Mutiny on the Bounty

by Peter Fitzsimons

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

  37 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 4 [reported speech].

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

  39 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, pp. 4–5.

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

  41 Dening, Mr Bligh’s Bad Language, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 1992, pp. 66–67.

  42 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 2 March 1788, p. 47.

  43 Kennedy, Captain Bligh: The Man and His Mutinies, p. 27.

  44 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 10 March 1788, p. 52.

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

  46 Kennedy, Captain Bligh: The Man and His Mutinies, p. 27.

  47 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 20 March 1788, p. 58.

  48 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 7.

  49 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 5 April 1788, p. 71.

  50 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 7.

  51 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 29 March 1788, p. 66.

  52 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 8.

  53 Bligh, A voyage to the South sea, 1792, p. 31.

  54 Bligh, A voyage to the South sea, 1792, p. 31.

  55 Mackaness, Fresh Light on Bligh, Review Publications, Dubbo, 1976, p. 33.

  56 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 22 April 1788, p. 86.

  Chapter 3

  1 Shakespeare, William, Macbeth, Lyons and Carnahan, New York, 1913, p. 114.

  2 Morrison, James, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 7.

  3 Shedd (ed.), The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, p. 233.

  4 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 13 April 1788, p. 76.

  5 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 24 May 1788, p. 106.

  6 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 32.

  7 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 32.

  8 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 22 April 1788, p. 85.

  9 Bligh to Campbell, Letter, 26 May 1788, p. 3.

  10 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 9 [reported speech]. Author’s note: Morrison gives this description for the events of 18 April 1788, when Bligh first ordered the Bounty to bear away for the Cape of Good Hope. I have adapted the dialogue to 22 April 1788 as it would likely have been a very similar scenario.

  11 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 17 April 1788, p. 80.

  12 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 22 April 1788, p. 86 [reported speech].

  13 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 9.

  14 Author’s note: These orders have been adapted from James Morrison’s journal recalling the Bounty bearing away from Cape Horn on 18 April 1788. I presume similar orders would have been used on 22 April, given they were sailing in similar conditions.

  15 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 22 April 1788, p. 85.

  16 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 34.

  17 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 10.

  18 Bligh to Banks, Letter, 24 May 1788, p. 5.

  19 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 26 May 1788, p. 109.

  20 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 28 October 1788, p. 188.

  21 Macquarie, Journal No. 1: 15 December 1787 – 24 March 1792, 13 June 1788, SLNSW, pp. 87–88.

  22 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 1 July 1788, p. 114.

  23 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 1 July 1788, p. 114.

  24 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 1 July 1788, p. 114.

  25 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 1 July 1788, p. 114.

  26 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 22 July 1788, p. 128.

  27 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 20 August 1788, p. 144.

  28 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, , p. 13.

  29 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 27 August 1788, p. 149.

  30 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 28 August 1788, p. 149.

  31 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 28 August 1788, p. 149.

  32 Alexander, The Bounty, HarperCollins, London, 2003, p. 97.

  33 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 23 August 1788, p. 146.

  34 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 26 August 1788, p. 148.

  35 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 26 August 1788, p. 148

  36 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 26 August 1788, p. 148

  37 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 26 August 1788, p. 148.

  38 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 26 August 1788, p. 148 [reported speech].

  39 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 15.

  40 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 15.

  41 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 1 September 1788, p. 150.

  42 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 1 September 1788, p. 151.

  43 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 2 September 1788, p. 151.

  44 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 2 September 1788, p. 151.

  45 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 2 September 1788, p. 151.

  46 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 14.

  47 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 2 September 1788, p. 151.

  48 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, pp. 49–52.

  49 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 2 September 1788, p. 151.

  50 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 31 August 1788, p. 150.

  51 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 31 August 1788, p. 150.

  52 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 4 September 1788, p. 152.

  53 Mackaness, The Life of Vice-Admiral William Bligh, p. 68. Author’s note: This portion of the Log was crossed out by Bligh, but it is still able to be read. He wrote a censored/more formal account of Valentine’s death later in the Log.

  54 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 10 October 1788, p. 174.

  55 Mackaness, The Life of Vice-Admiral William Bligh, p. 68.

  56 Mackaness, The Life of Vice-Admiral William Bligh, p. 68.

  57 Mackaness, The Life of Vice-Admiral William Bligh, p. 68.

  58 Mackaness, The Life of Vice-Admiral William Bligh, p. 68.

  59 Mackaness, The Life of Vice-Admiral William Bligh, p. 68 [reported speech].

  60 Mackaness, The Life of Vice-Admiral William Bligh, p. 68.

  61 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 9 October 1788, p. 173.

  62 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 9 October 1788, p. 173.

  63 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 9 October 1788, p. 173.

  64 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 9 October 1788, p. 173 [reported speech].

  65 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 9 October 1788, p. 173 [reported speech].

  66 McKinney, Bligh!: The Whole Story of the Mutiny Aboard H.M.S. Bounty, p. 172.

  67 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 16.

  68 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 16.

  69 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 16 [reported speech].

  70 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 9 October 1788, p. 173.

  71 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 16.

  72 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 10 October 1788, p. 174.

  73 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 15.

  74 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, p. 176.

  75 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 18 October 1788, p. 178.

  76 Author’s note: I presume he was told by Cole, whose job it was to ensure order
and obedience among the crew.

  77 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 19 October 1788, p. 179.

  78 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 19 October 1788, p. 179.

  79 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 19 October 1788, p. 179.

  80 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 20 October 1788, p. 179.

  81 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 20 October 1788, p. 179.

  82 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 20 October 1788, p. 179.

  83 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 23 October 1788, p. 182.

  84 Kennedy, Captain Bligh: The Man and His Mutinies, p. 41.

  85 Kennedy, Captain Bligh: The Man and His Mutinies, p. 42.

  86 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 24 October 1788, p. 183.

  87 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 24 October 1788, p. 183.

  88 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 24 October 1788, p. 183.

  89 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 24 October 1788, p. 183.

  90 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 24 October 1788, p. 183.

  91 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 25 October 1788, p. 184.

  92 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 25 October 1788, p. 184.

  93 Oliver, Return to Tahiti, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1988, p. 32.

  94 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 25 October 1788, p. 184.

  Chapter 4

  1 Robertson, The Discovery of Tahiti: A Journal of the Second Voyage of H. M. S. Dolphin Round the World, Under the Command of Captain Wallis, R.N., in the Years 1766, 1767 and 1768, Volume 98, Hakluyt Society, London, 1948, p. 167.

  2 Preston, Paradise in Chains, p. 8.

  3 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 1 November 1788, p. 194.

  4 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 26 October 1788, p. 185.

  5 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 59.

  6 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 59.

  7 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 59.

  8 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 59.

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

  10 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, pp. 157–58.

  11 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 22.

  12 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 22.

  13 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 27 October 1788, p. 186.

  14 Oliver, Return to Tahiti, pp. 72–73.

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

  16 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 252.

  17 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 82.

  18 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 26 October 1788, p. 185.

  19 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 62.

  20 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 26 October 1788, p. 185 [reported speech].

  21 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 26 October 1788, p. 185.

  22 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 308.

  23 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 27 October 1788, p. 187.

  24 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 27 October 1788, p. 187 [reported speech].

  25 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 243.

  26 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 27 October 1788, p. 187.

  27 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 27 October 1788, p. 187.

  28 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 27 October 1788, p. 188 [reported speech].

  29 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 27 October 1788, p. 187.

  30 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 27 October 1788, p. 187.

  31 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 64.

  32 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 66.

  33 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 27 October 1788, p. 188.

  34 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 28 October 1788, p. 188.

  35 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 66.

  36 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 65.

  37 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, pp. 65–66.

  38 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, pp. 65–66.

  39 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, pp. 65–66.

  40 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, pp. 65–66.

  41 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 66.

  42 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 67.

  43 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 67.

  44 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 67.

  45 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 67.

  46 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 67.

  47 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 68.

  48 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 68.

  49 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 69.

  50 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 69.

  51 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 69.

  52 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 69.

  53 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 29 October 1788, p. 190.

  54 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 30 October 1788, p. 191.

  55 Bligh, A voyage to the South sea, 1792, p. 70.

  56 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 70.

  57 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, pp. 70–71.

  58 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 31 October 1788, p. 191.

  59 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 28 November 1788, p. 221.

  60 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 28 November 1788, p. 221.

  61 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 73 [reported speech].

  62 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 73.

  63 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 73.

  64 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 1 November 1788, p. 193 [reported speech].

  65 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 1 November 1788, p. 193 [reported speech].

  66 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 1 November 1788, p. 193.

  67 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 1 November 1788, p. 193 [reported speech].

  68 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 1 November 1788, p. 193 [reported speech].

  69 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 74.

  70 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, pp. 76–77.

  71 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 77. Author’s note: I have standardised the spelling of Pretanie, for Britain, as there are two versions.

  72 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, pp. 77–79.

  73 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 2 November 1788, p. 195.

  74 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 2 November 1788, p. 195.

  75 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 91.

  76 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 83.

  77 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 4 November 1788, p. 197.

  78 Tobin, Captain Bligh’s Second Chance, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2007, pp. 128–30. Author’s note: Peter Heywood’s dictionary was never published for public consumption. It was apparently used by Christian missionaries on Tahiti at one point, but no copy of it has survived into the 21st century. I have, therefore, gone with Tobin’s dictionary, as he was there just two years later with Bligh and so has the best contemporaneous recording of vocabulary.

  79 Walker’s Hiberian Magazine, Part Two, R. Gibson, Dublin, 1794, p. 418.

  Chapter 5

  1 Wordsworth, Wordsworth: The Major Works, Oxford University Press, UK, 2000, p. 550.

  2 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 9 November 1788, p. 202.

  3 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 9 November 1788, p. 2
02.

  4 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 9 November 1788, p. 202.

  5 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 95.

  6 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 18 November 1788, p. 211.

  7 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 21 November 1788, p. 216.

  8 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 21 November 1788, p. 216.

  9 Bowker and Bligh, Mutiny!! Aboard H.M. Armed Transport ‘Bounty’ in 1789, Boerker and Bertram, Sussex, 1978, p. 311.

  10 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 4 December 1788, p. 227.

  11 Bowker and Bligh, Mutiny!! Aboard H.M. Armed Transport ‘Bounty’ in 1789, 1978, p. 266.

  12 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 5 December 1788, p. 227.

  13 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 5 December 1788, p. 227.

  14 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 6 December 1788, p. 228 [reported speech].

  15 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 8 December 1788, p. 230.

  16 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 10 December 1788, p. 232.

  17 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 10 December 1788, p. 232.

  18 Bowker and Bligh, Mutiny!! 1978, p. 270.

  19 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 24 December 1788, p. 242.

  20 Author’s note: These are generic commands, consistent with the terminology of the time.

  21 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 143.

  22 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 143 [reported speech].

  23 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 143.

  24 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 143.

  25 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 5 January 1789, p. 251.

  26 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 113 [reported speech].

  27 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 5 January 1789, p. 251.

  28 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 5 January 1789, p. 251.

  29 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 26 [reported speech].

  30 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 26.

  31 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 15 January 1789, p. 257.

  32 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 15 January 1789, p. 257 [reported speech].

  33 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 15 January 1789, p. 257.

  34 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 15 January 1789, p. 257.