On this day in 1789, Master’s Mate Fletcher Christian led a mutiny aboard the H.M.S. Bounty approximately 1,300 miles from Tahiti. Christian and the crew had broken under the weight of what they perceived as Captain Bligh’s increasingly cruel, unpredictable and erratic command. A close friend of Bligh’s prior to the voyage, the tortured Christian is said to have exclaimed “I am in HELL sir!” while arguing with Bligh upon seizing control of the ship. Captain Bligh and 18 loyal crewmen were set adrift in one of the Bounty’s tiny lifeboats near the island of Tofua. There can be no greater testimony to Bligh’s seamanship than the lifeboat’s safe arrival in Kupang, over 3,600 nautical miles away, some 47 days later.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
"I am in HELL sir!"
On this day in 1789, Master’s Mate Fletcher Christian led a mutiny aboard the H.M.S. Bounty approximately 1,300 miles from Tahiti. Christian and the crew had broken under the weight of what they perceived as Captain Bligh’s increasingly cruel, unpredictable and erratic command. A close friend of Bligh’s prior to the voyage, the tortured Christian is said to have exclaimed “I am in HELL sir!” while arguing with Bligh upon seizing control of the ship. Captain Bligh and 18 loyal crewmen were set adrift in one of the Bounty’s tiny lifeboats near the island of Tofua. There can be no greater testimony to Bligh’s seamanship than the lifeboat’s safe arrival in Kupang, over 3,600 nautical miles away, some 47 days later.
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