91 William Bligh Facts: The Man Who Led The Famous Mutiny
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Bligh served in the merchant service as a captain from 1783-1787.
The Bounty Mutiny took place in 1789 while Bligh was in command of the HMS Bounty. After being cast adrift during the ship's launch by the mutineers, Bligh returned alive with his faithful men to Timor from the South Sea.
On April 28, 1789, a bounty mutiny aboard the Royal Navy ship occurred in the South Sea. Disgruntled crewmen, led by Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, seized the ship's control and cast the captain of the ship, William Bligh, and 18 loyalists loose in the ship's free boat.
Vice-Admiral William Bligh was an administrator of the Royal Navy and a colonial official.
On December 7, 1817, Captain Bligh died in London.
Continue reading to learn more information about Captain William Bligh and the Bounty. After this, you may also want to look at other fun fact articles about the 26th president of the USA and Harriet Tubman.
Fun Facts About William Bligh
William Bligh was a British Navy lieutenant from England.
In 1776, he joined Captain James Cook as his sailing master on his third and final trip to the Pacific Ocean. During this time, Bligh received various praises from Cook for his position as a sailing master.
Captain William Bligh was appointed commander of HMS Bounty in 1787 and proceeded towards the South Pacific to collect breadfruit trees and to acquire a reward that the Royal Society offered.
He was a well-educated man who was passionate about science and believed that adequate nutrition and sanitation were essential for the crew's well-being.
He took a keen interest in his crew's training, was particular about the quality of their meals, and asked that the Bounty be kept immaculate.
However, the mission was cut short due to the Mutiny on the Bounty.
He was elected as the Governor of New South Wales in 1806 and was promoted to Rear-Admiral and then Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy after returning to England. Bligh was court-martialled various times during his career, which led to his backdated promotion to rear admiral.
On February 26, 2021, Bligh's logbook that recorded the mutiny was listed on the register of the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World.
On August 13, 1806, 17 years following the Bounty Mutiny, he was assigned the post of the Governor of New South Wales in Australia, with rules for cleaning up the New South Wales Corps' illegal rum business.
The sheriffs began juridical actions against Bligh, who then caught one of the pioneers, John Macarthur, for sedition.
Major George Johnston, a member of the army, got Macarthur out of jail, and on January 26, 1808, he directed the unit to the Government House and captured William Bligh.
The army then took control of the government, resulting in the Rum Rebellion. He was seized by the corps on January 26, 1808, and dismissed of control, an act later ruled illegal by the British Government.
Bligh, on December 7, 1817, died in London at the age of 63 and was buried in a family grave at St. Mary's, Lambeth. Since then, the church has been transformed into the Garden Museum.
Facts About William Bligh's Mutiny
In 1787, Captain Bligh was sent to head a short trip to Tahiti in order to bring breadfruit trees, which would, later on, be planted in the West Indies as sustenance for the slaves in the British colonies.
On April 4, 1789, the Bounty left Tahiti with a cargo of breadfruit trees.
During William Bligh's command of the HMS Bounty in 1789, the Mutiny on the Bounty took place.
After being set adrift on the Bounty's launch by mutineers, Bligh and his loyal crew made it to Timor alive after a 4,160 mi (6694.9 km) trip.
Because the ship was only rated as a sailing boat, the Bounty didn't have any commissioned officers apart from Lieutenant Bligh and a small number of crew members to guard the ship from violent natives or impose safety on board.
Instead of two watches, Bligh had split his crew into three parts to allow for more uninterrupted sleep, and he made his protégé, called Fletcher Christian, responsible for one of the guards.
During the return voyage on April 28, 1789, Christian led the mutiny with the support of 18 crew members. During one of the nightly watches by Fletcher, firearms were seized by them. They even surprised and tied up Bligh and dumped him in his shelter.
Bligh and 18 committed crewmen were granted a 23 ft (7 m) launch by the mutineers along with four cutlasses, enough sustenance to last for seven days, and a compass (but no maps).
Bligh was confident in his navigational abilities, which he honed under Captain James Cook's tutelage to the Pacific.
The 18 men lived on 0.1 lb (40 g) of bread every day from May 4 till May 29, before they arrived at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
All the men, including Captain Bligh and his loyal men, were alive when they reached Timor.
Bligh managed to defend himself in a trial for the loss of the Bounty in October 1790. Between 1791-1793, he embarked on a second fruitful voyage as the commanding officer of the HMS Providence.
Facts About William Bligh's Life
At the age of seven, Bligh enlisted in the Royal Navy, when it was normal to engage in labor solely to earn, or at least show, the needed sea experience for a commanding role. He entered the HMS Hunter as an efficient sailor in 1770, when he was 16 years old, as there was no opening for a midshipman.
Bligh was shifted aboard the Crescent in September 1771 and stayed on board for approximately three years.
He received his commission as a lieutenant soon after, in August 1781, when he fought in the Battle of Dogger Bank below Admiral Parker.
He served as a commanding lieutenant on numerous ships for the next year and a half. In 1782, he also battled Lord Howe.
He, like many other lieutenants, could have found full-time employment with the Navy; but, with the fleet mostly demobilized after the war against France when that nation made allies with the North American revolting provinces in the War of American Independence, commissions were difficult to come by.
In the Royal Navy, he finally ascended to the level of vice admiral.
Facts About William Bligh's Family
William Bligh was born on September 9, 1754, although the place of his birth is still a mystery. The two possibilities of his birth location are Plymouth, Devon, as he was baptized in a church there, or his ancestral home near Bodmin, Cornwall.
William's father, Francis, served as a customs officer in Plymouth, while Jane Pearce, Bligh's mother, was a widow who married Francis when he was 40 years old.
On February 4, 1781, Bligh wedded Elizabeth Betham, a customs authority's daughter. The wedding took place at Onchan, which was close by.
Along with Elizabeth Betham, William Bligh had eight kids: Elizabeth Bligh, Anne Bligh, Frances Bligh, Harriet Maria Barker, Henry Bligh, Jane Bligh, Mary Putland, and William Bligh.
William Bligh and Henry Bligh were twins who died in infancy.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our article about William Bligh, then why not take a look at our other articles on Barack Obama or Abraham Lincoln?
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With a Degree in Business Administration, Shagun is an avid writer with a passion for food, fashion, and travel, which she explores on her blog. Her love of literature has led her to become a member of a literary society, where she contributes to promoting literary festivals in her role as head of marketing for her college. Shagun also pursues learning the Spanish language in her free time.
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