Mutiny on the Bounty

by Peter Fitzsimons

  When gruff Churchill finds in Samuel’s parcel Bligh’s box of ‘surveys, drawings, and remarks for fifteen years past, which were numerous’, he roars at the clerk: ‘Damn your eyes, you are well off to get what you have.’24

  •

  Cole continues to scour the Bounty, begging for supplies, scrounging what he can, filling his pockets as he goes, and has just snatched up a compass from the small stand by the helm, when an angry roar from behind makes him jump.

  ‘I’ll be damned if you shall have that!’25 Quintal snarls, mad and despotic, just like Bligh has shown him – the student becomes the master. ‘What do you want with a compass when land is in sight?’26

  The Loyalists are being given a chance to live on the small island of Tofoa, some 30 miles off. They have no use for any instruments!

  ‘There are plenty more in the Storeroom!’ Cole begs. ‘It is very hard [of you] when there are nine conditioned Compasses below!’27

  Still Quintal refuses, and so Cole turns his eyes to reluctant Mutineer Thomas Burkett for help.

  ‘It is very hard I cannot have one out of so many,’28 Cole pleads.

  ‘Take it,’29 says Burkett.

  ‘Damn my Eyes, we may as well give [Bligh] the ship!’30 says Quintal, who realises more than most that in this situation Bligh with a compass is like an angry archer with a bow, a smouldering swordsman with a sword, a seething soldier with a musket – it not only completes him, but makes him dangerous indeed.

  Still, reflecting on it, Quintal realises it is of no matter. How are they to survive in that tiny boat, for even a few days, let alone make a grand voyage to a European outpost? Impossible.

  So all right then, you may have your single compass, Cole, if it will just shut you up.

  The angry archer will have his bow, the smouldering swordsman his sword, the seething soldier his musket and, it seems, the bitter Bligh will have his compass.

  •

  After being confined to his cabin for what feels like hours, Fryer is at last permitted to receive a single visitor. It is ‘the Boy’, his brother-in-law, young Tinkler. And the Boy is weeping.

  ‘Mr Churchill has told me that I am to stay aboard,’31 the Boy sobs. ‘To be his servant.’32

  Fryer will be damned before he lets that happen. He reassures Tinkler that he will intervene, so the young fellow dries his tears on his sleeve, and heads back up on deck.

  Fryer remains ‘building castles in the air’,33 as he later puts it, working on his schemes to retake the Bounty. The fact that Christian has reportedly served out rum is promising.

  Could it be possible, Mr Fryer wonders, or maybe even probable, that if the Mutineers get drunk enough, then ‘two or three would retake the ship’?34

  It will depend on how drunk the Mutineers get, who the two or three are, and what weapons they might hold. Think, man, think.

  There must be a way.

  •

  On deck, tense voices are heard by the mizzenmast. Purcell and Churchill are going hammer and tongs over, well, over Purcell’s hammer and tongs – and other assorted tools. Just as Purcell has insisted to Bligh, on many occasions, that his tools are not the property of the Royal Navy, but his own property, he now insists they are even less the property of the Mutineers, do you hear? For his property is going into the Launch; that is where it is going, not staying on the Bounty. Churchill is less concerned with legal niceties, or Purcell’s quirks, and far more concerned with the fact that he has a musket pointed at Purcell’s chest, which in his view trumps any argument the Carpenter might care to make.

  ‘Mr. Christian,’ Purcell appeals to the only one who can, in turn, trump the view of Churchill. ‘I ask for my Tool Chest, Whip, and Cross cut saw!’35

  Before the new Captain can make reply, Bligh makes a quiet suggestion into his ear, with Loyalist Thomas McIntosh close enough that he can hear every word.

  ‘You let us have that Tool Chest,’ Bligh says to his usurper, almost respectfully. ‘You have got a very good one in the ship, and you may keep the Carpenter’s two mates.’36

  McIntosh starts. He is one of the two mates in question! Yes, even as he listens in, his fate – whether he lives or dies, whether he is with the Loyalists or the Mutineers – is being bargained by Bligh for a set of tools!

  Now, although Christian does not reply to Bligh directly, he does indeed order Churchill to let Purcell have his Tool Chest. With all his tools in it.

  In reply, Churchill … pauses … and glares … before speaking.

  Gesturing towards Bligh, he says, ‘I’ll be damned if he does not get home if he gets anything with him.’37

  Still, Churchill finally obeys his new commander, and, though surly to the point of menace, hands the Tool Chest to a puffed up and smirking Purcell, before turning again to give Christian a withering look, which says, on your head be it.

  Such dumb insolence to Bligh would have been rewarded by the cat o’ nine tails on his back, but in this case Christian must let it pass. After all, as an officer who has just declared war on his Captain, he can hardly now invoke the Articles of War he has so flagrantly breached, for his own protection.

  Bligh had the entire weight of the English legal system, and centuries of Royal Navy tradition, behind him – Christian has only the weight of the confidence of the majority of Mutineers to rely on – and lashing one of them would threaten that very authority.

  So, yes, he has made this decision, and it has got through on his authority alone. But there is no telling how long that authority will last. Clearly, if the decision was put to a vote of the Mutineers, Bligh and his men would be, at best, left on the nearest island with no boat, and a bare minimum of supplies and tools. At worst, it would be much worse, with one of the increasingly liquored Mutineers suggesting to Churchill the way to put the whole issue concerning Bligh beyond further debate: ‘Blow his brains out!’38

  No, not on Christian’s watch, you won’t.

  •

  Back to the task of rushing around, gathering more materials for their survival, Purcell notices Heywood, frozen again, staring out at the ocean, with his hand resting upon a cutlass that is resting upon the mizzenmast’s boom.

  ‘In the name of God, Peter, what do you do with that?’39 asks Purcell, genuinely gobsmacked.

  Young Heywood looks absently down at his hand and drops the cutlass instantly, as if it is red-hot. It falls with a clatter to the clutter on the deck, where materials for the Launch are being heaped.

  Shaking, awed by the rapidity of events so far beyond his control that he is no more than flotsam in their wake, the 16-year-old ruefully shakes his head.

  The question is still racing through his clouded mind: Which choice of deaths will he choose? Bligh or Fletcher?

  What he truly wants, of course, is to choose neither. A firm friend of Fletcher’s, he admires everything about him, and can see why he so detests Bligh. But join him as a Mutineer? And so never again see his family – his beloved mother, his cherished sister Nessy? He can barely stand the thought of it. For the moment, he decides to keep his powder dry, not touching any more cutlasses on the way through, and see what happens.

  As it happens, he is not the only one who has been doing some hard thinking about which side to take.

  Down in the Launch, Purcell is fussing around the supplies, working out how best to stack them, when he is stunned with the arrival of one person in particular. It is the first sailor to agree to the Mutiny, Isaac Martin! With his bag, packed.

  ‘Mr Martin, what are you doing here?’ asks Purcell, stunned, and angered, to see him.

  ‘I am going in the boat,’ replies Martin as a simple statement of fact, for all the world as if he had not thrown in his lot with Christian, just hours ago.

  ‘Mr Martin, if ever we get to England,’ Purcell shouts, ‘I’ll endeavour to HANG YOU MYSELF!’40

  Attracted by all the shouting, Quintal and Churchill peer over the side of the Bounty and are also stunned to see Isaac Martin stan
ding in the Launch.

  They train their muskets on the turncoat’s turncoat.

  ‘Mr Martin,’ says Churchill, so softly and politely, it is truly terrifying, ‘we desire you to come out of the Boat.’41

  You are one of us. Now get up here, or be shot down there.

  And so ends Martin’s brief career as a Loyalist. Up he clambers on deck, a Mutineer once more.

  •

  Heywood, his gaze still lost seaward, finally chooses his death. Rather than swing from a noose, he decides it better to die with Bligh. In the Launch. Yes, as much as he likes and admires Christian – and sympathises with what he has done – he does not personally wish to be a Mutineer. He is resolved to either see his mother, sisters and brothers once more or die in the attempt.

  Heading below deck thus, to gather his belongings, he passes Cole, who is heading the other way.

  ‘I will fetch a few necessaries in a bag,’ Peter says to him quietly, ‘and follow you into the boat.’42

  •

  There is no way around it – the combined mass of the Loyalists and the stores they wish to take with them in the Launch is taking the little boat deeper and deeper into the mercifully calm ocean. Morrison observes it all closely.

  In addition to all the sails and tools already stowed, Morrison himself now helps to load the boat with … two casks of water, four empty breeves, three bags of bread with Mr Bligh’s case, some bottles of wine, and several other things, insomuch that she almost sank alongside the Bounty.43

  After all, though a much bigger vessel than the Cutter, the Launch is still only 23 feet long, seven feet wide and three feet deep. And as every Loyalist climbing on board carries a bag full of goods, spare space soon disappears – and it becomes obvious to all. With so many Loyalists, Christian has no choice but to keep some of them on the Bounty with him.

  This is not what he had anticipated, and definitely not what he wished for. Only four men were supposed to go at the outset of the plan – but now that they have divided up, it is clear that there are 22 Loyalists (plus Bligh), and only 21 Mutineers.

  And doesn’t Bligh know it.

  This has been a singularly dark morning for Bligh, but Christian’s humiliation is a joyous silver lining. He watches his former Lieutenant squirm with unease as he realises that even so big a boat as the Launch can’t accommodate all those who wish to stay true to Bligh, no less than a majority of the crew.

  ‘You can’t all go in the Boat, my lads,’ Bligh yells in a cheerful tone, clearly intended to mock the Captain of the Mutineers and his small mob of traitors. ‘Don’t overload her, some of you must stay in the Ship.’44

  As it happens, that is precisely what Morrison is thinking, as he contemplates the tiny and now heavily overladen craft sinking ever lower, so that it now has just a little over half a foot leeway above the sea. One solid wave in a storm, and they would be swamped.

  And, after all, Bligh practically had made it an order, hadn’t he? True, Morrison has made a solid commitment to Fryer that he would try to retake the ship, but now he can’t help but notice that most of the Officers are getting into the Launch ‘without the least appearance of an effort to rescue the Ship’.45

  Is he really expected to do more than an officer? Why?

  ‘I began to reflect on my own situation,’ the Bosun’s Mate would later recount, ‘and seeing the situation of the boat, and considering that she was at least 1000 leagues from any friendly Settlement and judging by what I had seen of the Friendly Islanders but a few days before, that nothing could be expected from them but to be plunder’d, or killed, and seeing no choice but of one evil, I chose, as I thought, the least, to stay in the ship, especially as I considered it as obeying Captain Bligh’s orders.’46

  Yes, of course Morrison wants to see England again, but to do that, first he must live, and for him – even as confident as he is that the Lord is always by his side – that means staying with the Bounty. Quietly, thus, Morrison takes Cole aside, to tell him that he has kept his promise – he will not be joining Christian and his Mutineers. Now he will stay on the Bounty with the Loyalists.

  ‘God bless you, my boy,’47 Cole says warmly, grasping Morrison by the hand, before gingerly climbing down into the ever more cramped Launch. Morrison also bids adieu to Hayward, only to be told something surprising by the hitherto timid Midshipman.

  ‘I intend,’ he whispers, ‘to knock Charley Churchill down.’48

  ‘I will second you,’ Morrison replies. In fact, with a wave of his hand towards bulbous wooden clubs they had gathered at the Friendly Islands, he cracks hardy, ‘There are tools enough!’49

  But … to Morrison’s stupefaction, the suddenly big-talking Hayward has just as suddenly reverted to the blancmange he always was, and makes no move. Instead, he climbs down the swaying ladder into the Launch.

  •

  Young Peter Heywood is no sooner in his cabin, stuffing his own knife, bowl, spoon, extra shirt, his Bible, drawing pencils and papers, and brooch with a portrait of his mother into a bag than a harsh and hateful voice rings out: ‘Keep them below!’50

  It is Churchill yelling to sentinel Martin – the Launch is too full and the Mutineers risk being too sparse to run the Bounty. From now, everyone who remains must stay aboard the Bounty.

  George Stewart and Peter Heywood, the only two young officers left below, look at each other. The decision, Peter realises, has been taken out of their hands. The fixed bayonet of Isaac Martin, pointed at their soft bellies, says they are not going anywhere, and will be staying on the Bounty, unless Christian orders otherwise.

  •

  There is one person that Fletcher Christian insists must go with Bligh and he will not enter into any discussion on the subject.

  This way, Fryer, on Captain Christian’s orders. Led from his cabin on the end of a musket, the Master is now brought up on deck once more, where, as seagulls caterwaul about and cry at his unhappy fate, he tells Bligh that he wishes to remain on board the Bounty. Bligh heartily agrees. (No, he has no expectation that Fryer might actually be able to retake the ship. But at least if Fryer stays on the ship he will be rid of the old woman.)

  Most importantly of all, as he already has 16 men on the Launch, there is simply no more room.

  ‘Mr. Christian, let Mr. Fryer and some of the people stay in the Ship,’ Bligh says in a tone that is half order and half request, ‘as the boat will be overloaded.’51

  ‘The people may stay, but Mr. Fryer must go in the boat,’52 replies Christian in a tone that brooks no negotiation.

  ‘Mr Churchill, see the Officers into the boat and take care that Norman, McIntosh and Coleman are kept in the ship.’53

  Aye, Aye, Captain Christian.

  The three Loyalists Christian has chosen to stay on the Bounty have not been chosen by chance. The first two, of course, the Carpenter’s Mates, McIntosh and Norman, have been effectively bargaining chips in return for Mr Purcell being allowed to take many of his tools in the Launch. Their skills will be of use. And then there’s the Armourer, Coleman, who will be invaluable in making and maintaining tools, weapons and ammunition – something that may well be crucial if, some months or years in the future, the Mutineers find themselves pursued and attacked by the Royal Navy. These three are now prisoners upon their own ship. Still, looking down from the secure deck of the Bounty, onto the packed and tiny bobbing boat below, none of them complains too bitterly.

  Or, perhaps, their complaints are simply drowned out by Fryer.

  ‘You had better let me stay, Mr. Christian,’ he pleads, ‘for you’ll not know what to do with the Ship.’54

  Christian is unconvinced and retorts with a sardonic scoff: ‘We can do very well without you, Mr. Fryer.’55

  (Truly, Christian would rather be rid of the tiresome wretch, no matter where his sympathies lie.)

  As it happens, it is the sole point of tacit agreement between the leaders of the Loyalists and the Mutineers on this day – they’d be better off without
the Master – though Bligh feels it so strongly he even gives the stone-faced Fryer a direct order.

  ‘Mr Fryer, stay in the ship,’56 commands Bligh.

  ‘No, by God, sir,’ commands Captain Christian, displaying his trump card in this ongoing game of one-upmanship – the foot-long spike of a sharpened bayonet pointed cruelly, right at Fryer’s breast – ‘Go into the Boat or I will run you through.’57

  ‘Do let Mr Tinkler go with me, Mr Christian!’58 Fryer pleads.

  The Boy, Tinkler, just 13, is family to him. Fryer will not have him be Churchill’s vassal, and so he keeps begging.

  ‘No!’59 cries Churchill, unwilling to lose his future slave.

  ‘He shall go with you,’60 says Christian, with a sharp look to Churchill. There are 18 in the boat, and 26 on the Bounty. There remains just one man left on the Bounty who must disembark – William Bligh.

  The leader of the Mutineers turns to him.

  ‘Come, Captain Bligh,’ says Christian, ‘your officers and men are now in the boat, and you must go with them. If you attempt to make the least resistance, you will instantly be put to death.’61

  Once mentor and student, Bligh and Christian now stand alongside one another as nothing less than the past and present Captains of the Bounty; the betrayed and his betrayer, or the tyrant and the avenger – depending on how you look at it.

  Bligh tries one last desperate ploy. For even as the mass of Mutineers joyously jeer and sneer at the crammed, jammed sinking mess of a Launch, Bligh can’t help but notice that Fletcher Christian appears to be in almost physical pain at the destruction he has wrought.

  Of course, Bligh seeks to deepen whatever guilt his one-time friend is feeling and very softly, in a kind, nurturing voice, twists the knife: ‘Is this treatment a proper return for the many instances you have received of my friendship?’62

  Christian reels, as if slapped.

  ‘That, Captain Bligh – that is the thing – I am in hell – I am in hell!’63

  Bligh is clearly pleased to hear it. For that is exactly where Christian deserves to be. Perhaps the time is right to give the knife another slow twist? Yes, indeed.