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Few figures in maritime history are as polarising as Captain William Bligh. Often portrayed as a tyrant, Bligh's legacy is far more complex -marked by extraordinary navigation skills, fierce resilience, and a personality that clashed with the rigid hierarchies of his time.

From his harrowing open-boat voyage across the Pacific to his controversial tenure as Governor of New South Wales, Bligh's story is one of survival, controversy, and enduring intrigue.

Following is the story of Captain Bligh. The man who truly is a legendary figure.

Captain William Bligh is most remembered for the mutiny on the HMS Bounty in 1789. This dramatic event, where part of his crew led by Fletcher Christian seized control of the ship and set Bligh and loyalists adrift in a small open boat, has become one of the most famous mutinies in history.

Despite being cast off in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Bligh's extraordinary navigational skills allowed him to lead his crew on a 3,600-mile journey to safety in Timor, with minimal supplies and no maps. This feat is often regarded as one of the greatest survival stories in maritime history, although his strict leadership style remains a point of debate.

William Bligh was born on September 9, 1754, though the exact location is uncertain. He was probably born in Plymouth, Devon, as he was baptized there on October 4, 1754, and his father, Francis Bligh, worked there as a customs officer. At the age of seven, Bligh ‘signed onto’ the Royal Navy, which was common for young boys to sign up to gain sea experience for a future officer's position.

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He served initially as the personal cabin boy of the captain of HMS Monmouth but was signed off the following year. He was extremely intelligent and quick to learn. By 1770, at 16, Bligh joined HMS Hunter as an able seaman, as there was no available position for a midshipman, which was a junior rank in the Royal Navy below sub-lieutenant.

It was there that he learned the skills of navigation and seamanship. He was promoted to midshipman early the following year. In September 1771, Bligh transferred to the ship HMS Crescent, on which he served for three years, and then as Master’s Mate on HMS Ranger. He was promoted to Lieutenant and served in other ships in which he saw action against the Dutch at the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1781, and against the French at the Battle of Gibraltar in 1782.

During those early years, Bligh sailed with and became acquainted with Fletcher Christian, and taught him the art of navigation. In 1776, Captain James Cook chose Bligh to be the sailing master of the ship HMS Resolution for Cook’s third voyage to the Pacific.

Cook and Bligh, navigators and chart makers of the highest order, landed at Tahiti on their way to the Bering Strait in search of the apocryphal Northwest Passage. They had passed through the Bering Strait, been driven back by ice, and returned to Hawaii to repair the vessel and replenish provisions- then, disaster. Cook was killed in 1779 by natives on the island of Hawaii while attempting to take a local chief hostage, and Captain Charles Clerke, the commander of accompanying HMS Discovery, who took over, was ill with tuberculosis. As Clerke’s health deteriorated, he made Bligh the expedition navigator. Bligh played a key role in guiding the expedition back to England after Clerke died in 1780. Bligh also contributed valuable information about Cook's last voyage after returning home.

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Bligh married Elizabeth Betham on 4 February 1781. They had eight children together: six daughters and twin sons (the boys died in infancy). In 1787, Bligh, by then a commissioned lieutenant, sailed in HMAV (His Majesty’s Armed Vessel) Bounty for Tahiti. The mission was to gather young breadfruit plants for transportation to the West Indies in the Gulf of Mexico. The breadfruit was to be grown as cheap food for the enslaved Africans working on the sugar plantations there.

The Bounty’s crew consisted of about 45 volunteers, among them several young men, including Fletcher Christian. Because of the space that would be required below decks to transport the breadfruit plants from Tahiti, there was no room for the usual detachment of armed marines to be found on board His Majesty’s ships. His Majesty’s Armed Vessel was thus unarmed.

At the time of his arrival in 1788, Bligh was only 34 years of age, although Hollywood always prefers to depict him as much older. According to Bligh’s written account, in October 1788, the Bounty was moored in seven fathoms (42 feet) of water about a quarter of a mile offshore in Matavai Bay, a few miles from presentday Papeete. As Cook had done on a previous visit to Tahiti with Bligh, Bligh had pitched his tents and made his headquarters at Point Venus on the western extremity of Matavai Bay. Cook named Point Venus to commemorate the observation of Venus' transit from that point during his expedition in 1769. The crew enjoyed the island's beauty and unrestricted interactions with its inhabitants, many forming personal relationships.

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On the voyage out, during the stay in Tahiti, to gather the breadfruit, and on the first part of the voyage from Tahiti to deliver the breadfruit, both the officers and the crew felt the rough edge of Bligh’s tongue. Toward the end of the stay in Tahiti, Bligh paid particular attention to Christian, whom he would abuse unmercifully in front of the ship’s company, no matter that he had promoted Christian to acting lieutenant and made him second-in-command. On April 4, 1789, the HMAV Bounty set sail from Tahiti after spending five months there, heading for Jamaica.

The ship was carrying 1,015 breadfruit plants in pots, with its main cabin converted into a makeshift nursery. By this point, Bounty had been out of England for almost 17 months, and it was expected to take at least another year to return to Portsmouth. The ship was commanded by Bligh, the only officer on board, while Christian, his second in command, was serving as an acting lieutenant but held the rank of master’s mate.

During the three weeks after departure, Bligh's temper became extreme. Christian, in particular, bore the brunt of the Captain’s rages. Bligh often seemed unaware of how his behavior affected the crew, quickly forgetting his outbursts and attempting to act normally afterward. On April 22, 1789, Bounty arrived at Nomuka, in the Friendly Islands (now Tonga), where they stopped to gather wood, water, and supplies before heading through the Endeavour Strait. Bligh, having visited the island with Captain Cook, knew the natives could be unpredictable. He put Christian in charge of the group sent to gather water, giving him muskets but telling him to leave them in the boat. Christian’s group was harassed and threatened, but they couldn’t defend themselves due to the order to leave the weapons behind. Christian returned to the ship without completing his task and was harshly criticised by Bligh who called him a coward.

Tensions increased when thefts occurred on the island, including a small anchor and a tool, leading to further reprimands of Christian and another officer, Fryer. Bligh briefly detained the island's leaders to try to recover the stolen goods, but it was to no avail. By April 27, Christian was deeply distressed, feeling his situation was unbearable. His mood worsened when Bligh accused him of stealing coconuts from the Captain's personal supply, and as punishment, Bligh cut the crew's rations, including stopping their rum supply and halving their food.

Christian seriously considered escaping on a raft, possibly using wood he had gathered for this purpose. His dissatisfaction became known to other officers, and two of them, George Stewart and Edward Young, encouraged him not to desert. Young even promised that most of the crew would support Christian if he decided to take control of the ship from Bligh. On the morning of April 28, 1789,

Christian decided to act. After speaking with Young and Stewart, he knew who among the crew would support him. With their help, Christian quickly took control of the upper deck, silencing anyone who questioned him. By 5:15 am, he went below deck, dismissed the man guarding the ship’s weapons, and distributed arms to his followers. Christian and several others then went to Bligh’s cabin, tied him up, and threatened him with death if he made any noise. Bligh yelled for help, but no one came. Fryer, another officer, was woken up and ordered to stay quiet by the mutineers.

Bligh was brought onto the quarterdeck, his hands tied, while Christian held a bayonet. As the chaos spread, more crew members woke up, unsure who was loyal or who had joined the mutiny. Bligh shouted for help and tried to rally support, calling out individual names and shouting for people to stop Christian. Fryer was briefly allowed to speak with Christian but was soon forced back below deck. Christian told him,

“I have been in hell for weeks past. Captain Bligh has brought this on himself.” Christian initially planned to cast Bligh adrift in a small boat with a few loyal crew members, but the boat was not seaworthy.  As a result, the ship’s biggest boat, a 23-foot-long launch, was used. The boat was heavily overloaded, with 19 men in it, and some of those who wanted to join Bligh were left behind. Christian ordered a few of the ship's crew members, such as the carpenters and armourer, to stay on the Bounty, as he needed their skills to sail the Bounty with a reduced crew.

They reluctantly obeyed, promising Bligh they would remain loyal to him if they ever reached England. Bligh was able to take his journal and some important documents, although he had to leave behind his maps and charts. They were also given cutlasses and a few basic navigational instruments. By 10:00 am, the launch was cut loose from the ship, and Bligh ordered the sail to be set. Their immediate destination was the nearby island of Tofua, a part of Tonga, where smoke could be seen rising from the volcano on the island.

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The launch arrived at Tofua on April 29, 1789, and left again on May 2, the day that John Norton, the Quartermaster, was killed by the natives. After six weeks, they reached Coupang in West Timor without losing anyone else, having made stops to gather provisions and improve the launch. The distance travelled was about 3,600 miles. The weather was mostly bad, and they spent long hours bailing water. However, the rough conditions helped them survive, as calm weather and heat could have been deadly.

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Seven loyalists died in Coupang, where the Dutch gave Bligh and his men a warm reception. Bligh and eleven of his men eventually returned to Plymouth on 14 March 1790, where he received a hero’s welcome. After cutting Bligh adrift, Christian took control of the Bounty and decided, after consulting with the remaining crew, to sail for Tubuai in the Austral Islands. Tubuai seemed remote and ideal for settlement. To mislead Bligh, the ship initially headed north before turning eastward. Christian claimed Bligh’s cabin and consulted Captain Cook’s records, including the discovery of Tubuai in 1777.

While Cook had noted the island’s position, he never landed there. The Bounty arrived at Tubuai on 24 May 1789 and anchored the next day despite hostility from natives, who tried to seize the ship. Christian found the island promising due to its food sources and decided to sail to Tahiti to gather livestock and companions for the crew. The Bounty reached Tahiti on 7 June, where Christian obtained animals and a group of Tahitians, including women. Sixteen mutineers chose to remain in Tahiti, while Christian and a smaller group returned to Tubuai on 26 June.

At first, relations with the Tubuai natives improved, but tensions soon rose. The mutineers realised they needed an uninhabited island to settle safely. On 15 September, they abandoned Tubuai and returned to Tahiti briefly, where Christian gathered more companions before departing. Christian aimed to find an isolated, unvisited island. After sailing from Tahiti, the Bounty passed Tetiaroa and other islands, ultimately reducing its passengers to Christian, eight other mutineers, six Tahitian men, and eleven Tahitian women. The mutineers vanished from public view as the ship sailed into obscurity. Christian consulted maps and records in Bligh’s library, including those of the explorers Captain James Cook and Rear-Admiral Philip Carteret.

Historical charts indicated potential locations, such as The Spanish Isles and Pitcairn Island. The journey eastward included searching for uncharted islands like Purutea. Christian finally decided on Pitcairn, first recorded by Carteret in 1767. Due to charting errors and incomplete information, the island’s position was difficult to pinpoint. After weeks of searching, the Bounty reached Pitcairn on 15 January 1790. Rough seas delayed their landing, but they unloaded their supplies over the next few days and stripped the Bounty. They burned the Bounty eight days later, severing their ties to the outside world. By settling on Pitcairn, Christian and his group hoped to avoid discovery. The island, isolated and difficult to locate, provided the privacy they sought, ensuring their disappearance from history for many years.

Christian and all of the mutineers and male Tahitians, with the exception of the mutineer, John Adams, either killed each other or died before the island was visited by the American sealer, Topaz, in 1808. Christian was killed during a feud with the Tahitian males in 1793. However, the males left behind offspring, many of whom would be eventually settled on Norfolk Island by the British.

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HMS Pandora was a 24-gun post ship of the Royal Navy, launched in 1779. In August 1790, the British Admiralty decided to send Pandora to the South Pacific to capture the Bounty mutineers and bring them back to England for trial. At the time, 12 of the mutineers had returned to Tahiti, while the remaining men, led by Christian, had established a settlement on the uncharted Pitcairn Island. Pandora, under Captain Edward Edwards, set sail from the Solent on November 7, 1790, with 134 men aboard. Edwards was tasked with locating the mutineers and ensuring they were brought to justice.

On board was Thomas Hayward, a former Bounty crew member who had been part of the loyal group that had stayed with Captain Bligh during the mutiny Upon arriving at Tahiti on March 23, 1791, Pandora’s crew began capturing the mutineers who had stayed behind on the island. Three men—Joseph Coleman, Peter Heywood, and George Stewart—surrendered, while other mutineers attempted to flee.

Edwards ordered search parties, and by the end of March, 14 mutineers had been captured and imprisoned, manacled, in a makeshift cell known as ‘Pandora's Box’ on the quarterdeck, awaiting transport back to England for trial. Pandora then spent several months searching the South Pacific for the remaining Bounty mutineers and the ship itself. In May 1791, Pandoea left Tahiti and sailed to islands in the Southwest Pacific but failed to find any further traces of the mutineers or the Bounty. One of Pandora's boats, the Matavy, became lost and was eventually the first European vessel to make contact with the people of Fiji. The Pandora continued its search until August, reaching the Dutch East Indies without success.

On August 29, 1791, the ship ran aground on the outer Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland. The ship was severely damaged, and sank the following morning. Of the 134 men aboard, 35 were killed in the wreck, including 31 crew members and 4 of the mutineers—George Stewart, Richard Skinner, Henry Hilbrant, and John Sumner—who drowned while still manacled. Captain Edwards and the survivors managed to make their way to a small sand cay, where they spent two nights before attempting a perilous journey to Timor in open boats. The survivors arrived in Coupang on September 16, but by then, 16 more had died from illness and the hardships of the journey. Following the return of the survivors to England, Captain Edwards and his officers were exonerated after a court martial.

There was no attempt to salvage the wreck, and the mutineers who survived the sinking were tried in a series of courts martial. Four of the mutineers were acquitted of mutiny, while six were convicted. Three—Thomas Burkett, Thomas Ellison, and John Millward—were executed by hanging from the yardarm on October 29, 1792, aboard HMS Brunswick.

Two mutineers, Peter Heywood and James Morrison, were pardoned and William Muspratt was acquitted on a technicality he raised during his appeal of not being permitted to call witnesses in his defence at his court martial.

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After returning to London, Bligh was acquitted by a court martial in October 1790 for the loss of his ship, though critics blamed his temper for the mutiny. While known for his hot temper and harsh language, evidence suggests Bligh was not an especially cruel commander and that the mutiny was unfortunate but not his fault. The Admiralty agreed, promoting him to captain in 1791 and sending him to complete a second mission to transport breadfruit from Tahiti to the West Indies, which he accomplished successfully. However, the enslaved Africans hated the breadfruit. Along the way, Bligh made valuable observations and maps, though his strict water rationing and clashes with subordinates, like Matthew Flinders, hinted at the conflicts that would define his later career. In 1806, Bligh was appointed Governor of New South Wales with a mandate to curb corruption and regulate the colony’s economy, including its rampant liquor trade. He arrived in Sydney to find widespread hardship due to floods, supply shortages, and local profiteering.

While he implemented necessary reforms, including stricter port and trade regulations, his abrasive personality and inflexibility alienated influential settlers and officers, including the opportunist Captain John Macarthur and members of the New South Wales Corps, known as ‘the Rum Corps.’ Bligh’s confrontational style and his opposition to the corruption in the NSW Corps, culminated in the infamous ‘Rum Rebellion’ in January 1808, where military officers under the direction of Macarthur arrested Bligh and assumed control of the colony. Bligh spent over a year under arrest, refusing to leave the colony unless under terms he found acceptable. After sailing to Tasmania and clashing with Lieutenant-Governor David Collins, Bligh returned to Sydney in 1810 when Governor Lachlan Macquarie arrived. He departed for England in May 1810, where the court martial of Major Johnston, one of the rebel leaders, effectively cleared Bligh of wrongdoing but acknowledged Bligh’s failings in leadership.

Johnson was merely dismissed from the army. Macarthur, who accompanied Johnson as a coleader of the rebellion, was not court-martialled as he was no longer in the army and had connections in high places. He eventually returned to New South Wales and became the richest man in the colony, being the pioneer of the Australian merino wool industry with huge land holdings, and having unrestricted access to convict labour.

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Bligh retired as a Vice-Admiral of the Blue in 1814 following a distinguished naval career, living out his final years in Kent. Despite his contentious career, his tenure highlighted the importance of law and order, even in colonial outposts like New South Wales. Bligh died in 1817, leaving his estate to his daughters, including land grants in Australia that later brought lasting benefits to his family. His resting place is a family plot at St Mary’s Church Lambeth, which is now the Garden Museum

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