Cap’t Bligh’s ship

According to most accounts, Bligh’s crew became tired of the captain’s harsh treatment during the cruise, and had also become attracted to the idyllic life on Tahiti.

“Oh yeah, Captain Bligh has become synonymous with tyrannical treatment,” Simonin said. “But several researchers have taken issue with that image, and I think he’s been unfairly given a bad reputation.”

In the 2004 book, “The Bounty,” historian Caroline Alexander claimed that Bligh was inaccurately portrayed, and that he was in fact relatively lenient compared with other British naval officers.

Either way, led by Christian, 18 mutineers set Bligh and members of the crew who were loyal to him afloat in a small boat. The mutineers then sailed the ship to Pitcairn Island, where it was burned to avoid discovery by the British Navy, and to prevent desertion. Descendants of many of the mutineers and Tahitians still live on Pitcairn island.

After Bligh, who was renown for his navigation skills, and his men made an epic journey in the small boat to Timor in the Dutch East Indies, he returned to England and reported the mutiny.