I`m quite curious...who would you choose to be with? Follow Fletcher Christian in his mutiny or would you rather stay loyal to you supperior commander, Bligh and abandom the Bounty with him?
"If you gotta go, go with a smile."
Interesting question.
In this information age, most of us now know of some of the realities of the case.
But we also know the realities of the sea, and certainly the seamen did.
I think you have to read between the lines, and then it's very clear.
Being set adrift was tantamount to a slow death. If you're a sailor, you probably think it's suicide to go with Bligh.
Of course Mutiny is suicide, too.
The reality is that no one expected the small craft of Bligh's to be anything but an open tomb.
So even though mutineers and pirates suffer horrible fates, that had to be more appealing than death on the sea, especially with gorgeous Tahitian women around.
Now, reading between the lines, we see that many men, more than one would think, wanted to go with Bligh. Clearly there was something amiss here.
And most everyone knows of the killings that took place later. The ones with Christian were killing the male Tahitians, killing each other, just completely out of control.
Probably the only reason no movie has been made of the events on Pitcairn Island is that in order to make it factual, it would look like a black comedy Monty Python sketch. That's what the reality would look like.
If I'm already in the frying pan, and on Bligh's black list, I go all the way to Pitcairn.
Otherwise, if I'm a seaman, I'm probably more afraid of the sickos with Christian than of the open sea. I would love having a shot at any gorgeous Tahitian chick, though, when I thought about the pale women in England. Who would want to go back?
I'd be careful not to be a mutineer, and feign a small appeal to enter the craft with Bligh, as most of them probably did. I can about guarantee you that a dozen guys were doing just this. Some of them wound up on the launch, but most on the island, enjoying the Tahitian beach, until rescue.
Like someone said before, the only ones convicted of Mutiny from those rescued were those who were pretty active mutineer-pirates.
Don't make a habit of saying that too often, and once more will be too often
I am surprised that nobody has attempted to make a movie telling the post-mutiny story. I wonder if part of the reason is that in popular culture, Captain Bligh is essentially synonymous with cruelty, and sadism, while Christian is viewed much more sympathetically. It would be tough to make a more nuanced portrayal of events.
It seems like there is enough information about what happened on Pitcairn to at least make an attempt at a story. What's known is that it was a drunken, bloody and violent mess -- Murder, violence, and Tahitian wives who were essentially kidnapped, passed around, and treated as slaves. It was more Lord of the Flies than a tropical paradise.
The fact that so many sailors volunteered to accompany Bligh seems to at least imply that there was a lot going on in the background. The idea of going with him must have seemed like a long, prolonged, and agonizingly painful death sentence.
Going with Christian meant never returning home or seeing their families -- It just seems like this is something the sailors would have been mentally prepared for, after being at sea for so long. I can only imagine Tahiti must have been paradise compared to 18th century British slums.
If I was an enlisted sailor who didn't partake in the mutiny, it just seems like the logical choice would be to side with Christian:
1) The odds of Bligh's success were impossibly low.
2) The odds of disappearing into Polynesia and not being discovered by the British Navy seem somewhat high.
3) Likely wouldn't be anything or anyone waiting for me in England.
4) Tahiti would be paradise in my mind and the idea of finding a similar island would be very appealing.
If I were to side with Bligh, it would have to be because there was something seriously wrong with Christian and his followers.
it's not about 'sides'; the point of the movie.
Season's Greetings!
Considering that British class system and culture was fundamentally flawed and brutal to the working and underclass in that era (for one thing the "cruel and unusual punishment" that our constitutional outlawed. (unfortunately punishment may have been cruel but not unusual in the British military at that time. (Whipping sailors until the bone was exposed)
I would have been against Bligh. In fact a fleetwide mutiny happened in 1797 called the "Spithead mutiny" in the entire Royal navy among sailors fed up with low pay bad food and mistreatment by the officers and Captains it resulted in some reforms in the Royal Navy.
Not to mention his quest for glory by trying to sail around the horn risking his ship and men was criminal negligence.
If I were Fletcher Christian, I simply would have waited until around 3 AM and then assaulted Bligh and then thrown him overboard. The next day... "where is the Captain?" His mental instability must have made him go overboard. Who could prove otherwise? With no eye witnesses, sail back to port of origin. Then, 11 months later return to find your woman and live happily ever after.
shareTie the Bligh captain to the underside of the boat so they NEVER EVER find his body! Then go back to Tahiti to pound some meat, whoop whoop!
Spoiler alert for them spoil sports out there! Y'all like spoiled milk, stop crying over it!
Tie the Bligh captain to the underside of the boat so they NEVER EVER find his body! Then go back to Tahiti to pound some meat, whoop whoop!
I'm sure some of the mutineers tried to make Christian go for that solution. You know, some of the more brutal and savage ones.
You raise an interesting point. Why didn't they kill him? If you're already set to hang after taking the ship anyway, what difference does it make? Why risk taking even the very remotest of chances of the guy getting back to civilisation where he could report the mutiny?
I'd have sunk the launch with them all in it. Problem solved.
Although, it might have been more satisfying to go hands-on with Bligh personally first :)
Bligh, by all accounts, wasn't the most pleasant human being, but I'm with him here: "The Royal Navy is not a humorous institution, sir, and insubordination is no laughing matter." :)
shareIt makes the life of a pirate appear more adventurous and pleasurable than being on Bligh's ship. Christian was right to seize the Bounty.
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