Synopsis
On 28 April 1789, a group of sailors aboard HMS Bounty seized command of the ship and set her captain and eighteen members of the crew adrift in an open boat, 3,600 miles from the nearest civilised port. It was to become one of the epic scandals in naval history.
Was the mutiny a well-planned coup, an inevitable result of Captain William Bligh’s cruelty? Or was it a haphazard revolt, the rash act of an immature officer?
Drawing on contemporary reports, published accounts and private journals, Alexander McKee provides a detailed analysis of Captain Bligh and his relationship with his crew, showing how it was that he promoted his favourite, Fletcher Christian, over the heads of more experienced sailors and then drove him to open defiance. He gives us a vivid account of the mutiny itself, and he brilliantly reconstructs the subsequent court martial with its controversial testimony.
Offering an original and convincing conception of the character of Bligh and the truth behind the revolt, HMS Bounty answers many questions unsolved since 1789.