the sea

[marion607]

who was the commander of the bounty

[Ethel]

William Bligh

[Tatty Rollox]

..... I would have gone to the Tahiti of http://tinyurl.com/mk5nv ......

[jake-the-peg]

Bligh was an amazing man

He was Captain Cook's first officer when Cook was killed in Hawaii. It was Bligh that got the ship and crew safely home from the otherside of the planet.

His secondary mission on the Bounty mission was to chart the infamously trecherous straits at the top of Australia, even though he was adrift in the launch he still did this and produced maps that were used up to the second world war.

Although possibly the fiest navigator ever produced by the British Navy his man management skills left something to be desired. After the Bounty he became Governer of New South Wales where the local troops mutineed and briefly overthrew him.

He may be the only man to have provoked a mutinee on land and sea

[mike b]

Wasn't the NSW mutiny something to do with the rum ration?... in which case he was probably in a no-win situation anyway... Whatever, he is unfortunate to have been simultaneously immortalised and misrepresented by Laughton's iconic performance in the original movie...

[twain11]

i completely agree with jake the peg, bligh was one of the most brilliant sailors of his time and general maritime history. **** whatever hollywood says.

[onslow1]

The security if the NSW colony was in the hands of the NSW Corps, not one of the British armys finest regiments. The officers were corrupt and after a sucession of weak governors had a stranglehold on trade in the colony. They would import spirits and use them as wages for the convicts and free settlers rather than paying in real money. The profits were enormous.

When Bligh arrived he determined to put a stop to this and he had the support of the majority of free settlers, however the NSW Corps, or Rum Corps as it was poplularly known, staged a coup and forced Bligh on a ship for England, thereafter running the colony as a military dictatorship until the arrival of Colonel Macquarie as governor. As he brought his own regiment of highlanders with him the NSW Corps quickly relinquished their rule and were disbanded soon after.