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The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of HMS BOUNTY: Its Cause and Consequences.
The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of HMS BOUNTY: Its Cause and Consequences.

The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of HMS BOUNTY: Its Cause and Consequences.

Publisher (Founded 1768, taken over 2002)
Publisher
Printer
Date1839
Object number00042682
NameBook
Mediumleather, paper and gilt
Dimensions152 x 103 x 22 mm
ClassificationsBooks and journals
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionA book by John Barrow titled 'The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of HMS Bounty: Its Cause and Co, London 1839. The ship BOUNTY was sent from England to Tahiti in 1787 under the command of Lieutenant William Bligh. The ship was to collect breadfruit trees for transportation to the West Indies. It arrived at Tahiti in October 1788 where it anchored at Matavai Bay remaining at Tahiti until April 1789. Twenty-four days after leaving Tahiti part of the crew under the leadership of Fletcher Christian mutinied. Captain Bligh and 18 loyalists were placed in the BOUNTY's launch and set adrift. Bligh - in an incredible feat of seamanship - ultimately sailed the boat to Timor and raised the alarm. John Barrow (b.1764 - d.1848) was appointed Secretary to the Admiralty in 1804 and remained in the post for 40 years. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1821 and knighted in 1835. Barrow's book was the first to question Bligh's part in causing the mutiny and opened the story of the BOUNTY mutiny to wider debate.HistoryThe ship BOUNTY was sent from England to Tahiti in 1787 under the command of Lieutenant William Bligh. The ship was to collect breadfruit trees for transportation to the West Indies. It arrived at Tahiti in October 1788 where it anchored at Matavai Bay remaining at Tahiti until April 1789. Twenty-four days after leaving Tahiti part of the crew under the leadership of Fletcher Christian mutinied. Captain Bligh and 18 loyalists were placed in the BOUNTY's launch and set adrift. Bligh - in an incredible feat of seamanship - ultimately sailed the boat to Timor and raised the alarm. After the mutiny Fletcher Christian and the mutineers sailed first to Tubuai then Tahiti. The mutineers intended establishing a settlement at Tubuai. However, when this failed Christian returned to Tahiti where the majority of the mutineers disembarked. Christian with eight other mutineers and a group of Polynesians then left to search for an uninhabited island where they could establish a settlement. They ultimately settled at Pitcairn's Island. Despite several massacres which claimed the lives of most of the men, the tiny settlement survived and was later discovered in 1808 by Captain Mayhew Folger of the American ship TOPAZ. Once news of the mutiny reached England the Admiralty despatched the 24-gun frigate HMS PANDORA to find the mutineers. The PANDORA arived at Tahiti in March 1791 where the crew arrested fourteen surviving mutineers. The PANDORA then sailed west searching for the BOUNTY. In August 1791 the PANDORA was wrecked attempting to enter the Great Barrier Reef off the east coast of Australia. John Barrow (b.1764 - d.1848) was appointed Secretary to the Admiralty in 1804 and remained in the post for 40 years. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1821 and knighted in 1835. Barrow's book was the first to question Bligh's part in causing the mutiny and opened the story of the BOUNTY mutiny to wider debate.SignificanceThis book by Sir John Barrow first appeared in 1831. It was based on his research of unpublished documents and the papers of Captain Peter Heywood--a midshipman on the Bounty--in an attempt to answer the questions of why the crew of the HMS BOUNTY mutinied in the first place, and why an officer prompted and led the mutiny.