Last Saturday 28th April was the
223rd anniversary of the Mutiny on the Bounty. It is perhaps the
most famous mutiny and one that has captured the mind of Hollywood with no less than 5 movies being
made since 1917. Some of the facts of the mutiny have been blurred as a result
of their Hollywood treatment but it is still
an amazing story none the less.
The Pitcairn Norfolk Gallery in the Pier
Store tells the story of the mutiny and houses a number of artefacts from the
Bounty including a cannon, kettle, iron stone plate and smaller pieces from the
ship. What happens is as follows…
The Bounty left England on 23 December 1787 on what
should have been a straight forward mission. Bligh’s orders were to sail via
Cape Horn but delays meant that they experienced the notoriously harsh weather
conditions of Cape Horn late in the season –
snowstorms, gails, constant rain and high seas. In April 1788 Bligh admitted
defeat and turned for the Cape of Good Hope.
Ten months after leaving England the Bounty reached Tahiti
on 25 October 1788. After the harsh conditions of the voyage Tahiti
must have seemed like a tropical paradise. Six months were spent in Tahiti
cultivating the breadfruit seedlings so they would survive the long journey to
the West Indies. Fresh food, a pleasant
climate, friends and sexual relationships were a predominant improvement on
life at sea!
The Bounty left Tahiti
on 4 April 1789. There was some tension on board between Bligh and Fletcher
Christian. However there was no air of impending mutiny – this is pure
invention by Hollywood script writers. Bligh
slept at night with his door open, without guards or weapons. Three and a half
weeks after leaving Tahiti, on the 28th
April just before sunrise, Christian accompanied by Charles Churchill, John
Mills and Thomas Burkitt went to Bligh’s cabin and woke him. They forced him on
deck with his hands tied. It seems to have been an impulsive action.
The mutineers decided that Bligh should be
set adrift in the jolly boat – the smallest of the three boats carried on the
Bounty. The jollyboat, however, was unseaworthy, as was the cutter. The
longboat, the largest of the boats, 23foot long (7 metres) and 6ft 9inches
across (2 metres) was then chosen and into this went nineteen men. Some were
forced, some went voluntarily. There began Bligh’s story of his amazing feat of
sailing 3,700 nautical miles in an open long boat to safety.
After Bligh was put to sea in the longboat
Fletcher Christian and his twenty-four man crew sailed back to Tahiti in the Bounty. Christian intended to settle in
Tubai despite a violent clash with the natives when they first arrived. They sailed
on to Tahiti to stock up on plants and animals
required for their Tubaian settlement. Nine Tahitian women were taken with
them, eight men and ten boys. Peter Heywood reported that most went of their
own free will. The settlement was a failure as they continued to have disputes
with the natives. After three months the mutineers abandoned it and returned to
Tahiti. Sixteen mutineers decided to remain on
Tahiti in spite of the risk of capture.
On the night of 22nd September
1789 the bounty left again. This time there were nine white men, six male and
nineteen female islanders and one baby girl onboard. Many of the women had been
kidnapped. One jumped overboard and swam for shore, another six were put onto a
neighbouring island because they were considered too old.
The Bounty then sailed towards Tofoa, but
changed direction and headed for the tiny, remote island of Pitcairn.
It arrived on 21 January 1790. There began another chapter of this amazing
story – the story of our ancestors.
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