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 Ive 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 Masters Mate Im certainly not going to claim the fictional variant is correct and all the nonfictional versions are wrong Now that I look at Elphinstones and Churchills ages Elphinstone at  is  years older than Churchill at  so it is unlikely but by no means impossible that Elphinstone was junior in rank to Churchill  To be honest Im a bit confused why there would be  Masters 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 dont want to get stuck on this issue  I had asked who you the other Masters Mate was and you told me My response to your reply is now a bit of a digression but hopefully an informative one Lets move on Granted that Elphinstone is indeed a Masters Mate the number of crew not berthed in the forecastle in point  below is now  not  which is still greater than