Having looked more closely at the initial references you linked me to (before even glancing at the latest ones) I now realize that they are multiple and all say the same thing, so I've redacted what I had originally said about it possibly being a typo - one or two typos are possible, consistently being wrong multiple times is not.  All I can state is that the novel has Elphinstone as the rank I stated, but quite possibly that was a literary tweak in order to make Christian the only Master's Mate. I'm certainly not going to claim the fictional variant is correct and all the non-fictional versions are wrong! Now that I look at Elphinstone's and Churchill's ages, Elphinstone (at 36) is 8 years older than Churchill (at 28) so it is unlikely, but by no means impossible, that Elphinstone was junior in rank to Churchill.  To be honest, I'm a bit confused why there would be 2 Master's Mates on the same ship with so small a crew - is that normal?  That would make it the only rank on the Bounty for which there was more than one instance other than quartermaster (and of course, able seaman!).  Anyway, I don't want to get stuck on this issue - I had asked who you the other Master's Mate was and you told me. My response to your reply is now a bit of a digression, but hopefully an informative one. Let's move on. Granted that Elphinstone is indeed a Master's Mate, the number of crew not berthed in the forecastle in point (5) below is now 15 not 14, which is still greater than 13. 66.16.144.18