Smith, who has been standing on the other side of the deck, but still within earshot, speaks up.

  ‘It’s a damned lie, Charley,’ he says, pointing to Morrison, ‘for I saw him and Millward shake hands when the Master spoke to them.’128

  Millward, too?

  Of all the people, Churchill is most outraged to hear that his former partner in crime and desertion should now be joining in a plot against them. But, let him deal with that cur in due course. First let him deal with a more expected traitor to the cause.

  Glaring at Morrison, he pauses for a moment to mass the menace, and then says straight:

  ‘I would have you mind how you come on, for I have my eye upon you.’129

  As it happens, Smith, with a better eye than most for the popular mood, is certain that more than Charley’s eye is needed here, and now roars to all the Mutineers, ‘Stand to your arms, for they intend to make a Rush!’130

  Instantly the Mutineers bring their weapons to bear. Just let one of the Loyalists, just one of them, make a move right now, and it will be the last thing he ever does. The seconds pass like bugs crawling across the deck, each bug expecting oblivion to fall in an instant, but there is nothing. No-one makes a move. Yes, the Loyalists might indeed rush the Mutineers, but not right now.

  With the situation once again in hand, Smith and Churchill corral Morrison and lead him at the points of their cutlasses towards where Christian is standing over Bligh, where they can keep both eyes on him. As they approach, Bligh addresses Smith.

  ‘I did not expect you would be against me, Smith,’131 the Captain says.

  ‘I act only as the others do,’ scowls Smith in reply, as if that is explanation enough. ‘I must be like the rest.’132

  Alec Smith is a survivor, not a hero.

  •

  In a morning of scarcely credible shocks, Fryer is more than usually shocked. For Christian, after having been informed of Fryer’s whispers and handshakes, has placed three guards in his cabin to keep a close eye on him �
� Quintal, Sumner and … Millward!

  The very man he and Morrison had shaken hands with, just minutes earlier, sealing a pact to retake the Bounty?

  Yes. Somehow, the combination of an angry Churchill and a proffered bayonet to his belly had made Millward think again, and he had decided to throw in his lot with Christian after all. They stand, squashed, in Fryer’s cabin, looming over him, their pistols pointing at the Master, daring him to try anything.

  Still, Fryer has not given up hope. If Millward’s loyalty can turn so easily, he might well be able to turn it again. When Sumner’s attention wanders momentarily the Master winks at Millward, and with a meaningful nod makes ‘a motion for him to knock the man down that was next to him’.133

  But Mr Fryer is not in luck.

  For, despite their previous pact, Millward’s sole response is to cock his pistol, and point it straight at Fryer’s head.

  ‘Mr Fryer,’ he says loudly, to the man who has said not a word, ‘be quiet, no one will hurt you.’

  Fryer, thus, remains even more silent than before, but notes that his silence is not rewarded, as Millward keeps his pistol trained.

  ‘Millward,’ the Master says quietly, ‘your Piece is cocked, you had better uncock it, as you may shoot some person.’134

  Millward smiles, averting the pistol’s aim from the Master.

  ‘There is no one who wishes to shoot you,’ he tells Fryer quietly.

  ‘No, that was our agreement,’ agrees Sumner. ‘Not to commit murder.’135

  Very commendable, gentlemen.

  •

  Bligh might be tied but his hopes run free. Although the Mutineers have all the weapons, their numbers remain small – just ten in all by his reckoning. If the Loyalists rush them, it will be over. The problem remains, however: though the Mutineers might be overwhelmed, they will certainly be able to kill whichever of the unarmed Loyalists attack them first.

  Bligh decides his best chance is to appeal to one of the young officers among the Mutineers – like Ned Young, who is coming towards him, a stripling junior officer, who has been seduced by the charm of Christian – to return from treason to reason, by force of his own force of personality.

  As Ned Young walks by, Bligh ventures gravely, ‘This is a serious affair, Mr Young.’

  ‘Yes, it is a serious affair to be starved,’ spits Young through the gap in his teeth. ‘I hope this day to get a belly full!’136

  And that is the end of that conversation.

  Other officers Bligh does not bother with, as he is already discerning that their feelings run too deep. Stewart, for example, dances up to the bound Bligh and hoots gleefully, ‘This is the happiest day of my life!’137 then starts performing a joyful Heiva, until …

  Until, spotting it, Christian decides that ‘dancing and clapping his hands in the Tahitian manner’,138 right in Bligh’s face, is not the solemn example to set to already excitable, increasingly reckless Mutineers, and sharply orders Stewart below deck.

  But there proves to be no putting this particular genie back in the bottle, now that all fear of Bligh has gone and disrespect no longer risks the lash. Even some of the young men that Bligh had gone out of his way to nurture, hoping to turn them into warrant officers, are now turning on him. Most hurtful is his long-time favourite, young Tom Ellison. For when another volunteer is needed to guard the Captain, the familiar voice of Monkey rings out.

  ‘Damn him,’ says he, caught up in the excitement of it all, ‘I will be sentry over him.’139 Bligh’s blood boils. He has cared for Monkey, he has invested time in him, teaching him to read, to do arithmetic. And this – this pure betrayal – is how he repays him?

  •

  It is time to launch the Jolly Boat. Norman climbs aboard and descends with it.

  Christian now gives a sharp order, which the recipients take as tantamount to a death sentence.

  ‘Mr. Hayward and Mr. Hallett, I order you to go into the Boat.’140

  What! This is news to the young Midshipmen, terrible news, the worst possible news. It is one thing to be loyal to Bligh, but quite another to get into a tiny vessel like that with him, in the middle of the ocean, with so few supplies.

  ‘I hope not, what harm did I ever do you, Mr. Christian, that you should send me in the Boat?’141 Mr Hayward asks.

  For his part, Hallett starts to weep, the tears rolling down his darkly tanned, rough and wrinkly, weathered cheeks.

  ‘I hope you will not insist upon it, Mr. Christian,’142 Hallett begs.

  Hayward also begins to cry, the two grown men suddenly shuddering wrecks.

  ‘GO! Into the Boat!’143 is Christian’s reply.

  And now, here is another, Bligh’s Clerk, Samuel.

  ‘Mr Samuel, I order you to go into the boat.’

  Samuel is not at all surprised, as he had already been told of his fate and had spent the time since gathering his things and, more importantly, those of Bligh’s, even as Smith does his best to get his Captain back to basic respectability. Getting his trousers on is not too hard, with Bligh lifting one leg at a time, but, of course, with Bligh’s hands tied, the only thing he can do for the top half is to ‘lay his jacket over his shoulders’.144

  And now the new Captain, Fletcher Christian, has a new, and more important, task for him.

  ‘Bring up a bottle of rum, Mr Smith,’145 orders Christian. For mutiny is proving to be thirsty work.

  ‘Give every man a dram out of Captain Bligh’s Case, that is under Arms.’146

  Bligh is pleased. It will be a quick way to identify who is a Mutineer – whoever takes this criminal communion – and who is a Loyalist: those who decline.

  But now, dramatic news comes from below.

  ‘Mr Christian,’ calls Norman from the Jolly Boat. ‘She is sinking, she has a large hole in her!’147

  Damn. Fryer was right, the boat has been eaten by worms.

  There is nothing to do but to allow Norman to abandon ship – the water is now halfway up his calves – and haul the holey Jolly Boat back on board to be repaired.

  ‘Mr Cole,’ Christian says to his co-conspirator of just hours earlier, ‘hoist the Boat out.’148

  Yes, that’s it, the Cutter, the second-largest boat available, is the answer.

  But Cole makes no move, almost as if his feet are stuck in tar on the deck. It had been one thing to help Fletcher with the raft last night, when it was dark, and there was no-one around. But to follow his orders now, in searing sunlight, with many witnesses, including Bligh, is quite another. You need to be a committed Mutineer to take an order from Christian in front of Bligh – for it is a death sentence if Bligh survives long enough to inform the Admiralty – and Cole is not committed at all.

  ‘Damn you, Mr Cole,’149 says Christian, shaking his bayonet towards him. ‘If you do not do it instantly, I will take care of you.’150

  Under threat, Cole heads towards the Cutter as Christian turns to Purcell.

  ‘Mr Purcell, get the large Cutter ready.’151

  Purcell’s feet, too, prove to be stuck in tar. Christian’s bayonet glints in the bright sunshine.

  ‘Do you get the Boat ready directly?’152 asks Christian, brandishing the bayonet.

  Well, when you put it like that, the answer is also yes, and Purcell is soon helping Cole.

  Keenly observing the whole scene, Bligh is slightly puzzled. He has no clue that both men being ordered around by Christian were voluntarily helping the Lieutenant the night before to build his raft and plot his escape, but he nevertheless notes a strange hesitation in Christian’s commands to these two men. Of course Christian is not easily disposed to order around two recent, kind allies, but Bligh misreads the reasons and concludes that Christian is hesitant about going through with the whole mutiny. Now is the time for another appeal.

  ‘Consider what you are about, Mr. Christian,’ says Bligh. ‘For God’s sake drop it and there shall be no more come of it.’153

  ‘’Tis too late, Captain Bligh,’154 says C
aptain Christian.

  ‘No, Mr. Christian, it is not too late yet,’ Bligh responds. ‘I’ll forfeit my Honour if ever I speak of it; I’ll give you my bond that there shall never be any more come of it.’155

  It is a desperate offer from a man Christian despises nearly as much as he distrusts him. By some measure it is a handsome offer, too, but would he bet his life on William Bligh keeping his word? He would not.

  ‘No, Captain Bligh,’ replies Christian. ‘If you had any honour things would not have come to this.’156

  Bligh’s face turns ashen. It is one thing to be mutinied against, to have one’s buttocks exposed, and wrists tied before the mizzenmast. But it is quite another to have his honour called into question.

  ‘You know, Captain Bligh,’ Christian says, ‘you have treated me like a dog all the voyage. I have been in Hell this fortnight past and I am determined to suffer it no longer.’157

  And yet, no sooner do Cole and Purcell overhear the Captain’s offer than they too beg Mr Christian to drop the whole thing.

  But Christian will not listen.

  What was that thing his brother Charles had told him in the dark seamen’s tavern back at Spithead, just before he had come on this voyage? He remembers now. Charles had brought his head forward in a conspiratorial tête-à-tête, leaned in and told him a tale of mutiny and mayhem on the High Seas.

  ‘When men are cooped up for a long time in the interior of a ship,’ his brother had advised, ‘there oft prevails such a jarring discordancy of tempers and conduct that it is often on many occasions repeated acts of irritation and offence to change the disposition of a lamb into that of an animal fierce and resentful.’158

  And that is exactly it, dear brother.

  ‘You know, Cole, how I have been used,’ Christian hisses, fierce and resentful.

  ‘I know it very well, Mr. Christian,’ replies Cole. ‘We all knew it, but drop it, for God’s sake.’159

  Unstated, there is a plea here: Christian, Purcell and I took a huge risk last night, helping you to build a raft. But now, you have escalated this into a full-blown mutiny, perhaps even a murderous mutiny, and you have placed our lives at risk! And make no mistake, Fletcher, to abandon four men in a boat as small as the Cutter will be murder. You must think again, Fletcher.