Mutiny on the Bounty

by Peter Fitzsimons

  35 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 15 January 1789, p. 258.

  36 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 15 January 1789, p. 258.

  37 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 15 January 1789, p. 258.

  38 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 15 January 1789, p. 258.

  39 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 16 January 1789, p. 258 [reported speech].

  40 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 16 January 1789, p. 258.

  41 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 17 January 1789, p. 259.

  42 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 17 January 1789, p. 259.

  43 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 17 January 1789, p. 259.

  44 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 17 January 1789, p. 259.

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

  46 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 23 January 1789, p. 262.

  47 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 23 January 1789, p. 262.

  48 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 23 January 1789, p. 262 [reported speech].

  49 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 23 January 1789, p. 262.

  50 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 119 [reported speech].

  51 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 101 [reported speech].

  52 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 101 [reported speech].

  53 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 24 January 1789, p. 264 [reported speech].

  54 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, pp. 158–59.

  55 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 120.

  56 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 121.

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

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

  59 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 124.

  60 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 124.

  61 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 124.

  62 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 8 February 1789, p. 275 [reported speech].

  63 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 8 February 1789, p. 275 [reported speech].

  64 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 27.

  65 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 11 February 1789, p. 277.

  66 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 11 February 1789, p. 278.

  67 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 11 February 1789, p. 278.

  68 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 11 February 1789, p. 278.

  69 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 17 February 1789, p. 283.

  70 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 17 February 1789, p. 283.

  71 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 2 March 1789, p. 293 [reported speech, tense changed].

  72 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 18 March 1789, p. 307.

  73 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 2 March 1789, p. 293. Author’s note: The last sentence of this quote is reported speech.

  74 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 2 March 1789, p. 293.

  75 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 2 March 1789, p. 293.

  76 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 2 March 1789, p. 294.

  77 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 7 March 1789, p. 298.

  78 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 7 March 1789, p. 298.

  79 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 7 March 1789, p. 298.

  80 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 19.

  81 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 19.

  82 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, pp. 19–20 [reported speech].

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

  84 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 19.

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

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

  87 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 138.

  88 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 1 April 1789, p. 315.

  89 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 140.

  90 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 140.

  91 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 85.

  92 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, pp. 29–30.

  93 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 141.

  94 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, pp. 140–41.

  95 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, pp. 140–41.

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

  Chapter 6

  1 Tennyson, The Complete Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Frederick A. Stokes, New York, 1891, p. 97.

  2 Author’s note: Tobin’s original spelling is ‘plaister’ for ‘plaster’. This letter was first published by Mackaness in Fresh Light on Bligh, p. 33.

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

  4 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, pp. 144–45.

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

  6 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 135.

  7 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, pp. 146–47.

  8 Author’s note: Wytootacke is the island now known as Aitutaki in the Cook Islands.

  9 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 147.

  10 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 12 April 1789, p. 337.

  11 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 54.

  12 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 54.

  13 Mundle, Bligh: Master Mariner, Hachette, Sydney 2010, p. 153.

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

  15 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 25 April 1789, p. 350.

  16 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 25 April 1789, p. 350 [reported speech].

  17 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 25 April 1789, p. 350 [reported speech].

  18 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 53.

  19 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 53.

  20 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, pp. 53–54.

  21 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 54.

  22 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 54.

  23 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 54.

  24 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 54.

  25 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 54.

  26 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 54.

  27 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 54.

  28 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 54.

  29 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 54.

  30 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 54.

  31 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 54.

  32 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 55.

  33 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 54.

  34 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 33 [reported speech].

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

  36 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 55.

  37 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 54.

  38 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 54.

  39 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 55.

  40 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 55.

  41 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 55.


  42 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, pp. 36–37.

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

  44 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 37.

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

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

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

  48 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 55.

  49 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 37.

  50 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, pp. 152–53.

  51 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 37.

  52 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 25 April 1789, p. 350.

  53 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 54.

  54 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, pp. 55–56.

  55 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, pp. 55–56.

  56 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 56.

  57 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 56.

  58 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 56.

  59 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 56.

  60 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 56.

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

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

  63 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 56.

  64 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 56.

  65 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 56.

  66 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 56

  67 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 56.

  68 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 136.

  69 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 136.

  70 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 136.

  71 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 136.

  72 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 136.

  73 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 136.

  74 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 136.

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

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

  77 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 39 [reported speech].

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

  79 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 135.

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

  81 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 137.

  82 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 136.

  83 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, pp. 136–37.

  84 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 137.

  85 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 137.

  86 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 137.

  87 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 137.

  88 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 137.

  89 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 138.

  90 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 137.

  91 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 137.

  92 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 61.

  93 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 61.

  94 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, pp. 136–37.

  95 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 27 April 1789, p. 352.

  96 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 47.

  97 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 61 [reported speech].

  98 Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, 1979, p. 164 [reported speech].

  99 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 61 [reported speech].

  100 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 61.

  101 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 61.

  102 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 137.

  103 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 56.

  104 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 56.

  105 John Adams’s story in Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 238.

  106 Author’s note: Morrison records it as ‘The people are ripe for anything’ (Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 46). Bligh, and hence his officers, used ‘People’ to describe all sailors who were not officers. Still, multiple secondary sources (such as Anne Salmond and David G. Williams) have it as ‘The men are ripe for anything’.

  107 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 239. Author’s note: Alec Smith goes further and says George Stewart proposed that Fletcher Christian, instead of going away on a raft, should capture the ship.

  108 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 239.

  109 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 239.

  Chapter 7

  1 Byron, The Works of Lord Byron Complete in One Volume, p. 311.

  2 Beaglehole, Captain Cook and Captain Bligh, The Dr W. E. Collins Lecture delivered at the University on 3 August 1967, The Victoria University of Wellington, 1967, p. 19.

  3 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 239.

  4 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 239.

  5 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 239 [reported speech].

  6 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 239 [reported speech].

  7 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 239 [reported speech].

  8 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 240.

  9 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 172.

  10 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 184.

  11 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 184.

  12 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 185.

  13 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 185.

  14 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 185.

  15 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 185.

  16 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 185.

  17 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 185.

  18 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 185.

  19 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 185.

  20 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 185.

  21 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 185.

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

  23 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 186.

  24 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 186.

  25 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 28 April 1789, p. 352.

  26 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 186.

  27 Bligh and Christian, The Bounty Mutiny, p. 240.

  28 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 57.

  29 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 57.

  30 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 186.

  31 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 113.

  32 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 186.

  33 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 113.

  34 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 113 [reported speech].

  35 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty�
��s Launch, p. 57.

  36 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 72.

  37 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 72.

  38 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 72.

  39 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, pp. 72–73.

  40 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 73.

  41 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 73.

  42 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 73.

  43 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 73.

  44 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 73.

  45 Rutter (ed.), The Voyage of the Bounty’s Launch, p. 57.

  46 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 73.

  47 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 138.

  48 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 138.

  49 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 138.

  50 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 94.

  51 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 94.

  52 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 94.

  53 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 94.

  54 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 94.

  55 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 100.

  56 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 100.

  57 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 100.

  58 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 82.

  59 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 82.

  60 Bligh to Banks, Letter, 13 October 1789, p. 9.

  61 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 175.

  62 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 41 [tense changed].

  63 Rutter (ed.), The Court-Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, p. 186.

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

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

  66 Bligh, Extract from the logbook HMS Bounty, 28 April 1789, p. 352 [reported speech].

  67 Morrison, Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, p. 41.

  68 Rutter, The Court Martial of the ‘Bounty’ Mutineers, Hodge and Company, Glasgow, 1931, p. 73 [reported speech].