Mutiny on the Bounty
Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Sun 9 May 2010 05:02
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On 28th April 1789 Captain William Bligh and
18 crewmen of the HMS Bounty were uninvoluntarily relieved of their duties and
set adrift in an open boat off the island of Tofua in Tonga, with a minimum of
supplies. The Bountys' mission was to fetch breadfruit from Tahiti to feed
Englands African slave population in the Caribbean. Under the command of Bligh,
an expert navigator who had trained under Cook, the expedition arrived in Tahiti
in September 1788 after a particularly arduous 10 month journey. With the
breadfruit season over they had to wait six months in Tahiti before
returning. Three weeks into the return journey the crew led by the masters mate
Fletcher Christian, mutinied and set Bligh adrift on an open long boat with his
loyal crew members. Bligh managed to get the long boat and most of his loyal
crew 7000km from Tonga to Timor in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). They
landed in Tonga, hoping to secure provisions, but local unrest forced them to
cast off after loading only the most meagre of rations. They finally reached
Timor on 14 June 1789. Bligh, determined to get that breadfruit returned to
Tahiti in 1792. This time he brought along 19 marines in case of further moral
problems.
Blighs career also took him to Australia,
and in 1806 he was governor of New South Wales when the so-called 'rum
rebellion' overturned his government. Bligh was exonerated from blame -
again.
Under Fletcher Christian's command the
mutineers returned to Tahiti, then attempted to settle on Tubai in the Austral
Islands. Meeting local resistance they split into two groups. Fletcher took a
group of sailors and Tahitians off in search of Pitcairn Island, while a second
group of 16 sailors stayed behind on Tahiti.
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Beyond the Tuamotus lie the Society Islands,
named by Captain Cook in honour of the Royal Geographical Society, under whose
patronage he was sailing when he first called at Tahiti.
The Capital of the whole of French Polynesia
is Papeete on the island of Tahiti which is the largest island in the Societies
and lies at the windward end of the chain, Bora Bora lies at the opposite
leeward end.
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