The True Story of Mutiny & Murder On The High Seas | Mutiny on HMS Bounty
Вставка
- Опубліковано 16 чер 2024
- Dan Snow meets up with Conrad Humphreys and Robert Blyth to learn more about the mutiny on HMS Bounty in 1789.
In early 1789, Captain Bligh in the South Pacific suffered a mutiny among his crew on HMS Bounty. Put to sea with a small group of loyal sailors in one of the ship's boats, what followed was one of the epic stories of maritime history. For more than 40 days, Bligh and his men sailed across open Pacific waters until they reached safety.
Dan Snow meets up with yachtsman Conrad Humphreys and Dr Robert Blyth, curator at Royal Museums Greenwich, to learn more about HMS Bounty, the mutiny and the extraordinary sea voyage that followed for Bligh and his small band of followers.
Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free exclusive podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsely, Mary Beard and more. Watch, listen and read history wherever you are, whenever you want it. Available on all devices: Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Roku, Xbox, Chromecast, and iOs & Android.
We're offering a special discount to History Hit for our subscribers, get 50% off your first 3 months with code UA-cam: www.historyhit.com/subscripti...
#historyhit #mutiny #hmsbounty #williambligh
When Cook was off on his adventures they stumbled across this guy on a *Polynesian* island who, apparently, was an amazing navigator particularly around those islands & beyond.
The guy decided he wanted to go back to the UK with Cook so they brought him back with them.
The guy was a sensation in Georgian England & courted by all the high & mighty including the king.
Eventually Cook told him that he was off on another trip to Australia & would he like a lift back? The guy said "yes" & on his departure all his new friends gave him some impressive gifts but none were better than George III FULL set of armour & an English war horse to go with it.
Somehow he got all that back to his tiny islands in the Pacific & the thought of him riding around there with his full plate armour on cracks me up to this day! 😂
I read somewhere that Bligh was one of a very few, maybe as few as 3, men who started out "before the mast" as an able seaman, who eventually rose to the rank of admiral. That's kinda like starting out a private and ending up a general, except in the setting of the extreme social stratification of the period, it's even more unlikely. Pretty impressive
No wonder he was such a hardarse! He’d been in the mud and worked his way all the way up.
Very very impressive man, even if his legacy is a mutiny
The Age of Sail is perhaps my favorite age of all.
How glorious are these stories of discovery and treasure?
The bravery of our ancestors is tremendous
Oh yeah most definitely..
Bligh achieved an incredible feat of Navigation…amazing.
Lord Byron liked him.
One tremendous story. Thank you for sharing this piece of history.
Don't forget Thor Heyerdahl, who is notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition in 1947, in which he drifted 8,000 km (5,000 mi) across the Pacific Ocean in a primitive hand-built raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands. Thanks for your vid!
I remember reading about that as a child. Amazing expedition. And how about Webb Chiles - sailed 7,000 miles across the Pacific solo in an 18 foot open boat (in the 1970's I think).
Underrated guy.
If you are going through a tough time in life, watch this and keep sailing.
The Bounty was only the first mutiny Bligh faced in his career. After the Bounty he was appointed as Governor of the penal colony of New South Wales where he faced a second mutiny by the officers of the New South Wales Corps who ran the colony like an organised crime gang. They arrested Bligh, supposedly hiding under a bed disguised in women's clothing. The fact he faced two mutinies on consecutive command appointments gives rise to some serious questions regarding his skill at managing his subordinates. Whilst Bligh's extrordinary seamanship is unquestioned, it appears his skills as a leader left a lot to be desired.
From what I had read, William Blight actually faced a total of 3 mutinies. The second mutiny took place at Nore which is a long bank of sand and silt running along the south-centre of the final narrowing of the Thames Estuary, England in 1797. The Nore mutineers were orderly, politic, and principled and later returned to active duty once their grievances were addressed. Most of them were not punished except several ring leaders had to be punished by hanging. William Bligh played a role at resolving the conflict which earned him a good credit. The Rum Rebellion in New South Wales was his 3rd and final mutiny. Blight is generally known for his 1st and 3rd mutinies while the second one is hardly known. The 3rd mutiny is as damaging as his 1st and most famous one. Popular accounts depict him hiding under the bed in the Governor House during the Rum Rebellion. Even Blight was promoted as a Rear-Admiral, his naval career was over and retired from the Royal Navy. Blight's leadership skills are questioned though his best leadership skills are performed during the castaway on a launch by the Bounty mutineers. From the island of Tonga to Island of Timor, only one out of 19 men including Bligh was lost being killed by the natives of Tonga due to a conflict. The remaining men were kept alive under Bligh's leadership when they finally arrived at Timor. Until today, the reason for the mutiny on board the HMS Bounty remained unknown.
I suspect the story of Bligh hiding under a bed in women's clothing was made up to besmirch his character.
He didn't sail to Australia, which wasn't held by the British at the time. They did stop on the Australian coast to try to find food and water. They sailed to Timor, now in Indonesia - then held by the Dutch.
Yes ...Timor
My friend Jasper Shackleton built a replica of the Bounty's boat back in the 1980's. He and a crew of 6 re-enacted this open boat voyage. The boat was for a while exhibited at the Royal Naval dockyard museum in Portsmouth. She was carvel built, in Gosport, by Jasper, aided by young apprentice boatbuilders.
They followed the same route? Is there a book about your friend's voyage? Where is the boat now?
I learned about this in secondary school in the 2000s 😊
Nice to see the story made into a full documentary all these years later!.
Excellent documentary. I love the way you bounced between the museum and the sailing, and the two expert commentaries from the two ends of the historic spectrum.
The boat looks fine and full marks for the successful voyage, but is not an accurate replica of the Bounty's launch. My family company built three of these - two in 1978, one of which was for the Bounty replica built for Warner Bros in New Zealand and one for Sir David Lean, the film directors personal use. The third we built in 1982 for a descendent of William Bligh , Captain Ron Ware of Sydney, Australia. In this vessel Captain Ware also completed a successful reenactment of his fore-fathers small boat voyage, in the end all the way to Singapore if my memory is correct.
The vessels we built were taken from the Admiralty drafts(copies) of the original builders draft, no doubt drawn up when the launch was purchased by the Navy. The construction was without doubt carvel as these were working craft primarily used for kedging ship and fitted with a windlass midship for that purpose as shown in the draft. That vessel is now housed at the Sydney Maritime Museum, NSW, Australia.
As an interesting aside, the original launch is said to have been built by J Samuel White although no reference is made to the builder on the Admiralty draft. Their yard was then located in Kent and later moved to the Isle of White.
It is testimony to the design and construction of this little craft along with William Bligh and crew skill and fortitude that such a voyage was completed successfully.
Fantastic! Love seeing that boat! Thank you.
I’ve watched a few of your videos now and I just want to say that I’ve enjoyed them, I’ve felt trust that it’s accurate, and most of all I think the presentation is excellent. I’m looking forward to watching more. Thank you & best wishes.
Lord. What an incredible story
This was such an informative and entertaining video. Thanks for sharing!
Finally! My man 🙌
We learnt at school that Bligh reached Indonesia.Otherwise he would have gone too far south and hit some cannibalism islands. He knew.
Outstanding program! I learned quite a bit.
I enjoyed reading Mutiny on the Bounty as well as several books on Cook and Longitude.
Bligh's reputation as the archetypal bad commander remains though several historians' attempts to portray Bligh more sympathetically are those of Richard Hough (1972) and Caroline (2003).
Bligh's logbooks documenting the mutiny were inscribed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World register on 26 February 2021.
Great video! Amazing history! 👍
This is wild. Well done History Hit.
And their descendants are still living on Pitcairn Islands although it’s only about 45 people left.
Unfortunately it emerged later that Pitcairn was no Paradise. Stories of violence, sexual violence and good ol' incest/inbreeding. Quite the social experiment,.eh ?
There is a modern YT about Pitcarins Island by a videographer so you can see the folks and see what the guy can do with a drone, sounds right up your alley
Many of the Pitcairn inhabitants were moved to another island I think Lord Howe island but might be Norfolk Island.
@davidprocter3578 Norfolk Is. Queen Victoria allowed them to migrate there when Pitcarn became overpopulated for the food that island could produce. I was on Norfolk Is 5 weeks ago.
@@mikestanley8605 Thank you Mike, are you related to Lord Derby????
Amazing that they recreated the journey in a replica. Such incredible distance on the vast emptiness of the Pacific.
This story reminds me of the wreck of the Batavia, where a mutiny led to the Batavia running aground on a reef off the west coast of Australia. They sailed a similar boat all the way to Jakarta to get help. That story is a lot more grim, as the people left behind were subject to the mutiny continuing, which became horrific. Very interesting story still.
The Batavia did not run aground because of a mutiny. The mutiny came later.
@@gswombat No, the mutiny started pretty much after leaving the Netherlands and almost succeeded after leaving Cape Town. The captain, who was in on the mutiny, purposely went off course, to get away from the rest of the fleet. This put them on a direct course to hit the reef.
On the island, the mutiny turned into a sadistic, dictatorial, hellish regime as the VOC people left for Indonesia.
Watch Defragged History's 4-part series on it. The most in-depth, complete telling of this story.
@@Yvolve The captain was unaware. The mutiny occurred after he left. Gee, simple facts are not complex. If the channel you mention says otherwise, they are wrong.
@@gswombat The captain was literally in on it but he ended up getting away with it because of his reputation. He had been jailed for quite a long time in Indonesia after they were arrested.
Jakobsz, the captain, hated Pelsaert, the VOC main guy, because the latter had put him in his place on an earlier voyage. Pelsaert's assistant, Cornelisz, had to flee the Republic because he was a heathen.
The Batavia was carrying 12 chests of silver currency and gold, worth an absolute fortune. It was meant for the VOC post in Batavia, now Jakarta.
Jakobsz started the mutiny out of spite for what Pelsaert did to him and with the treasure on board, he could live out his life somewhere far, far away. Cornelisz and some of the crew were in on it. They wanted to create an incident to force Pelsaert to punish the whole crew and get support for the mutiny. The plan was to assault a high class passenger, but she could identify the attackers. Pelsaert was sick, so he couldn't act.
As this was all going on, the ship went off course and wrecked.
The Dutch Wiki page on the subject says exactly this for example. Many other sources do. I'm Dutch, I've been on the replica and a tour. It was a subject in our history classes on the VOC. I have a decent idea of what I'm talking about.
The channel I mentioned uses the actual testimonies of the survivors and the mutineers that weren't executed. They have an entire website dedicated to their sources. The channel is Dutch, they know their stuff.
How about your provide some sources of your claims.
@@Yvolve Simply wrong
it's such a great story
could listen to more...
and about captain cook too please 🙂 x
thankyou for sharing this
Bligh's account "A Voyage to the South Sea" is utterly compelling reading.
Great upload again.
Great insightful presentation, thanks.
For the full story, read the Bounty Trilogy by Nordhoff and Hall, Mutiny on the Bounty, Men Against the Sea and Pitcairn's Island.
Such an amazing story
Dan Snow the Goat
Great! This has certainly answered some of MY questions on the topic. This replica boat really is a cracker. Nice big starn post and chunky hanging knees to the thwarts, you'd need a solid vessel like that to have even a chance of surviving as these men did.
In all probability the absence of Marines contributed to the likelihood of mutiny.
Q; what did the breadfruit say to Capt Bligh? A; I yam, I yam I YAM!
Sorry about that one. Nice one Dan and team. 🌟👍
You should be sorry,.for that one. Never et bread-fruit. Issot as tasty as a yam ?
@@murrayscott9546 as tasty as you am?
I really loved this video presentation. There used to be a great deal more I would like to say but I will leave it there. Thank you
Very interesting, thank you. Especially interested to see the picture of Fletcher Christian. One of his descendents is my next-door neighbour. Ironically he is a policeman!!
Althpugh I know the story, it was nice to see the replica boat. He cheated a bit in not having handicapped it to reduce the free-board. A self-bailer and your in business ! Thanks, team.
Bligh is buried at St Mary-at-Lambeth (now the Garden Museum), Lambeth Palace Rd. Literally next door to Lambeth Palace. Just South of Lambeth Bridge and The River Thames and across the river from the Houses of Parliament
Seamanship A+, Leadership F.
Wrong, the Story from the movie is all made up. In fact, he was a great leader, his Crew was criminal garbage .
@@matztertaler2777 Perhaps , however, his time in charge as headman in Australia seams to suggest that he lacked the common touch. I had forgotten how young he was at the time of the mutiny. Also that he was not a captain.
@@andrewgilbertson5356 thats a myth. The incident in sydney is about his opposition to macarthur and nsw corp that were despised by the common man. At the time of the insurrection bligh had a good deal of support amongst the free settlers convicts and emancipees
@@andrewgilbertson5356 bligh just couldnt win the "tyranny of distance". The NSWcorp managed to get hold of it
@@redsword1659 Thank you. I will look into it more closely..
Very cool story.
Good stuff 👌
What a coincidence ,i was just watching another about the bounty and then this comes out
I don't know anything about sailing but I was aware that having a lot of people in a small boat does weigh it down...
It's a mixed blessing. Weight is needed for ballast - to prevent it from being tossed around like a cork, but too much weight is bad, just as you indicated - more danger of water coming over the sides and swamping the boat. Then there's the issue of more mouths to feed - and in need of drinking water. Then I'm guessing it wouldn't take long for them to all get tired of being in such close proximity to one another.
I had to read Mutinity, Men against the Sea and Pitcarins Island in High School. I’ve read each 3 times.
Bligh asked to get the K2 maritime seaclock, which was Larcum Kendall's copie of John Harrison's H4 handheld maritime chronometer. The mutineers kept K2 and it only came back to England in 1963.
2024 marks 250 years since Kendall made K3, a seaclock now on display in Nat Maritime Museum Greenwich - London.
#Longitude
William Bligh was a lieutenant at the time of the mutiny. Ended up as admiral though.
The expert on Captain Bligh is called Robert Blyth? Amazing! Also this is the 3rd video I've watched this month on HMS Bounty, is there a special occasion or is it just a coincidence? _edit:_ the other two being from the collab' between Brick Immortar and Oceanliner Designs, two great channels.
Was slightly disappointed seeing it written because of course my brain heard the expert's name as Bligh as well 😊
yeah i was surprised/disappointed dan didn't make a comment
but seeing it written does change things lol
I did the round the island race with that skipper in the boat. We came last in our class.
Remind s me of the James Caird replica boat, with which Arved Fuchs sailed Shakletons route to his rescue .
My wife is from Nomuku where they stopped to get fresh water. My kids probably have some HMS Bounty crew member dna in their ancestry
It is very odd that Important parts of this story are always left out. Bligh was a married man who settled in Ramsey on the Isle of Man, His sister in law lived with them and was engaged to Fletcher Christian. a situation that was to cause friction between them later in Hawaii Fletcher was a member of the old ruling family of the Island [ pre Derby] and as such was a well known and respected figure. Important to realize that Britain was pretty much at war with France at this point in time and the navy were not prepared to release a ship of the line to pander to the Mad Kings wishes. So a new collier from the north east was purchased but left the Navy with the problem of raising a crew, Depleting crews from the fleet was not an option most ships were undermanned and much of the crews were press ganged and would have deserted at the first opportunity. No self respecting seaman were going to sign on for a trip on a Navy owned merchant ship, no what the navy needed was a ruse. Back to the Isle of Man here most island men were also seamen and also many British seamen from all over would wait for berths on merchant ships as press gangs did not operate on the Island. So give the command to Bligh he was not well liked but was almost related to Fletcher Christian who could raise a crew not for the navy oh no just a quick voyage to the Pacific back to the Caribbean and then home no navy { please to remember conditions for ordinary seamen in his Majesties Navy were appalling to say the least ] Bligh took the job Fletcher raised a crew and off to Southampton the ships company made their way, To be met with their first notion that they had been conned , Naval officers dispatched by the navy to assist Bligh and Fletcher they were not required nor wanted and raised alarm amongst the crew that on their return to British waters they would be pressed into service on ships of the line. One can only speculate at the conversations that went on between Bligh Christian and the crew to persuade them to continue with the venture.Bligh being an ambitious sort felt it necessary to play Navy Captain in front of the Navy officers adding further to the crews fears that they had been duped into permanent navy service. The whole enterprise by nature was set for the disaster that followed, if you had wanted to deliberately set up a mutiny you could not have done better. And of course this cannot be discounted, certainly politics of the day would have relished a chance to have one up on the Crown. or the Navy over Parliament
Kupang was where Bligh sailed to which at the time was a British partition now known as Timor
He sailed 6,000+ miles in that thing?? Suicide mission 101..
Very few Captains are subject of a mutiny. Billy Bligh managed it twice. He was also James Cook’s point man when Cook was killed. Quite the resume.
When I hear the name Lieutenant Bligh I automatically think of the mutiny, slavery the Caribbean & cheap food for the enslaved Africans namely Breadfruit which can be roasted or boiled. Historical facts it took many years before it was adapted by the enslaved Africans as it was not part of their cultural cuisine. Of course you can’t tell most of them that now. Many do not even know where Breadfruit originates from.
With that many men in a tiny open boat I'm surprised there wasn't another mutiny.
Now this, I would say, put dinghy cruising to its limits!
Constantly bailing or they would swamp and sink is the MOST HORRIFYING exhausting aspect of the whole ordeal, fuck all else!
It's just a part of it all...even yachts today must have an operational bilge pump
3618 miles….if we’re looking for exactitude.
This is so weird, I watched Bounty just yesterday. Filthy Mr Christian!
A few notes:
In Royal Navy, promotion up to Liutenant was sort of automatic based on seniority, but after that it was a bottleneck where either good social connections or merit moved you up.
Also for the general audience it must be remembered that naval ranks are different than the army, a navy captain roughly equal to a colonel in the army.
Finally I can't help compare this voyage to the US Greely Expedition to the Arctic where the head of the expedition shows very poor leadership up to the crisis point, but rising up to the occasion and be a much better leader after that.
Sorry, but you’ve got that the wrong way round. Promotion up to Post-Captain was on merit or connections. Once you were promoted to “Post”, further promotion was strictly on seniority. A vacancy at full Admiral level would result in the senior Vice Admiral’s promotion, with the senior Rear Admiral filling his role and the senior Captain moving up to become the junior Rear Admiral. That senior Captain would be replaced by someone chosen by merit (or bribery😉), becoming the most junior Captain.
Remember, Nelson, with his string of resounding victories was still not a full Admiral at Trafalgar. I don’t even know whether he was next in line, or whether another Vice Admiral had seniority.
Hope that all makes sense.
🙂
One of the reasons that bligh has such a blackened character is that there was a revolt when he was governor of new south wales,this was primarily caused by bligh trying to collect the rum taxes that were owed.
It was more than just a tax issue, the NSW Corps intended to set up a plantation economy based on convict labour which almost certainly would also included slaves from other sources. Even though they got the better of bligh, he blocked their ambitions and it was out of a desire that NSW be a civil society into the future. I was born at KG5th, i was educated at Sydney Uni and worked as an analyst at RPA hospital, all in the precinct gifted by bligh to the people of Sydney. On the other side of Parramatta rd is the subdivided rabbit warren of ultimo and pyrmont granted to the drunked thugs of the Corps
Why no mention of Ant Middleton?💂♂️
He sailed to Batavia...
I have great respect for Captain Bligh. Amazing man of integrity.
he was maligned by Christians friends ans supporters, if anything he did not enforce discipline enough on the BOUNTY and was betrayed by the officers of the NSW Corps who wanted to keep their lucrative rum monopoly. he got the loyal Bounty crew men to the dutch east indies , maintained discipline in the small boat
Of course you know he had to do it again later.
He sailed to Dutch East Indies
He was the captain of the Bounty but his rank was that of Leftenant. Not Captain. Which, in fact, makes his feat even more impressive.
Don McIntyre did it in 2010.
A walking speed of 3 miles per hr would cover 4000 miles in 54 days.
He sailed to timor not Australia
Um, no, he didn't sail to British held Australia but to Timor. Australia had been settled for less than a year. Prevailing winds and distance would have likely prevented an attempt to sail to Sydney Cove. Maybe he also had a premonition that British held Australia wouldn't welcome him. After all, they kicked him out as Governor 19 years later.
No that is an incorrect interpretation of NSW history. He was "kicked out" by the corrupt NSW Corp. Subsequently they themselves were kicked out, by proper soldiers, and Bligh world view prevailed in government, even though Bligh himself was shafted. His adversary Macarthur was a criminal psychopath that was hated by everyone, even his criminal mates in the rum corp and the free settlers, convicts and tickets of leave would have supported bligh
@redsword1659 yeah, I knew that. I was making a joke.
@@temptationsailingteam8480 fair enough, theres plenty of irony in all these events.
People who have a poor opinion of him know nothing about him. One of the greatest navigators and seamen of all time.
Interesting how much effect a movie can have on what people think.
Watch red dot. On the ocean.
MR. CHRISTIAN!! YOU WILL WEAR YOUR JACKET TO DINNER!!!
Look up this story. A Canadian. . first to. . Transit . Eirie canal. . .first around. The world. .
Incredible navigation. But. If he had treated people better. . maybe more like captain Cook. They would not have .thrown him over. . he was not a captain.
iirc, one of Bligh's descendants recreated Bligh's trip. Same number in people in same type boat etc.
It turned out with a near mutiny because he was insufferable and the crew hated him.
There is a documentary of it out there somewhere.
No dou4 hid talent but there is 3 mutinys
Sorry, but he didn't arrive in British held Australia. He arrived in the Dutch East Indies (Timor).
Lol what? Nowhere do they claim what you are trying to "correct"😂
Oz rum rebellion mate. Bundy rum
Well he sailed to Portuguese Timor actually - and a expedition in support of that great evil, slavery - but still a great story!
Yes, Bligh was a brilliant navigator, but his people skills were poor. Two mutiny’s in one career 😮
Bligh, the best sailor & the worst leader the Royal Navy produced.
HMS Impending Mutiny.
Captain Bligh absolute fantastic navigator... Pitty he was such an ass hole...
Blyth wasn't a captain, so from the start, this account isn't accurate, why believe anything else you say?
Please get your title right. 4,000 miles, not 6,000 (unless you are talking godless kilometers, which you don't say).
Giving that its an English based channel. They probably use metric not imperial. You know, like most of the world does.
Sailboats tack back and forth. I wonder if they tried to take that into consideration
@@TemperanceQuillthen the title should say kilometres... It says miles...
How do you know the exact mileage?
Had to look it up, but yes, it was 6700 kilometers. And that’s the thumbnail not the title.
Why re anact. I don't get it.
You really need to get a better editor.
can't stand Dan Snow so pretentious and false - his dad is so much better
You’re obviously entitled to your opinion but I like Dan and his presentation of history .
We've had one Bligh mutiny, yes. But what about second Bligh mutiny? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rum_Rebellion