BC Cook
LAST week we looked in on the most famous mutiny in history. What follows is the most incredible part of the story of the Mutiny on the Bounty.
Naked from the waist down, Captain Bligh was ripped from his sleep and brought on deck to face the mutineers. Without much discussion Fletcher Christian threw him into the waiting boat, where several others already huddled. At gunpoint, those loyal to their captain were lowered into the small craft until it nearly flipped over. Finally, Bligh urged Christian not to send any more with them or they would sink. With less than eight inches between the water and the top of the railing, the tiny wooden boat, measuring 23 feet from bow to stern, carried nineteen passengers away from the Bounty.
But where could they go? Tahiti was twelve hundred miles away and in the direction of the wind. Even if they could get there, Tahiti was also the mutineers’ destination so they would likely run into them again. Perhaps next time Christian would have them all killed. The Friendly Islands were closest to them, but that name was meant as sarcasm. James Cook named them that because while visiting he felt like the islanders would attack them at any minute. So, Bligh first stopped at Tofua for supplies, where the party was attacked and one man killed, which led Bligh to make the heroic decision to sail on for the nearest port where they could expect safety: the Dutch settlement of Coupang on the island of Timor, thousands of miles to the west, with only enough food and water for five days.
Bligh worked out an eating schedule that gave each man about one cracker per day. Water proved to be in abundance because it rained nearly continuously during the month and a half voyage to Timor. The journals and testimonies of the sailors spoke of being drenched all the time. Their clothes never dried out before it rained again which made everyone shiver. There was nowhere to lie down or stretch out, with nineteen men crammed into the small craft.
At all times six or seven men had to bail out water. The boat sat so low and the rain was so constant that the boat always filled with water and had to be continuously bailed out. Bligh organized the sailors into bailing crews who worked in shifts.
The most dangerous part of the journey came as they approached Australia and the Great Barrier Reef, which runs the entire length of the continent from north to south, stood between them and salvation. With no charts to refer to, Bligh remembered some of the passages that led safely through the reefs. Once on the other side the group landed and slept for two days.
With rest and food, they pressed on to Timor and came ashore forty-eight days after they were hurled into the small boat and expected to die. Bligh brought them across 3,600 miles of ocean and the only casualty was John Norton, who died on the second day at the hands of islanders on Tofua. Another tragic part of the story is that once they reached Timor five men died of diseases in that filthy place.
Bligh and the others made their way to England where a trial determined that Bligh’s actions were justified, that he did not warrant losing his ship to the mutineers, and that his successful voyage to Timor after being cast adrift was the most incredible feat of navigation in English history. Promoted to full captain, Bligh was ordered to return to Tahiti to finish the job of transporting breadfruit to the Caribbean, which he did. Those who survived the trip to Timor spoke with fond admiration of Bligh until their dying days.
BC Cook, PhD lived on Saipan and has taught history for over 30 years. He is a director and historian at Sealark Exploration (sealarkexploration.org).
