April 28 1789 Mutiny on the HMS Bounty

On April 28th 1789, three weeks into a journey from Tahiti to the West Indies, the HMS Bounty, under the command of Captain William Bligh, was seized in a mutiny led by Fletcher Christian, the master’s mate. Captain Bligh and 18 of his loyal supporters were set adrift in a small, open boat, and the Bounty set course for Tubuai, south of Tahiti.

Fletcher Christian was born on September 25th 1764 at his family home of Moorland Close, Eaglesfield, near Cockermouth in Cumberland. Vice Admiral William Bligh was born September 9th 1754 in St Tudy near Bodmin in Cornwall. While both men have considerable stories of their own, it was the Bounty which etched both men in history.

In December 1787, the Bounty left England for Tahiti in the South Pacific, where it was to collect a cargo of breadfruit saplings to transport to the West Indies. There, the…