page_title: William Bligh
section_title: The Bounty
hierarchical_section_title: William Bligh / The Bounty
caption_attribution_description: The launch of HMS Bounty, the boat in which Captain Bligh and 18 loyal crew were cast adrift after the mutiny
context_page_description: William Bligh was an English officer in the British Navy. He sailed with Captain James Cook on his third and final voyage in 1776. In 1787 Bligh was made captain of HMS Bounty and sailed to Tahiti to collect breadfruit trees. A Mutiny on the Bounty prevented finishing this task. In 1806 he was made Governor of New South Wales. After going back to England, Bligh was made a Rear-Admiral and later a Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy.
context_section_description: In 1787 Bligh became leader of a small expedition to be sent to Tahiti to get breadfruit trees. These would be planted in the West Indies as food for the slaves.  The Bounty left Tahiti loaded with breadfruit trees on 4 April 1789. Three weeks later, a seaman named Fletcher Christian led a mutiny (take over) of the ship. Christian wanted to go back to Tahiti. This event is called the Mutiny on the Bounty. Bligh and 18 seamen were put into a small boat, with little food or water, four swords, a sextant, a pocket watch, but no map. They were able to get to Batavia (now Jakarta), a distance of 6701 km, in 47 days. Bligh finally got back to England in March, 1790. He wrote a book about the mutiny called A Narrative of the Mutiny on board His Majesty's Ship "Bounty". 
  In August 1791 Bligh set out again to get breadfruit trees. He was also told to find out more about Torres Strait, between Australia and New Guinea. He took two ships, the Providence and the Assistant, getting back to England in August 1793.
caption: The small launch (boat) from the Bounty that took 19 sailors back to Batavia
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