April 28: Near Tahiti, Pacific Ocean: Legendary, but actual, mutiny on the ship Bounty:
Captain William Bligh was relieved of his command, for cruelty to the crew, by (mutinying) acting–Officer Fletcher Christian.
Perhaps a factor in the mutiny – Fletcher and several other sailors had married or connected romantically with female Tahitian islanders during the recent five–month stay over on the island, and they and their new women may not have relished leaving the seductive tranquility, abundant bounty and lush beauty of Tahiti (then called “Otaheite”) for gloomy and class–stifled eighteenth Century England.
Now, Bligh had received his command of the ship Bounty twenty months earlier (in 1787), at age 33. Bligh had been an up–and–coming sailing master on Captain James Cooke’s noted HMS Resolution during the legendary Cook’s third and final voyage (1776–1779). [See above entry on Cook 1778 CE]
The British ship Bounty was on the second leg of an England > Tahiti > West Indies > England voyage. To be precise, the mutiny occurred 24 days into the leg headed towards the West Indies, after a five month stay in Tahiti.
Ship’s Captain Bligh was arrested by Master’s Mate and Acting Lieutenant Fletcher and associates, and set adrift on–board the ship’s launch with 18 Bligh–loyalists.
Remaining on board Bounty were 4 loyalists (against their will) needed in key ship specialties by the rebels, as well as the 18 mutineers headed by Fletcher, (plus two passive players).
Ever the tenacious survivor and astute seaman, Bligh not only survived an epic 47 days on the longboat, but, equipped with only a sextant and a pocket watch, but without charts or a compass; somehow he managed to navigate and steer 3,618 nautical miles (6,710 km) to Tofua, and then on to larger Timor.
But the saga was to continue further on multiple fronts. The British sent out the Royal Navy ship Pandora to hunt down the Bounty and bring the mutineers to justice. Although Fletcher had burned the Bounty, and although Fletcher and several other mutineers died of assorted wounds or illnesses in–the–interim (either on Pitcairn Island or back on Tahiti to which some had returned), several mutineers were caught and brought back to Naval Court in Spithead, England, for trial.
One was ultimately hanged.
Bligh resumed his career as a senior seaman, and ultimately attained the rank of Vice Admiral. Later, he was appointed Governor of New South Wales (southeast Australia).
However, inconveniently interrupting his New South Wales stewardship, in 1808 Bligh was the object of a land–based troop mutiny, known as the Rum Rebellion.
Thus, he was one of the few British officers to have been mutinied–against both on sea and on land.