Bligh, William (1754-1817)

English captain William Bligh and members of his crew being cast adrift in the South Seas, depicted in an aquatint by Robert Dodd. The mutiny, on the HMS Bounty, involved twenty-five members of the crew, and was led by master's mate Fletcher Christian.

English sailor. He accompanied Captain James Cook on his second voyage around the world (1772-74), and in 1787 commanded HMS Bounty on an expedition to the Pacific. On the return voyage, in protest against harsh treatment, the crew mutinied. Bligh was sent to Australia as governor of New South Wales in 1805, where his discipline again provoked a mutiny in 1808 (the Rum Rebellion).

Bligh went to Tahiti with the Bounty to collect breadfruit-tree specimens, and gained the nickname ‘Breadfruit Bligh’. In the mutiny, he and those of the crew who supported him were cast adrift in a boat with no map and few provisions. They survived, after many weeks reaching Timor, near Java, having drifted 5,822 km/3,618 mi. Many of the crew settled in the Pitcairn Islands. On his return to England in 1790, Bligh was exonerated for his conduct.

In the Revolutionary Wars, Bligh took part in several naval battles: he was present at the Nore in 1797, later fought at Camperdown, and was specially mentioned at the battle of Copenhagen in 1801. After the failure of his Australian appointment, he returned to Britain, and was made an admiral in 1811.