Mutiny on the Bounty

by Peter Fitzsimons

  In an effort to prevent a full-blown war, Christian sends several messengers to the Chief requesting that Smith be released, and the clothes returned.

  The answer that comes back is as firm, as it is simple.

  E’ita. No.

  Very well then, have it your way.

  Arming himself and a dozen of his men, Christian leads a party to Chief Tinnarow’s hut, firing at any Native who seeks to get in their way, and, finding that the Chief has fled at the news of their approach, manages to free Alec Smith, who is relieved to escape with his life … if not his trousers, their whereabouts unknown.

  Christian, in the name of justice, orders the hut to be burned.

  One end of a burning log from the village fire is thrust out towards the thatched roof when the leader of the Mutineers notices something.

  There, hanging on the wall of Chief Tinnarow’s hut are, surely, religious icons of some kind, carved images of Gods, ‘decorated with pearl shells, human hair, teeth and nails in a very curious manner’25 surrounded by a heap of prized red feathers.

  Take them and secure them, Christian orders. Those red feathers, he knows, are so highly prized by South Pacific Natives, they might well be of great use in negotiating peace. Then, with no more than a nod from Christian – such a gentle gesture, for such a savage result – the Mutineer bearing the torch steps forward and puts it to the roof of the hut, which instantly bursts into flame.

  The white men stand back in an arc.

  Beneath the light shadows thrown by the billowing smoke now pouring from the hut, Christian agrees to take into his care the desperate young Tubuaian woman who had been sleeping with Smith, and now fears for her life at the hands of her vengeful tribe. She is granted sanctuary on the Bounty – Smith is delighted – and the rest of the white men will resume work, cautiously, on the fort, waiting for Chief Tinnarow to make his next move.

  Sure enough, three days later, Chief Tinnarow arrives at the fort, flanked by many of his men, all of them weighed down with baskets of food and drink.

  They come not to fight.

  They come to drink. And to eat. And to make merry. Oh yes, and to ask if the carved Gods of Tinnarow’s could please be restored to them.

  Christian concedes, ‘on condition you restore the things your Men have taken from us. And promise you will not use any of my Men ill when they come into your district.’26

  Tinnarow promises just that.

  Will Fletcher Christian, Chief Tinnarow asks, take this proffered cup of yava?

  Christian declines.

  Never has Chief Tinnarow been more insulted.

  He has come here offering the cup of friendship, despite having had his land stolen, ‘his island home invaded’, his women ravished, his men killed and his house burnt down … and the Englishman refuses it?

  On some quickly uttered, guttural commands, Tinnarow and his men suddenly rush to retrieve the weapons they have hidden nearby, while Christian, a little more calmly it must be said, orders his men to get inside Fort George, and to have their guns at the ready. He also sends one of the Tahitian lads swimming out to the Bounty, with specific orders for the Armourer, Mr Coleman, to ready the cannon and give Tinnarow’s mob of men more than just a whiff of the grape. Not trusting that Coleman would not hit the fort by mistake, Christian has ordered him to aim for the house, so that no-one will be hurt, but the Natives will understand – this is the kind of firepower we can call on, if we need it.

  And so the stage is set.

  While a large group of Chief Tinnarow’s men – now without the Chief himself, who judges this to be a task for his mighty sacrificial warriors rather than himself – assemble just a little beyond the range of the Mutineers’ muskets, the Mutineers ready themselves for the full-blown attack they are sure is coming. As has happened since time immemorial, the men on both sides grimace and glare at each other, mutter darkly, posture menacingly, and prepare themselves for the battle they know must come.

  Ten minutes later, a puff of smoke is visible from one of the Bounty’s cannon, a boom rolls across the waters, there is a curious whistling, and … a four-pound cannon-ball lands on a hut a hundred yards or so away from the threatening Natives. They scatter and disappear back into the jungle.

  •

  The lusty Mutineers feel ever grimmer about their lonely nights as the Native women are still banned from coming on board, though the men are free to go to them, with all the risks that entails. The men have, thus, come up with the solution of taking Tubuaian women as their concubines, which inevitably make the Tubuaian men feel grimmer in turn.

  Perhaps another row of logs on our fort, to make the walls facing the Natives even stronger?

  Christian does the best he can, explaining to the Mutineers what should be obvious – that stealing the Tubuaian women can only lead to endless war, and they will never be able to live on this island in peace.

  Which is, of course, fine for him to say, settling down every night on the Bounty with the most gorgeous Tahitian woman of the lot, Isabella. But what of us single, solo sailors?

  For safety from attack, Christian still orders all but two men a night to return to the Bounty to sleep, so nocturnal visits from Tubuaian women (or more likely to such attractive women) are a physical impossibility.

  Are we really to live out our lives in this place, with only our machetes and shovels to sleep alongside? Is this all the future holds for us?

  In that case, many of us, and we daresay most of us – for we have talked – would much rather go back to Tahiti.

  Huzzah for Tahiti!

  Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!

  Yes, that was exactly their cry when they had first cast Bligh and his Loyalists off, and it had been every bit as much a cry of lust as triumph. For they knew then they were returning to Tahiti, where the alluring and voluptuous Tahitian women awaited. But what have they known instead over these last eight weeks? The drudgery of building a fort, amidst hostile Natives, with little to look forward to at night bar a cold bayonet to hold in the silent watch of the night.

  The men feel so strongly about it that they down tools and, as Morrison will recount, ‘refused to do any more work until every man had a wife’.27

  Yes, somehow, Christian has to negotiate with the Tubuaian Chiefs to provide wives for them.

  Christian, needless to say, refuses their demands.

  And so they are at an impasse.

  The men will not work. And Christian will not try to get them women.

  It is the beginning of three days of deep discussion aboard the Bounty – about whether to stay here, or return to Tahiti, all of which makes the men so thirsty, they demand more grog.

  Christian refuses, and the result is unequivocal.

  The rabble-rousers, led by Quintal and Sumner, simply break the lock of the spirit room and take what they please by force.

  You were saying, Mr Christian?

  Well, if the men cannot be stopped going in one direction, conciliation is next. Christian orders their grog allowance to be doubled. The debate continues, and more and more men make it clear that they refuse to work anymore on the fort, and wish to return to Tahiti.

  This idea, Smith will later recount, is ‘much against the inclination of Christian, who … expostulated with them on the folly of such a resolution, and the certain detection that must ensue’.28

  Do they not realise the death-trap they will be sailing back to? Even if Bligh has not survived, it is certain that another British ship would arrive within a couple of years, and their fates would be sealed.

  Try as he might, however, he cannot bring the majority he needs to his view.

  Finally, on 10 September 1789, Christian knows he must bring things to a head, and that they must take a firm decision, by way of a vote.

  ‘All hands aft!’29

  Now, who wishes to return to Tahiti?

  A forest of hands rise. No fewer than 16 of the 25 white men wish to return to Tahiti.

  Their number, of c
ourse, include the detained Loyalists, Coleman, Norman and McIntosh and blind Byrn. Peter Heywood, George Stewart and James Morrison raise their hands also.

  Christian knows, of course, that his once dear friend Heywood wants to return to Tahiti – he has been arguing in favour of it for three days – but still, somehow, his hand going up at this moment comes as a hard slap in the face from someone he holds dear.

  But the numbers tell a compelling tale, from which there can be no return. In fact, with such an overwhelming vote, Christian cannot even have confidence that the other eight will choose to stay with him, once they do in fact return to Tahiti.

  For there is nothing for it, leave Fort George as a point of no return, and turn their stern to Tubuai, heading back to Tahiti as soon as possible.

  And so, deflated, but not yet defeated, Christian rises to give what is no less than the resignation speech of his captaincy:

  Gentleman, I will carry you and land you wherever you please; I desire no one to stay with me, but I have one favour to request, that you will grant me the ship, tie the foresail, and give me a few gallons of water, and leave me to run before the wind, and I shall land upon the first island the ship drives to. I have done such an act that I cannot stay at Tahiti. I will never live where I may be carried home to be a disgrace to my family.30

  And yet, no sooner has Christian finished speaking than the voice of Midshipman Ned Young rings out: ‘We shall never leave you, Mr. Christian, go where you will!’31

  Hurrah!

  And yes, seven other Mutineers do join in – those who have voted against returning to settle in Tahiti – shouting their approval to his words. Could Christian sail the Bounty with eight men helping?

  Just!

  The shouting begins on a separate issue. Just who is to have the spoils of the Bounty? While it is one thing for Christian and his core Mutineers to take the ship, they have no right to all of its weapons, munitions and supplies as well. The ever dangerous Charley Churchill, so recently Christian’s right-hand Mutineer, now becomes his stout opponent. His point is put with glaring intensity: those who are going to stay on Tahiti may well have to fight the might of the Royal Navy! To do so, they will need weapons, shot and powder more than men sailing in the unknown lands, who will take on, at worst, a smattering of a scattering of Natives armed only with spears.

  Finally, it is agreed that such things as tools, clothes, grog, food – both that which walks and that which can be stored in barrels, boxes and piles – must be divided between those who will stay at Tahiti, and those who will look elsewhere.

  The first thing then, in preparation for departure from Tubuai, is to take back onto the ship everything that they now have on shore.

  And yet, while it is one thing to load back onto the Bounty such things as their pots, muskets, saws and sails, it is quite another to round up all their hogs and goats once more, as they are now scattered all over the island.

  For now, a party goes out to look for the Bounty’s missing cow, only to be fallen upon by a large group of Tinnarow’s angry, war-ready men, who pound them with stones and plunder everything they carry.

  ‘Tell your commander, we shall serve him in the same way,’32 the foremost among the group says, glowering at the beaten white men.

  Battered, bruised and bloodied, the men stagger back to Christian to report what has happened, and find that, in the meantime, the Tubuaian woman who had sought refuge with them has disappeared, clearly returning to her own people. It is one more sign that something is up, that the Tubuaians are likely building up to mount a major attack.

  13 September 1789, Sourabaya, who goes there?

  Arriving at the small Dutch port of Sourabaya, on the north coast of Java, the Resource is instructed by flags to proceed no further, to stay put in the outer harbour.

  It is not quite the welcome that Bligh and his Loyalists had been hoping for, three weeks after leaving Coupang.

  The reason? Pirates.

  Really? There is a danger in these waters from armed brutes eager to take over your vessel?

  You will have to tell Captain Bligh about it someday.

  But wait he must.

  •

  On the eastern side of Bloody Bay, Tinnarow’s men put into motion the Chief’s scheme: to rid the island of these troublesome interlopers.

  The warriors tie red sashes – the sash of tribal war – around their waists, filling the sashes with flinty, sharp-edged stones. They adorn their torsos with pearl-shell armour, front and back, and they don elaborate helmets made from coconut fibre covered in white cloth and topped by black feathers plucked from the man-o’-war bird.

  They sharpen their 20-foot long spears, tapering them to a deadly point designed to pierce flesh. They tend to their clubs, which act as both club and spear as on the head of the shaft is a cut and polished jewel of considerable size, gorgeous craftsmanship with deadly intent.

  All about, the men jeer and yell, praying to the Gods, working themselves up to a fight, and the women bring yet more stores of stones, spears and clubs for their brave men to take to battle.

  13 September 1789, Tubuai, hunting their animals

  And so they are ready.

  With the authority that remains to him, until such time as they get back to Tahiti, Christian orders 20 of his men to arm themselves and go in search of the stock … and to make hell for those who dare oppose them.

  They are quite the posse, as they depart.

  Alas, alas, less than a mile inland from their landing spot they find themselves suddenly and formidably surrounded by angry Natives brandishing their clubs, spears and stones. Seven hundred of them!

  It is an ambush!

  They have been watched all the way, Chief Tinnarow has moved his men into position accordingly, and the Bounty men now find themselves outnumbered more than 30 to one.

  The men of the Bounty at least have their muskets, and now fire them in a frenzy at their approaching tormentors who, in turn, fight ‘with more fury than judgement’,33 eventually retreating with great loss. The white men, bruised yet upright, collect some of their stock with no further trouble.

  Shocked by how close they have come to being wiped out, Christian decides to have it out with Chief Tinnarow. He issues each man 24 rounds of ammunition, a musket or a pistol. Hetee-Hetee is the only Tahitian to be given a musket – on account of his being an excellent shot – much to the others’ offence.

  Soon after, news comes to the fort from a young Tubuaian Chief, Taroamiva, who tells Christian that Chief Tinnarow and his warriors are arming a party, too, and are ‘determined to dispute his right to the stock’.34

  Very well then. If it is a battle that Tinnarow wants, he has one.

  Christian forms up the same group of men as before. And so they go, marching in silence towards Chief Tinnarow’s territory, ready to fight, determined to get the rest of their stock back.

  No more than a mile from Fort George, pushing through thick bush, Thomas Burkett hears a slight rustling from a nearby bush, before a spear flies through the startled morning, and pierces him below his left ribs. Groaning, he grips the shaft and is actually able to pull it out, before he sees a club swinging from behind him. It is being swung by one of the Tahitians and is aimed right at the head of the Tubuaian warrior who was about to kill Burkett.

  It all happens so quickly that Burkett doesn’t have a chance to scream a warning to the others. A moment later, the Tubuaian warriors leap from the jungle like a murderous swarm, their eyes bulging from beneath their fierce helmets, yelling war cries that instil horror in the hearts of the Mutineers.

  With commendable discipline – they might be Mutineers, but they have been trained in the finest Royal Navy traditions – the Bounty men form a square with their backs to each other, giving themselves a 360-degree arc of fire at the warriors coming at them. Boom! go their guns and furious Natives drop before them.

  Reload.

  Boom!

  They keep firing away at Tinnarow’s
men, but no matter how many are killed, there are hundreds more that pour out of the surrounding jungle, fearless.

  For the most part, the warriors are cut down at a good distance and yet, inevitably, with so many of them, some are actually able to get to close quarters. In this case it is Christian who shows the lead, leaping into the fray and suddenly becoming a whirling dervish with his bayonet, thrusting it into warrior after warrior, as the blood spurts and men die – some with a scream, others with no more than a soft gurgle. So fast is Christian’s blade of flashing fury, he even cuts his own hand as he wrenches it from the armoured flesh of one massive victim.

  And yet, despite the valour of his men, it is soon obvious to Christian that they can only halt such numbers for so long before they will be overwhelmed. Shouting a few sharp orders, the Tahitians act as a rear-guard – arming themselves with the fallen enemies’ long spears to hold the Tubuaians off – so Christian and his Mutineers can retreat to some high ground nearby.

  And what a job the Tahitians do, as they beat back wave after wave.

  Morrison, with the others, successfully makes his way to the high ground, with the brave Tahitians now falling back under their covering fire.

  Still, Tinnarow’s men keep coming, following up ‘with redoubled fury, mocking us (as we were only a handful compared to them) even though many fell by our constant fire as they approached’.35 With half-a-dozen of the Tahitians badly wounded, as is Burkett, and even Christian bleeding profusely from his hand, it is obvious they must retreat again, but where to?

  From their high point, Christian can see about 200 yards off, a ‘[yam] ground’,36 one of the spots the Europeans have cleared for their agriculture. While lower than their current position, it is clear ground, which is the last hope they have of escaping with their lives – for they must keep the warriors at a distance.

  Some more sharp orders from Christian, and, all together, his men begin to fight their way towards it, keeping up a constant fire as they go.

  Again Christian barks orders and the men quickly post themselves in the middle of this precious clearing, facing outwards, waiting.