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Mutiny on the Bounty

Page 64

by Peter Fitzsimons


  He has no doubt. It is Fletcher Christian!

  Of course, Heywood breaks into something of a trot to catch him, but this alerts the man, who turns quickly to see who is after him. Heywood sees his face.

  It is him.

  It was him, I tell you, Sir John!

  And yes, of course Sir John is stunned, and seems disbelieving, but Captain Heywood insists.

  ‘The face was as much like Fletcher as the back!’39

  Now whether the man in front recognises Heywood is not certain. But he at least sees that he is being pursued by a Captain of the Royal Navy, and that is enough. He starts to run. Heywood does the same.

  ‘Both ran as fast as they were able,’ Sir John would later recount of the conversation, ‘but the stranger had the advantage and after making several short turns, disappeared.’40

  It is a moment fleeting, but an impression enduring, and Heywood will believe it for the rest of his life.

  That was Fletcher Christian! Somehow, despite reports, he had made it back to England. (And this is consistent with another rumour that Sir John Barrow also records: ‘About the years 1808 and 1809, a very general opinion was prevalent in the neighbourhood of the lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland, that Christian was in that part of the country, and made frequent private visits to an aunt who was living there. Being the near relative of Mr. Christian Curwen, long member of Parliament for Carlisle, and himself a native, he was well known in the neighbourhood.’)41

  After all, a curious house, mostly hidden by trees, on an island in those lakes was called Folly, the whole lot owned by Fletcher Christian’s beautiful and wealthy cousin: Isabella Christian Curwen – the very woman that Fletcher had named his Tahitian wife after. If Fletcher did make his way back to England, there could surely be few better places to live in comfort, but relative isolation – where you could venture out as you chose, always with a safe place to retreat to.

  Buttressing evidence? Try this …

  A century and a half pass, it is 1965, and an editor is in the dusty depths of the Bodleian Library at Oxford, going through the letters of the late Poet Laureate, Robert Southey, when he comes across one from 1808, written to Southey’s friend Charles Bedford about a man whose name is so sensitive, he dares only use the initials:

  F. is a native of this country. One of our country gentleman … who was his schoolfellow … told me, that about five or six years ago, as he was walking near his own house with his daughter, he saw two Gentlemen riding towards him, and recognized one of them in time to say to his daughter – look at this man – it is F.C. – and also to consider it would be better not to speak to him. There was a dog with the horsemen, and presently afterwards some boys came along who had picked up a collar, bearing the name of F.C.’s father. My friend had no doubt before of his identity, and this was a confirmation of the fact. What is become of him since God knows …42

  There is also a little more circumstantial evidence. Take the actions of Edward Christian, for example. While he had led a spectacular defence of his brother in the early 1790s, even while tearing down Captain Bligh’s reputation, thereafter he goes completely silent and says not another public word on either subject.

  Could such be the actions of a man keen for the whole story to die, because his brother is now back in England and the less interest the better? It is also surely odd that neither Christian’s mother, Ann, or either of his brothers – one of whom is not just a professor of law but a judge with a family and many possessions – leaves a will. Perhaps, they had a key reason for privately sorting out their estate? Perhaps familial splitting of assets could not be done in the public domain, when one member of the family was presumed to be long dead?

  Could that also be why, after Edward Christian passed away in 1823, relatives of his wife found an exceedingly peculiar thing in his belongings: ‘a strange native hat’,43 from Pitcairn Island.

  Admittedly, one simply wants to believe these pieces of ‘evidence’, because the alternative – to accept that Christian was simply smashed in the back of the head while gathering yams – seems against nature. Such a plebeian end for such an extraordinary man? Surely not!

  That would be like saying that the Princess of Wales died because she didn’t have her seatbelt on.

  Oh, wait …

  Yes, I guess, the likelihood is that Fletcher Christian really was murdered on Pitcairn Island. But those other bits of evidence do intrigue me. And I’d love to know if there is a quiet gravesite, somewhere around Folly, which is his true resting place. Vale, Captain Christian.

  ENDNOTES

  1 Christian, Glynn, Fragile Paradise, Book Club Associates, London, 1983, p. 14.

  2 Byron, The Works of Lord Byron Complete in One Volume, H.L. Brönner, Frankfurt am Main, 1837

  Dramatis Personae

  1 Author’s note: The ages provided in this list are those at the time of the Bounty’s departure from England.

  2 Author’s note: For the sake of clarity I have used the more familiar term of ‘Bosun’ throughout this book rather than the now archaic Boatswain.

  3 Bligh, Log of the Proceedings of His Majesty’s Ship Bounty (1 Dec. 1787 – 22 Oct. 1788), 23 January 1788, State Library of NSW.

  4 Bligh, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 10.

  5 Bligh, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 162.

  6 Bligh, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 164.

  7 Maiden, Sir Joseph Banks, William Gullick, Sydney, 1909, p. 124.

  Prologue

  1 Beaglehole, The Life of Captain James Cook, Stanford University Press, USA, 1992, p. 365.

  2 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, SLNSW, p. 269.

  3 Williams, Captain Cook: Explorations and Reassessments, Boydell Press, Suffolk, 2004.

  4 Author’s note: At this point in modern history, only Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn were known to European scientists. Uranus was added in 1781, Neptune in 1846 and Pluto in 1930.

  5 Salmond, Aphrodite’s Island: The European Discovery of Tahiti, University of California Press, Berkeley, 2009, p. 429.

  6 Tobin, Beth, Colonizing Nature, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 2004, p. 33.

  7 Banks, The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks (25 August 1768 – 12 July 1771), 14 April 1769, SLNSW, [no page numbers].

  8 Banks, The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, 12 May 1769.

  9 Banks, Joseph, The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, 3 June 1769.

  10 Banks, Joseph, The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, 4 June 1769.

  11 Cook, James, Journal of H.M.S. Endeavour, 1768–1771, 3 June 1769, NLA, MS 1.

  12 Cook, James, Journal of H.M.S. Endeavour, 3 June 1769.

  13 Author’s note: They later found out that observers from all over noted a haze or ‘black drop’ that seemed to follow Venus, making it very difficult to record accurate times. Nonetheless, the Royal Society was very disappointed with Cook’s report and data.

  14 Stephens, ‘Secret Instructions for Lieutenant James Cook Appointed to Command His Majesty’s Bark the Endeavour’, 30 July 1768, NLA, MS 2, p. 1.

  15 Author’s note: Bread-fruit trees are productive for around 50 years and can be harvested several times a year. The fruit is very nutritious. Each fruit can weigh up to five kilograms and a single tree might yield over a hundred fruit per year.

  16 Barrow, The Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of HMS Bounty, Folio Society, London, 1831, p. 50.

  17 Banks, ‘Manners and Customs of the South Sea Islands’ in The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, 25 August 1768 – 12 July 1771, SLNSW, Papers of Sir Joseph Banks, Section 2, Series 03.354, [no page numbers].

  18 Beaglehole, The Journals of Captain James Cook on his Voyages of Discovery, Vol II, Part 1, Cambridge University Press, London, 1967, p. cliii.

  19 Beaglehole, The Journals of Captain James Cook on his Voyages of Discovery, p. cliii.

  20 Cook, James, The Voyages of Captain James Cook, Vol. 2, W. Smith, London, 1842, p. 369.

  21 Cook, James, The Voyages
of Captain James Cook, p. 369.

  22 Cook, James, The Voyages of Captain James Cook, p. 370.

  23 Cook, James, The Voyages of Captain James Cook, p. 369.

  24 Cook, James, The Voyages of Captain James Cook, p. 369.

  25 Cook, James, The Voyages of Captain James Cook, p. 383.

  26 Cook, James, The Voyages of Captain James Cook, p. 383.

  27 Ledyard and Sparks, Travels and Adventures of John Ledyard, Henry Colburn, London, 1834, p. 140.

  28 Ledyard, Travels and Adventures of John Ledyard, pp. 140–41.

  29 Cook, James, The Voyages of Captain James Cook, p. 385.

  30 Burney, Journal, SLNSW, Safe 1/64; Safe 1/79, Vol. 3, p. 253.

  31 Burney, Journal, p. 253.

  32 Author’s note: Bligh’s role in the events that led to the death of Cook is a fascinating example of how one small action can lead to another. So many things led to Cook’s death, but the fact that William Bligh ordered the first shots fired in this day of death was noted by his contemporaries. Lieutenant King, Cook’s eventual successor as Commander of his final voyage, was careful to note that the first shots from Bligh’s and Rickman’s Cutters gave ‘a fatal turn to the affair’. The author Richard Hough was also struck by the careful note made by William Bayley, Cook’s astronomer, that ‘a man arrived in a small canoe from the opposite side of the bay with the account of a chief of some note being killed by our people in the boats at that side. This intelligence seems to have spread the alarm, as they all began to arm themselves with clubs and spears’. That William Bligh, the towering figure of the Bounty affair was to start the chain of events that ended in Cook’s demise is one of those fascinating coincidences, or perhaps precursors, of history.

  33 Cook, James, The Voyages of Captain James Cook, p. 386.

  34 Burney, Journal, p. 254 [reported speech].

  35 Cook, James, The Voyages of Captain James Cook, p. 386.

  36 Cook, James, The Voyages of Captain James Cook, p. 386.

  37 Jarves, History of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands, Boston, Tappan and Dennett, 1843, p. 125.

  38 Burney, Journal, p. 255.

  39 Samwell, David, A Narrative on the Death of Captain Cook, G.G.J. & J. Robinson, London, 1786, p. 12.

  40 Samwell, A Narrative on the Death of Captain Cook, p. 11.

  41 Ledyard, Travels and Adventures of John Ledyard, p. 146.

  42 Cook, James, The Voyages of Captain James Cook, p. 386 [reported speech].

  43 Account of John Ledyard, in Jarves History of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands, p. 126 [reported speech].

  44 Account of John Ledyard, in Jarves History of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands, p. 126 [reported speech].

  45 Burney, Journal, p. 256 [tense changed].

  46 Cook, James, The Voyages of Captain James Cook, p. 387.

  47 Cook, James, The Voyages of Captain James Cook, p. 387.

  48 Burney, Journal, p. 257 [reported speech].

  49 Cook, James, The Voyages of Captain James Cook, p. 387.

  50 Mackaness, The Life of Vice-Admiral William Bligh, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1951, p. 23.

  51 Cook, James, The Voyages of Captain James Cook, p. 387.

  52 Jarves, History of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands, p. 126.

  53 Cook, James, The Voyages of Captain James Cook, p. 393.

  54 Mackaness, The Life of Vice-Admiral William Bligh, p. 25.

  Chapter 1

  1 Barrow, The Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of HMS Bounty, p. 50. William Dampier was one of the earliest European explorers to discover the value of bread-fruit as a food source.

  2 Christian, Fragile Paradise, p. 69.

  3 Christian, Fragile Paradise, p. 69.

  4 Christian, Fragile Paradise, p. 69.

  5 Christian, Fragile Paradise, p. 71.

  6 Preston, Paradise in Chains: The Bounty Mutiny and the Founding of Australia, Bloomsbury, New York, 2017, p. 80.

  7 Christian, Fragile Paradise, p. 69.

  8 Phillip, Historical Records of New South Wales, Vol. I, Part 2, 1783–1792, Charles Potter, Government Printer, Sydney, 1892, p. 22.

  9 Phillip, Historical Records of New South Wales, p. 22.

  10 Phillip, Historical Records of New South Wales, p. 20.

  11 Chambers, Letters of Sir Joseph Banks, 1768–1820, World Scientific, 2000, p. 86.

  12 Chambers, Letters of Sir Joseph Banks, p. 86.

  13 Chambers, Letters of Sir Joseph Banks, p. 87.

  14 Bligh, A voyage to the South sea, undertaken by command of His Majesty, for the purpose of conveying the bread-fruit tree to the West Indies, in His Majesty’s ship the Bounty, commanded by Lieutenant William Bligh, G. Nicol, London, 1792, p. 2.

  15 Banks, ‘Instructions for a Vessel from Botany Bay’, circa. February 1878, SLNSW, Sir Joseph Banks Papers, Series 45.03, p. 2.

  16 Bligh, A voyage to the South sea, 1792, p. 2.

  17 Bligh, A voyage to the South sea, 1792, p. 2.

  18 Bligh, A voyage to the South sea, 1792, p. 2.

  19 Banks, ‘Instructions for a Vessel from Botany Bay’, p. 2

  20 Mackaness, Life of Vice-Admiral Bligh Sometime Governor of N.S.W., Vol. 1, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1931, p. 37.

  21 Bligh to Joseph Banks, Letter, 6 August 1787, SLNSW, Sir Joseph Banks Papers, Series 46.02, p. 1.

  22 McKay, The Armed Transport BOUNTY, Conway Maritime Press, London, 2001, p. 7.

  23 Banks to George Yonge, Letter, 9 September 1787, SLNSW, Sir Joseph Banks Papers, Series 45.08, p. 3.

  24 McKay, The Armed Transport BOUNTY, p. 9.

  25 McKay, The Armed Transport BOUNTY, p. 12.

  26 McKay, The Armed Transport BOUNTY, p. 11.

  27 McKay, The Armed Transport BOUNTY, p. 11.

  28 Christian, Fragile Paradise, p. 53.

  29 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, Penguin, New York, 2001, p. 181.

  30 Mackaness, Life of Vice-Admiral Bligh Sometime Governor of N.S.W., p. 46.

  31 Author’s note: Sometimes also spelt Hallet. I have gone with Bligh’s spelling, Hallett.

  32 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty (16 August 1787 – 20 August 1789), 11 January 1788, The National Archives, Kew, ADM 55/151, p. 20.

  33 Bligh to Joseph Banks, Letter, 15 September 1787, SLNSW, Sir Joseph Banks Papers, Series 46.03, p. 2.

  34 Lord Selkirk to Joseph Banks, Letter, 14 September 1787, SLNSW, Sir Joseph Banks Papers, Series 45.11, p. 1.

  35 Bligh to Duncan Campbell, Letter, 10 December 1787, SLNSW, Safe 1/40, p. 2.

  36 Bligh to Joseph Banks, Letter, 3 October 1787, SLNSW, Sir Joseph Banks Papers, Series 46.05, p. 1.

  37 Bligh to Joseph Banks, Letter, 20 October 1787, SLNSW, Sir Joseph Banks Papers, Series 46.07, p. 1 [reported speech].

  38 Bligh to Joseph Banks, Letter, 20 October 1787, p. 1.

  39 Bligh to Joseph Banks, Letter, 5 November 1787, SLNSW, Sir Joseph Banks Papers, Series 46.08, p. 1.

  40 Bligh to Joseph Banks, Letter, 5 November 1787, p. 1.

  41 Bligh to Joseph Banks, Letter, 5 November 1787, p. 2.

  42 Bligh to Joseph Banks, Letter, 5 November 1787, p. 2.

  43 Bligh to Joseph Banks, Letter, 5 November 1787, p. 2.

  44 Mackaness, The Life of Vice-Admiral William Bligh, p. 7.

  45 Bligh to Joseph Banks, Letter, 5 November 1787, p. 3.

  46 Bligh to Joseph Banks, Letter, 18 November 1787, SLNSW, Sir Joseph Banks Papers, Series 46.09, p. 2.

  Chapter 2

  1 Shedd (ed.), The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Harper and Brothers, New York, 1853, p. 230.

  2 Bligh, William, A Voyage to the South Sea, Hutchinson, Richmond, 1979, pp. 1–8.

  3 Bligh to Duncan Campbell, Letter, 10 December 1787, SLNSW, Safe 1/40, p. 1.

  4 Bligh to Duncan Campbell, Letter, 22 December 1787, SLNSW, Safe 1/40, p. 1.

  5 James Norman Hall and Charles Nordhoff, Mutiny on the Bounty, 1932.

  6 Bligh to Joseph Banks, Letter, 13 October 178
9, SLNSW, Sir Joseph Banks Papers, Series 46.27, p. 5.

  7 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 14.

  8 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 27 December 1787, p. 8.

  9 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 27 December 1787, p. 8.

  10 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 27 December 1787, p. 8.

  11 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 27 December 1787, p. 8.

  12 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 27 December 1787, p. 8.

  13 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 27 December 1787, p. 8.

  14 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 29 December 1787, p. 10.

  15 Bligh, A voyage to the South sea, 1792, p. 15.

  16 Bligh, A voyage to the South sea, 1792, p. 15.

  17 Bligh to Joseph Banks, Letter, 9 January 1788, SLNSW, Sir Joseph Banks Papers, Series 46.20, p. 1.

  18 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 2.

  19 McKinney, Bligh!: The Whole Story of the Mutiny Aboard H.M.S. Bounty, Touch Wood Editions, Canada, 1999, p. 28.

  20 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 2.

  21 Bligh to Joseph Banks, Letter, 9 January 1788, p. 2.

  22 Rutter, Owen (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, Canada Law Book Company, Toronto, 1933, p. 177.

  23 Bligh to Duncan Campbell, Letter, 9 January 1788, p. 3.

  24 Bligh, Mutiny on Board HMS Bounty, Bloomsbury Publishing, London 2014, p. 132.

  25 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 2 [reported speech].

  26 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, pp. 2–3.

  27 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 3 [reported speech].

  28 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 3 [reported speech].

  29 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 3 [reported speech].

  30 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 3.

  31 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 3.

  32 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 4.

  33 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 4.

  34 Kennedy, Captain Bligh: The Man and His Mutinies, Duckworth, London, 1989, p. 27.

  35 Heywood, Peter and Heywood, Nessy, Innocent on the Bounty, McFarland & Company, London, 2013, p. 156.

 

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