William Bligh

Categories: 1754 births | 1817 deaths | Royal Navy admirals | Governors of New South Wales | People connected with Plymouth | Cornish people

Image:WilliamBligh.jpeg
William Bligh in 1814

Vice Admiral of the Blue William Bligh, FRS (9 September 1754 - 7 December 1817) was an officer of the British Royal Navy and colonial administrator. He is best known for the famous mutiny that occurred against his command aboard HMAV (His Majesty's Armed Vessel) Bounty. After the Bounty mutiny he became Governor of New South Wales, where his stern administration engendered another insurrection, the Rum Rebellion led by John Macarthur.

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Early life

Bligh was born in Plymouth, a seaport in south-west England, and went to sea at the age of eight. In 1776, he was selected by Captain James Cook for the position of Sailing Master on the Resolution and, in 1787, selected as commander of the HMAV Bounty. He would eventually rise to the rank of Vice Admiral in the British Navy.

He married Elizabeth Betham, the daughter of a Customs Collector on 14 February 1781. Soon after this he fought in the battles of Dogger Bank in August 1781 and also fought with Lord Howe at Gibraltar in 1782.

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Military career

William Bligh's naval career consisted of a variety of appointments and assignments. A summary is as follows:

  • July 1, 1762: Ship's Boy and Captain's Servant, HMS Monmouth
  • July 27, 1770: Able Seaman, HMS Hunter
  • February 5 1771: Midshipman, HMS Hunter
  • September 22, 1771: Midshipman, HMS Crescent
  • September 2, 1774: Able Seaman, HMS Ranger
  • September 30, 1775: Master's Mate, HMS Ranger
  • March 20, 1776: Master, HMS Resolution
  • February 14, 1781: Master, HMS Belle Poule
  • October 5, 1781: Lieutenant, HMS Berwick
  • January 1, 1782: Lieutenant, HMS Princess Amelia
  • March 20, 1782: Lieutenant, HMS Cambridge
  • January 14, 1783: Joined Merchant Service as Lieutenant
  • 1785: Commanding Lieutenant, Merchant Vessel Lynx
  • 1786: Lieutenant, Merchant Vessel Britannia
  • 1787: Returns to Royal Navy active service
  • August 16, 1787: Commanding Lieutenant, HMAV Bounty
  • November 14, 1790: Captain, HMS Falcon
  • December 15, 1790: Captain, HMS Medea
  • April 16, 1791: Captain, HMS Providence
  • April 30, 1795: Captain, HMS Calcutta
  • January 7, 1796: Captain, HMS Director
  • March 18, 1801: Post Captain, HMS Glatton
  • April 12, 1801: Post Captain, HMS Monarch
  • May 8, 1801: Post Captain, HMS Irresistible
  • May 2, 1804: Post Captain, HMS Warrior
  • May 14, 1805: Governor of New South Wales
  • September 27, 1805: Post Captain, HMS Porpoise
  • July 31, 1808: Commodore, HMS Porpoise
  • April 3, 1810: Commodore, HMS Hindostan
  • July 31, 1810: Appointed Rear Admiral of the Blue
  • June 4, 1814: Appointed Vice Admiral of the Blue
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The voyage of the Bounty

In 1787, Bligh took command of the Bounty. He first sailed to Tahiti to obtain breadfruit trees, then set course for the Caribbean, where the breadfruit were wanted for experiments to see if breadfruit would be a successful food crop there. The Bounty never reached the Caribbean, as mutiny broke out onboard shortly after leaving Tahiti. In later years, Bligh would repeat the same voyage that the Bounty had undertaken and would eventually succeed in delivering the breadfruit to the West Indies. Bligh's mission may have introduced the akee to the Caribbean as well, though this is uncertain. (Akee is now called Blighia sapida in binomial nomenclature, after Bligh).

The mutiny, which broke out during the return voyage, was led by Master's Mate Fletcher Christian and supported by a quarter of the crew. The mutineers provided Bligh and the eighteen of his crew who remained loyal with a 23 foot (7 m) launch, provisions sufficient to reach the most accessible ports, a sextant and a pocket watch, but no charts or compass. Bligh disdained the obvious course of action, which would have been sailing for nearer Spanish ports where they would be repatriated to Britain after delays. Bligh was confident in his navigational skills and considering his first responsibility to be getting word of the mutiny as soon as possible to British vessels that could pursue the mutineers, he embarked instead on a 3618 nautical mile (6701 km) voyage to Timor. In the successful 41-day voyage, the only casualty was one crewman killed by hostile natives.

To this day, the reasons for the mutiny are a subject of considerable debate. Some feel that Bligh was a cruel tyrant whose abuse of the crew led members of the crew to feel that they had no choice but to take the ship from Bligh. Others feel that the crew, inexperienced, and unused to the rigours of the sea, and after having been exposed to freedom and sexual excess on the island of Tahiti, refused to return to the "Jack Tars" existence of a seaman. They were "led" by a weak Fletcher Christian. They hold that the crew took the ship from Bligh so that they could return to a life of comfort and pleasure on Tahiti.

Image:William Bligh - Project Gutenberg eText 15411.jpg
William Bligh, pictured in his 1792 account of the Mutiny voyage, A Voyage to the South Sea, available from Project Gutenberg
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After the Bounty

After a court of inquiry, Bligh went on to serve under Admiral Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen, commanding HMS Glatton, a 64-gun ship of the line, which was experimentally fitted exclusively with carronades. After the battle Bligh was personally praised by Nelson for his contribution to the victory. His navigational skills allowed him to navigate the Glatton safely between the banks while three other vessels ran aground. When Nelson feigned not to notice the signal 43 of Admiral Parker to stop the battle, and kept the signal 16 hoisted to continue the engagement, on the Glatton Bligh was the only captain who could see the conflicting two signals. By choosing to leave also the signal 16, Bligh fixed that all the vessels behind the Glatton remained fighting.

As captain of HMS Director, at the Battle of Camperdown, Bligh engaged three Dutch vessels: the Haarlem, the Alkmaar and the Vrijheid. While the Dutch suffered serious casualties, on the Director only 7 seamen were wounded.

Image:The arrest of Bligh propaganda cartoon from around 1810.jpg
A propaganda cartoon of Bligh's arrest in Sydney in 1808 to try to show Bligh as being a coward

Bligh became the fourth governor of New South Wales in 1805. There he suffered another mutiny, the Rum Rebellion, and was imprisoned from 1808 to 1810.

In 1811, having been exonerated, he was promoted to Rear Admiral, and 3 years later, in 1814, promoted again, to Vice Admiral of the Blue.

Bligh designed the North Bull Wall at the mouth of the River Liffey in Dublin, to ensure the entrance to Dublin Port did not silt up and prevent a sandbar forming.

Bligh was buried in a family plot at Lambeth. This church is now the Museum of Garden History. His gravestone is topped by a breadfruit. Bligh's house is marked by a plaque one block east of the Museum.

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Sources

  • Christopher Lloyd, St.Vincent & Camperdown , B.T.Batsford ltd, London, 1963.
  • Atlas of Maritime History ISBN 0-8317-0485-3.
  • G.P.Bom Hgz, D'VRIJHEID , Amsterdam 1897.
  • Gavin Kennedy, Bligh , Gerald Dockworth & Co. Ltd. 1978.
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Further reading

  • Caroline Alexander, The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, Viking Penguin, 2003, hardcover, 512 pages, ISBN 067003133X
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External links

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