What is it about the Bounty?

June 27, 2009 · Filed Under Current, History, Lore of the Sea, Ships 

The replica of HMS Bounty, used in the 1962 MGM movie “Mutiny on the Bounty“ starring Marlon Brando, is in New York at Pier 66 on the Hudson River.   After nearly falling to pieces under the prior owner, the Bounty, almost 60 years old, is looking good once again and sailing extensively. I sailed on her briefly many years ago when she was not in such good shape. A constantly running motor driven pump was keeping her afloat and her foremast was de-rigged due to rot.  It is great to see her back sailing again.

Seeing the Bounty  reminded me of a question that I have never been able to fully answer - what it is about the ship and her story that is so compelling?  The Bounty and the mutiny aboard her has inspired over 250 books, thousands of magazine articles, and five major movies.  What is it about the events on the Bounty that made it the most famous mutiny in naval history?  

She is/was not a large ship.  The original Bounty was the collier Bethia of 215 tons purchased by the Royal Navy £2,600 in 1787 for the breadfruit expedition.  Compared to ships of the line, she was insignificant. Even compared to other colliers converted for Navy use, the Bounty was small. Captain Cook’s Endeavour and Resolute, both converted colliers, were 368 tons and 462 tons, respectively.

Her mission to bring back breadfruit was a failure. When breadfruit was finally introduced to the West Indies, the slaves refused to eat it.  

By the standards of mutinies of the day, the mutiny on the Bounty was not especially significant nor bloody.  Eight years after the Bounty mutiny, the crew of HMS Hermione, a 32 gun frigate, mutinied, murdering the ship’s officers and sailing the ship to Venezuela where they turned the ship over to the Spanish.   Likewise in the same year, there were major mutinies of the Royal Navy fleets at both Spithead and the Nore involving hundreds of ships at a time of war.  And yet, the mutiny that we all remember is on a tiny ship on a failed scientific mission on the far side of the world.  The question is why? 

I am not sure that I have all the answers but here are a few that come to mind:

The events on the Bounty were very human and of a scope that is easy to grasp.  There is more than one side to the story, and the people involved are often compelling and complex.  We know a lot about what transpired on the small ship  and yet there is much that will forever remain a mystery.  

After Bligh completed his heroic voyage in an open boat across 3,618 nautical miles of the Pacific Ocean, his account of the mutiny became a best seller in England and continues to be in print to this day – The Bounty Mutiny: Captain William Bligh’s Firsthand Account of the Last Voyage of HMS Bounty. 

Bligh is a fascinating character.  In his version of the story he is not the harsh unreasonable figure as represented in novels and movies.  His ability to navigate an overloaded open boat across a vast expanse of the Pacific is impressive to say the least.  Bligh would later serve under Admiral Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen in command of HMS Glatton, a 56-gun ship of the line. After the battle, Bligh was personally praised by Nelson for his contribution to the victory.  Indeed were it not for a second mutiny against his authority when Bligh Governor of New South Wales in Australia in the so-called Rum Rebellion, Bligh might have gone down in history as the hero of the mutiny on the Bounty.

One reason that we may have a different view on the mutiny is because of Peter Heywood, a midshipman on the Bounty. One of only ten mutineers returned for trial in England, Heywood came from an influential navy family. He was found guilty and condemned to hang but received a pardon. He was later allowed to rejoin the Navy and rose to rank of Post Captain. He nearly reached the rank of admiral but was prevented by ill health.    A fictionalized Peter Haywood, give the name Roger Byam, was the narrator of Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall’s famous novel, Mutiny on the Bounty. 

A final reason why we remember the Bounty may be because many of the mutineers escaped justice only to find that their new home on Pitcairn island was no paradise.   Tragically Pitcairn and the descendants of the mutiny remain in the news.

Rape a ‘way of life’ on Pitcairn

As Faulkner wrote the past is not dead, it isn’t even past. 

HMS Bounty will be in New York through July 4th.

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Comments

2 Responses to “What is it about the Bounty?”

  1. CAPT. D. Peter Boucher, MN (Ret.) on June 27th, 2009 4:44 pm

    When I joined the TSS “Tamahine”, as a young 3rd. Officer in 1959, the Radio Officer was Tom Christian, yes that TC was his ‘whatever’- great grandfather. In 1960 Tom returned to Pitcairn as the Islands Communication Officer. In NAUTICAL LOG you can see him in the second Island boat wearing white cap bending over the oars. We stopped there in 1961 in the MS “Willem Ruys” on passage from NZ to UK via Panama Canal. The “Willem Ruys” later became the MS “Achille Lauro” of tragic fame. The nautical world truly is inter-connected.
    Good Watch

  2. Rick on June 27th, 2009 5:54 pm

    Back when I was traveling to ships being repaired in various spots around the world I knew that I would probably run into someone I knew or was a friend of a friend in the one of the bars outside the ship. It is amazing how intereconnected we all are.

    Thanks for the comment.

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