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A Book of the Bounty
A book of the "Bounty"
326 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1938
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May 21, 2016
Fantastic.
This book is composed entirely of contemporary accounts of the voyage and Mutiny on the Bounty. Most of it is composed of a long account by Captain Bligh of the voyage, visit to Tahiti, mutiny and his subsequent journey of over 3,000 miles in an open boat to get to safety. There is also the verbatim record of the trial of the few mutineers who were caught. Also an account put together by Christian's brother after questioning survivors in which he attempts to pin the blame for the mutiny on Bligh.
As always with contemporary accounts you have to try to think yourself into their time and place to fully understand things. For instance this was the days of sailing ships and imperfect navigation so all accounts spend a lot of time writing about longitude, winds, bearings, anchorages and so forth. Whatever the rights or wrongs of the events leading up to the mutiny and the way Bligh commanded his ship, his achievement in taking 19 men right across the Pacific in a rowing boat without losing a single man to disease, starvation or thirst is truly remarkable.
I was surprised to read that of the 10 men put on trial only 6 were found guilty and of them only 3 were hanged. Clearly the military justice system back then was not quite so brutal as we are led to believe.
A real insight into a lost world. Can't recommend it enough.
This book is composed entirely of contemporary accounts of the voyage and Mutiny on the Bounty. Most of it is composed of a long account by Captain Bligh of the voyage, visit to Tahiti, mutiny and his subsequent journey of over 3,000 miles in an open boat to get to safety. There is also the verbatim record of the trial of the few mutineers who were caught. Also an account put together by Christian's brother after questioning survivors in which he attempts to pin the blame for the mutiny on Bligh.
As always with contemporary accounts you have to try to think yourself into their time and place to fully understand things. For instance this was the days of sailing ships and imperfect navigation so all accounts spend a lot of time writing about longitude, winds, bearings, anchorages and so forth. Whatever the rights or wrongs of the events leading up to the mutiny and the way Bligh commanded his ship, his achievement in taking 19 men right across the Pacific in a rowing boat without losing a single man to disease, starvation or thirst is truly remarkable.
I was surprised to read that of the 10 men put on trial only 6 were found guilty and of them only 3 were hanged. Clearly the military justice system back then was not quite so brutal as we are led to believe.
A real insight into a lost world. Can't recommend it enough.
Displaying 1 of 1 review