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Surely this exhaustingly-researched, enthralling and enthusiastically-written tome is the last word on the most famous of all seafaring mutinies, that of shipmate Fletcher Christian and against Lieutenant Bligh on the Bounty. More than 200 years have gone by since the ship left England after dreadful weather kept it harbored for months, on its mission to transport breadfruit from Tahiti to the West Indies. The mutiny in Tahiti left the mutineers scattered about the paradisiacal islands and found Bligh and 18 of his loyal crew members set adrift in a 23-foot open boat. Bligh, who'd served as Capt. James Cook's sailing master, fantastically maneuvered the crew on a 48-day, 3,600-mile journey to safety. Caroline Alexander, author of The Endurance, is never in over her head even when weaving together densely twisting narratives, or explaining the unwritten rules of the Royal Navy, of the complexities of class and hierarchy that impelled much of what happened aboard the Bounty. The book centers far more on the effort to round up the mutineers than the actual mutiny itself. The book is enlivened by the colorful commentary of the crew members themselves, gleaned from letters and court documents. Alexander does us all the favor of presenting Bligh the way he was understood and received in his day--as a brilliant navigator who, when placed in context, was not a brutal task-master at all. She roots the tyrannical figure we know so well from the movies on the last-ditch efforts of one well-connected crew member to save his own hide from hanging. --Mike McGonigal
Book Description
More than two centuries have passed since Master's Mate Fletcher Christian mutinied against Lieutenant Bligh on a small, armed transport vessel called Bounty. Why the details of this obscure adventure at the end of the world remain vivid and enthralling is as intriguing as the truth behind the legend.
In giving the Bounty mutiny its historical due, Caroline Alexander has chosen to frame her narrative by focusing on the court-martial of the ten mutineers who were captured in Tahiti and brought to justice in England. This fresh perspective wonderfully revivifies the entire saga, and the salty, colorful language of the captured men themselves conjures the events of that April morning in 1789, when Christian's breakdown impelled every man on a fateful course: Bligh and his loyalists on the historic open boat voyage that revealed him to be one of history's great navigators; Christian on his restless exile; and the captured mutineers toward their day in court. As the book unfolds, each figure emerges as a full-blown character caught up in a drama that may well end on the gallows. And as Alexander shows, it was in a desperate fight to escape hanging that one of the accused defendants deliberately spun the mutiny into the myth we know today-of the tyrannical Lieutenant Bligh of the Bounty.
Ultimately, Alexander concludes that the Bounty mutiny was sparked by that most unpredictable, combustible, and human of situations-the chemistry between strong personalities living in close quarters. Her account of the voyage, the trial, and the surprising fates of Bligh, Christian, and the mutineers is an epic of ambition, passion, pride, and duty at the dawn of the Romantic era.
Customer Reviews:
Well researched, good narrative.......2007-09-04
Very well researched audiobook with excellent narrative. Many historical points rarely mentioned by other historians of the event with a very good all round history of the events themselves. Narrative also never ceases to bore, a very important aspect of any audiobook.
Exhaustive and gripping.......2007-08-27
Popular histories sometimes (not always, but often enough to notice) suffer from one of two things: a deliberate paring away of detail--be it description or incident--to make for easier reading or a slimmer volume, or a concerted refusal to acknowledge or explore information that does not gird the author's thesis. Caroline Alexander's The Bounty has neither condition: it is as exhaustive an examination of a single moment of history as anything I've ever read.
Which is not to say that the reading is not compelling. Alexander goes to some pains to strip away the romantic veneer covering over the facts of the mutiny and those culpable in its execution. Nor does she provide complete exoneration to Captain Bligh, who is revealed as an able, conscientious and decent man, whose few failings were amplified by a flawed crew and lack of support (mainly in the absence of marines on board The Bounty) from the Admiralty. Oddly, but appropriately for such a scholarly work, Alexander pieces together much of what is known about lead mutineer Fletcher Christian from the extant evidence, which in most cases is second hand.
The exhaustive nature of the book does tend to drag in places. The build up to court martial introduces the tiresome (no more here though than she was doubtlessly so in life) Fanny Hayward, along with detailed explanation of the members of the court martial. Interesting and ultimately useful in sorting out the fractured loyalties that defined these men and their subsequent actions, it does get to be slow reading.
But more than a story of one mutiny in the Pacific, it is a tale of a changing world, where the virgin paradise of Tahiti is imbued with the failings of the British Empire, where Nelson's final words, "thank God I have done my duty," are not the anthem of a subsequent age but an epitaph for a waning one. An epic worth reading.
The best book on the topic in over a generation.......2007-08-07
Having studied the Bounty mutiny and its aftermath for nearly forty years now, I didn't feel as if there was much new material - but a friend who recommended this book to me did not steer me wrong.
Ms. Alexander's fresh treatment of the material - as well as her work to uncover new sources and provide a different look - is well worth the read. In particular, her research into the career of Bligh both before and after the mutiny; his use of common supplies to guarantee the health of the crew (learned no doubt from his travels with Captain Cook), and his later life all leant new and added dimension to a story which has gone stale with the telling.
Her postulation regarding Christian's return to England from Pitcairn Island is well-thought-out and well-researched. Perhaps some day we'll learn the truth here - and while it's likely to remain speculation, she makes a compelling point.
This book is worth the read for any student of the Bounty's history and the aftermath of the mutiny, both for Ms Alexander's writing-style and for her fresh research and treatment of the material.
A Marvelous, Memorable Immersion in Real Life.......2007-07-25
One ought not to pick up a weighty book like this one expecting a comic book treatment or movie script. Reading this long tortuous story is difficult but superbly rewarding work. Your time is amply rewarded by the author whose every page rings with truth and insight. It is a story that will never die because it shows humanity in all its flavours and textures, at its best and its worst. The author makes few judgments of her own, letting the story as viewed from dozens of mouths speak for itself, usually. In the end you know where everyone came from, where they ended up, and what they said and did - a lot of information but told in a way that keeps you turning the pages and never jades. I am so glad I read this book! Thank you Caroline Alexander.
Well researched ; neglects Polynesian perspective.......2007-07-09
Yes this is a well researched tome. However, there is an absolute dearth of any valid detailing of the Tahitian cultural context of the day. After all there was a great deal of interaction with this Polynesian society for all on the Bounty. Further enlightenment for the reader would have been gained with a least a cursory reference to Norman Hall and Nordhoff's (in)famous trilogy, which, lets face it has concretised "The Mutiny on the Bounty" into our modern consciouness,
Book Description
The names William Bligh, Fletcher Christian, and the Bounty have excited the popular imagination for more than two hundred years. The story of this famous mutiny has many beginnings and many endings but they all intersect on an April morning in 1789 near the island known today as Tonga. That morning, William Bligh and eighteen surly seamen were expelled from the Bounty and began what would be the greatest open-boat voyage in history, sailing some 4,000 miles to safety in Timor. The mutineers led by Fletcher Christian sailed off into a mystery that has never been entirely resolved.
While the full story of what drove the men to revolt or what really transpired during the struggle may never be known, Penguin Classics has brought together-for the first time in one volume-all the relevant texts and documents related to a drama that has fascinated generations. Here is the full text of Bligh's Narrative of the Mutiny, the minutes of the court proceedings gathered by Edward Christian in an effort to clear his brother's name, and the highly polemic correspondence between Bligh and Christian-all amplified by Robert Madison's illuminating Introduction and rich selection of subsequent Bounty narratives.
Customer Reviews:
Mostly a Disappointment.......2006-06-21
This is my first review. I feel that some of the 'rave reviews' I read for this volume did not adequately describe several flaws that I feel need mentioning.
I bought this book because I wanted to read the contemporary accounts of the Bounty mutiny to gain an understand of both sides of the issues involved, and to make a personal decision on what happened and why. This edition was touted as allowing me to do just that. However I found that the editor, in his introduction, tries to do some of my thinking for me. I feel that, in a book of this sort, the editor should not be telling us his version of the story, particularly at the beginning of the book. Mr Madison may well believe that Captain Bligh was the villian in this tragedy with Mr Christian the poor sensitive victim, but I wish he would keep it to himself and limit himself to background and supplemental material.
Another disappointment is that apparently, the chapter titled "Minutes of the Proceedings of the Court-Martial held at Portsmouth, August 12, 1792." is not the real minutes at all, but a partial transcript provided by Edward Christian (Fletcher's brother). I'm not sure I understand why the actual court transcript was not available and what is missing in the version we have. I do know we have to rely on a version published by the 'defendant's" brother. Is that really conducive to getting an objective picture?
That said, the book is still interesting and does give the reader a fairly comprehensive picture of the events of that spring morning in 1789.
More interesting than the fictional accounts.......2002-03-06
This book is a collection of early documents relating to Fletcher Christian's mutiny against William Bligh in 1789 on the HMS Bounty. The editor claims to have gathered together for the first time "the relevant texts and documents" related to this famous event that has intrigued readers for 200 years. In all, ten documents whose publication dates range from 1790 to 1870 are included. The first four documents make up the body of the book and consist of a series of published statements by William Blight and responses by Edward Christian, Fletcher's brother. Fletcher Christian died on Pitcairn Island and never put his story in print. These four sections are followed by six Appendixes. The first Appendix contains a transcript of Bligh's orders and a botanical description of the breadfruit that the Bounty went to Tahiti to obtain. The remaining five Appendixes are narratives of the lives of those who stayed on the Bounty after the mutiny.
All of these early texts are preceded by a delightful and informative Introduction by the editor that relates the early lives of both Bligh and Christian and discusses their relationship leading up to the mutiny. It describes the mission of the Pandora to seek out the Bounty and bring back any mutineers they can find. Also covered is the trial and disposition of those sailors brought back from Tahiti. Lastly, the Introduction goes on to summarize the history of Bounty documentation and scholarship, from Bligh's first published account right on through the famous fictionalized Bounty trilogy by Nordhoff and Hall. The Introduction is followed by a one page listing of suggested further readings.
The first section of the book is Bligh's 1790 account of the mutiny and subsequent voyage of he and 18 crew members in the ship's 23 foot boat. He quickly recounts the details of the mutiny on the first four pages and then spends the remaining 62 pages on his heroic and epic voyage across 3,600 miles of the South Pacific that took about a month and a half. Bligh depicts himself as a dedicated leader who saved the lives of all but one crew member in this fascinating and arduous journey.
The second section of the book is the proceedings of the court martial of those brought back to face charges of mutiny, published in 1794 by Edward Christian in an attempt to exonerate his brother. This text consists of a written statement by Bligh, a series of interrogations of the Bounty crew regarding the events of the mutiny, and an Appendix by Edward. A picture of Bligh as a tyrant emerges from this testimony. It is 86 pages long and somewhat repetitive, but still an interesting document to read. The 20 page Appendix at the end of is Edward Christian's attempt to show that his brother had cause for his actions. Although he does not try to justify his brother's actions, he tries to show the state of desperation that his brother was driven to by Bligh's actions. Bligh was at sea when this was published and, when he returned home, he published in 1795 "An Answer..." to the statements of the Appendix which is included as the third section of this book. To this Edward Christian wrote and published a "Short Reply..." that is the fourth section of this book. This interchange in writing between Bligh and Edward Christian is wonderful to read because it presents both sides of the story in a very balanced and fair manner. Without having Fletcher Christian to defend his own actions, this set of documents is the next best thing we have to a fair presentation of both sides of the case.
The above documents alone would have made a wonderful and enlightening book. The editor goes on to present in the Appendixes documents that tell the story of those men who followed Fletcher Christian to Tahiti or Pitcairn Island. The first Appendix is a copy of Bligh's orders to go to Tahiti and a description of the breadfruit he was to bring to Jamaica. The second Appendix is an 1870 retelling of a journal kept by one of the sailors who was taken by the Pandora from Tahiti as a mutineer. It tells of the harsh treatment these 14 received aboard this ship and how four died when the ship sank. The next two Appendixes are accounts written by crew members of a ship that visited Pitcairn Island 19 years after the mutiny in 1808. They tell the story of the crew that landed there with Fletcher Christian and their history and families. By this time only one of the nine members of the original Bounty crew that landed on the island remained alive. The last two Appendixes are the story of one of the Tahitian women who married a Bounty crew member and the story of the last surviving crew member himself.
Altogether these various documents pieced together tell what we can know of the Bounty mutiny. They make fascinating reading, more interesting than the fictional accounts. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in tales of the sea.
An Amazing Book.......2001-07-20
What an amazing book. Using the original source materials--Bligh's diary, the transcript of the Bounty Court Martial, Fletcher Christian's brother's defense of the mutineers, and other materials--the Editor R.D. Madison has put together a book which is impossible to put down. Indeed, the book leaves the reader wishing it were twice as long. Madison refuses to take sides in the Bligh v. Christian debate, and lets the record speak for itself. Since the record is contradictory and nobody is unbiased, the effect, in cinematic terms, is more like "Roshomon" than either of the two Bounty movies. William Bligh comes across as an incredibly brave man with an indomitable will--yet he has a tendency to whine, and worse, he stoops to securing affidavits which do not even pass the smell test. Fletcher Christian comes across as a 23-year old hothead who lets the men talk him into leading a mutiny--and can't control the situation after the mutiny. Christian petulantly refuses to have dinner with the Captain on the eve of the mutiny. Clark Gable, he clearly ain't. The moral world of the Bounty is painted entirely in shades of gray; the men of the Bounty are imperfect and all too human.
Not only is the reader treated to a great detective story, but it is a story with an absorbing and instructive sequel. The book ends with a contemporary account, first published in the 1830's, of the subsequent history of Pitcairn Island as told by the last survivor of the Bounty, "John Adams" (an alias). Adams described a harrowing descent into mayhem and murder by the mutineers who made it to Pitcairn Island along with their native friends. The disputes began with a dispute over--you guessed it--who would possess a native woman. Except for Adams, Fletcher Christian his gang were all killed, along with the native men. In the end, John Adams sets up a harmonious society based on Biblical principles.
I have been scratching my head for two whole weeks since finishing this book, pondering its meaning. And that is a high recommendation, indeed.
An Amazing Book.......2001-07-20
What an amazing book. Using the original source materials--Bligh's diary, the transcript of the Bounty Court Martial, Fletcher Christian's brother's defense of the mutineers, and other materials--the Editor R.D. Madison has put together a book which is impossible to put down. Indeed, the book leaves the reader wishing it were twice as long. Madison refuses to take sides in the Bligh v. Christian debate, and lets the record speak for itself. Since the record is contradictory and nobody is unbiased, the effect, in cinematic terms, is more like "Roshomon" than either of the two Bounty movies. William Bligh comes across as an incredibly brave man with an indomitable will--yet he has a tendency to whine, and worse, he stoops to securing affidavits which do not even pass the smell test. Fletcher Christian comes across as a 23-year old hothead who lets the men talk him into leading a mutiny--and can't control the situation after the mutiny. Christian petulantly refuses to have dinner with the Captain on the eve of the mutiny. Clark Gable, he clearly ain't. The moral world of the Bounty is painted entirely in shades of gray; the men of the Bounty are imperfect and all too human.
Not only is the reader treated to a great detective story, but it is a story with an absorbing and instructive sequel. The book ends with a contemporary account, first published in the 1830's, of the subsequent history of Pitcairn's Island as told by the last survivor of the Bounty, "John Adams" (an alias). Adams described a harrowing descent into mayhem and murder by the mutineers who made it to Pitcairn's Island along with their native friends. The disputes began with a dispute over--you guessed it--who would possess a native woman. Except for Adams, Fletcher Christian his gang were all killed, along with the native men. In the end, John Adams sets up a harmonious society based on Biblical principles.
I have been scratching my head for two whole weeks since finishing this book, pondering its meaning. And that is a high recommendation, indeed.
Book Description
PITCAIRN'S ISLAND unfolds a tale of drunkenness, betrayal, murder, and vengeance as it chronicles the fate of Christian, the mutineers, and a handful of Tahitians, who together take refuge on the loneliest island in the Pacific.
Customer Reviews:
A Fictional, But Good Story.......2007-04-23
Pitcairn's Island is a fictionalized account of the events that took place after the mutiny of the H.M.S. Bounty. I first read this story when I was 13 years old and like other posters I had a hard time putting it down. I read the entire book over one night and I reread it the next day. Fifteen years later I still remember how this book was the beginning of my interest in the South Pacific and Polynesian history. Alhtough this story is a fictionalized account of the events that took place, I argue that the authors did an excellent job of surmizing what might have happened. This book would make a much more interesting movie than Mutiny on the Bounty and I still hope one day I can watch it on the big screen.
The best of the Bounty trilogy, and the most thought-provoking.......2006-11-01
This is the third of the Bounty trilogy. The first book chronicles the mutiny itself, as well as following the fate of the non-mutineers who were left in Tahiti when the ringleaders left. It is a good book - often filmed, so most know the general story. The second book, Men Against the Sea, follows the fate of Captain Bligh and those that chose not to participate in the mutiny who were put off the ship into a boat to make their way as best they could. They eventually reached a Dutch colony and Bligh made his report on the mutiny. This book, Pitcairn's Island, is the story of the mutineers who tried to find an island on which to live out their lives without fear of discovery. The island must be small and remote enough not to have been charted by the admiralty, but big enough to sustain the lives of 27 people indefinitely. Fletcher Christian, leader of the mutineers, picks Pitcairn's Island, known to him from a previous cruise, but officially "undiscovered" because no one could attempt a landing on it.
With the group of mutineers are a number of Polynesian men and women. Once forced to live in close quarters, the inevitable culture conflict starts, especially because the British chauvenism in thinking the Polynesians to be inherently inferior savages. This sets up an ethnically-divided society, and ultimately leads to civil war between the British seamen and their Polynesian counterparts. Rape, murder, drunkeness, and treachery leads to a fascinating account of interracial conflict that ultimately concludes with redemption for the survivors and an optimistic note that all will be well now that the bigotted first generation has died out.
As others have mentioned, this is a "fictionalised" account of the stories of the mutineers. It is based on fact, where available. Certainly, this allows the authors to chose which of the many versions on the subject to believe (or to cut-and-paste together likely events where the facts are seemingly contradictory). Overall, it is the most interesting story, and the one that follows the most conventional arc. I think the other two books should be read first, saving the best for last.
Terrific Novelization of the Bounty Endgame.......2006-01-26
This is certainly the most exciting installment in the authors' masterful trilogy regarding the tragic tale of the Bounty. It reads much more like a Gore Vidal-style book of historical fiction, simply thrilling writing and high-seas adventure culminating in fascinating, Survivor-like battle of wits and nature as the shipwrecked mutineers square off one by one.
History buffs will need to look elsewhere for more recent and comprehensive accounts of the story, but this epic book stands the test of time and is one of the finest entries in this genre yet produced. A must read.
Excellent reading!!.......2003-09-11
Best story I've ever read in my life. very interesting. Couldn't put it down. Great novel for people of all ages. Everyone should read this book. Good history book of Pitcairn Island.
Survivor meets Lord of the Flies.......2002-02-11
This is a magnificent book and the best of the Bounty Trilogy. I've read it many times over the years and find myself wholly captivated by it each time.
"Pitcairn's Island" follows the story of Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian and eight of his men who are hunting for a sanctuary in which to hide from the long arm of the Royal Navy. They bring their Tahitian wives and several Tahitian men along with them. Finding Pitcairn's Island uninhabited, they settle there in 1790, less than a year after the mutiny. The men range from about age 21 to 38, Christian himself was only about 24 yrs old although the movies always seem to depict him as being older.
The Pitcairn story operates on multiple levels--- the attempt by criminals to make a Utopian society, the conflict between the English and the Tahitians, the conflict between the men and the women, conflict between the educated officers, Christian and Young, and the low-born seamen. The tiny colony struggles with alcoholism, race warfare, slavery, rape, insanity and even religious rebirth. The story seems impossible to believe and yet all of it is true. The mutiny story has made for several rousing motion pictures but they always end with the mutineers arrival at Pitcairn and never deal with what happened afterwards, which is the most fascinating part of the story.
Will some filmmaker PLEASE bring this story to the screen?
Average customer rating:
- To fully appreciate Mutiny on the Bounty, Read the full trilogy
- Mutiny On The Bounty. the book
- British Naval adventure of a different variety
- Mutiny on the Bounty
- The story of a captain who understood the letter but not the spirit of the law
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Mutiny on the Bounty: A Novel
Charles Nordhoff , and
James Norman Hall
Manufacturer: Back Bay Books
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Book Description
MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY is the thrilling account of the strange, eventful, and tragic voyage of His Majesty's Ship Bounty in 17881789, which culminated in Fletcher Christian's mutiny against Captain Bligh.
Customer Reviews:
To fully appreciate Mutiny on the Bounty, Read the full trilogy.......2007-05-14
I would contend that one simply cannot fully summarize or comment on the book "Mutiny on the Bounty" without reading the full Bounty Trilogy. The central issues raised in the first book are resolved implicitly and at length in "Men Against the Sea" and "Pitcairn's Island," where the authors flesh out the denouement. Yes, they are novels, and entertaining in their own right, but on a deeper level they provide moral lessons that make the conclusions inescapable and unforgettable. This was required reading in my high school class and it wasn't until years later that I came to appreciate the full meaning and broad scope of this story, which addresses timeless issues central to the human condition, providing a greater understanding of people, society, and their relationship with the cruel indifference of nature. Although they are novels, I have done some further research on the story, read the trial transcripts, and have found that the facts of the story only bear out more strongly the implicit thesis of the authors. These works are some of the most memorable and useful literature I have ever read. To paraphrased a great philosopher: Read me now, and believe me later. Highly recommended.
Mutiny On The Bounty. the book.......2007-03-09
The book closely follows the movie with Marlon Brando. I purchased the movie on DVD and of course after reading the book I can see the real parallel between them. As always, I admire accuracy in movies and the book that the movie was made from. It was a very good novel and I enjoyed it very much.
British Naval adventure of a different variety.......2007-02-08
If the pleasure that you derive from reading books about turn of the 19th century British Navy is based mainly upon the recounting of broadsides and boarding in the smoke (a la Aubrey/Maturin, Hornblower, et al), then the Bounty Trilogy (Mutiny on the Bounty, Men Against the Sea, and Pitcairn's Island) should probably not rank high on your list of things to read. However, if what you enjoy about the genre is the period itself, British Naval culture of the era, and intense if non-martial conflict between men, these three books should be high on your reading list indeed. For not only is the period well depicted and the history well laid out in a non-obtrusive fictional account, but the even-handed characterization of the primary actors is a joy to read. There is neither the sermonizing about Bligh nor hagiography of Christian that would be the approach expected of most most modern writers as they view bygone times through the moral squint of contemporary sensibilities. If written along such lines, the Bounty Trilogy would be a vapid depiction of Bligh as a purely bourgeois-imperialist ogre and Christian as a singular paradigm of revolutionary goodness. Instead, Nordhoff and Hall have given us complex characters that fully and deeply engage the reader and make the books a joy to read in-spite of the reader's knowledge of the ultimate outcomes of each volume. Highly recommended to anyone who feels they fit into the above described category of likely-to-be-pleased reader. 5 stars for the entire trilogy.
Mutiny on the Bounty.......2006-11-07
From Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall comes a timeless saga of the men who served aboard the H.M.S. Bounty. Fated to never return to England again, the Bounty would be set adrift in the stormy seas crewed by mutineers and her men across the globe with some reaching tragic fates. Mutiny on the Bounty, the first of the Bounty trilogy follows a young midshipman by the name of Roger Byam. During his voyage, many events happen that cause Byam to question his view on honor, courage, and loyalty. Even as events happen around him, Byam finds a deeper meaning to each of those traits. He realizes that honor, courage, and loyalty are the greatest traits that any sailor could possess, but that it is the man he is loyal to that really determines his nature. This amazing sea adventure will appeal to those who love ocean adventures because this novel will bring the reader to the depths and back. From mutiny to sinking ships and castaways, this is an adventure that sea lovers cannot miss. So join Byam and get ready to set sail on Her Majesty's Ship Bounty and experience the adventures that await the British sailor aboard one of Her warships. Read the book and lash yourself tight to the riggings as you ride the high seas. This book is surely to wash you away!
The story of a captain who understood the letter but not the spirit of the law.......2006-10-24
The story of the Mutiny on the Bounty is actually a trilogy of three books. "Mutiny on the Bounty," is the first, detailing the mutiny itself and the fate of several of the mutineers (and some innocent bystanders) when they are eventually caught. "Men Against the Sea" follows the men who were kicked off the ship when the mutineers took control, and "Pitcairn's Island" is the story of 9 of the mutineers who were never caught because they went to live on the remote and difficult-to-access titular island.
The captain of the Bounty, one William Bligh, is painted as an embezzeler who is also harsh on discipline. He bullies the quatermaster into signing false consumption reports (and then sells what isn't eaten at port), threatening to hang anyone who disagrees with him. Similarly, he is a harsh disciplinarian who orders flogging for the least offenses, regularly insults his first mate (Christian), and is quick to invoke the Law of the Sea to keep the men in line, rather than trying to win their affection and respect. Eventually, he pushes Christian too far, which precipitates the mutiny.
This book is probably the least interesting of the trilogy. It follows a standard narrative structure, being narrated by one (fictional) young officer that Bligh believed to be part of the mutiny. Because of Bligh's testimony, all those left aboard the Bounty (however unwilling) were guilty of mutiny, which sets up the situation where the narrator must depend on the testimony of mutineers to prove his innocence. But overall, there is something meandering about the story that detracts from the overall enjoyment of the book. The most interesting aspect of the book is how well it relives the golden days of British seapower and how it demonstrates the difficulty of the average seaman when faced with a petty tyrant for a captain.
Average customer rating:
- A real-life 18th century whodunnit with a sex scandal.
- After the movies finish
- "Lord of the Flies" in bloody reality.
- Pitcairn Island: Life and Death in Eden
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Pitcairn Island: Life and Death in Eden
Trevor Lummis
Manufacturer: Ashgate Publishing
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Customer Reviews:
A real-life 18th century whodunnit with a sex scandal........2004-10-25
Imagine being stranded on a remote small South Pacific tropical island with 20 or so others, with no police, no laws to follow and no food, water or shelter other than that what you have built or can get by yourselves, no means to go anywhere else and little chance of being rescued (indeed being found would mean execution). Add to this the fact that your fellow castaways are a mixture of Europeans (all men) and Tahitians (men and women) and the fact that some of the Tahitians were taken to the island against their wishes. This is the position the Bounty mutineers found themselves in 1789 on Pitcairn island and what follows is a true life (adult) version of lord of the flies ending in the death of all but one of the original mutineers.
The authors style is to tell the story of the settlers of Pitcairn in mainly chronological order from the original mutiny through to settlement, the subsequent murders, rediscovery by the rest of the world, abandonment followed by resettlement o fhte island. The main body of the book is only 150 pages and written in clear and easy to read text - I personally finished it in a couple of days.
The most interesting part of the book is the mystery of what happened to most of the original settlers and why. The only male survivor of the originals who came to Pitcairn was an English sailor called John Adams. He eventually established a little stable community from the descendants and it is version of the events is the one most often told. He retold several different versions of events but always he paints himself as the good guy. On the other hand, the stories of some of the native women who the mutineers took with them differ from Adams'. The author uses logic, his own judgement and circumstantial evidence based on the reports to make his own conclusion. He also points out other possible scenarios for what happened, and at the end we are left with a true whodunit where the reader is left to make up their own mind.
There are few illustrations but the book has no large maps or family trees (of the islanders) which would have made things a little clearer as the story and characters involved is very complex. I personally book marked page 51, which gives the list of main characters and which I needed to refer back to as the book progressed.
This book was written in 1988, well before the recent rape and sex scandals, which have given a higher profile to the island in the last year or so. The book stops around the late 19th century and portrays the society they have created as very moral almost puritanical. Whether this was the reality or the society always has always had unacceptable sexual behaviour commonplace I guess is a matter for another book.
After the movies finish.......2001-09-07
Funnily enough the really interesting story of the Bounty begins after most movies have 'faded into the sunset' and the credits start to roll. This is what Lummis has picked up - and this book "Pitcairn Island, Life and Death in Eden" is the story of just that. What happened to the Bounty mutineers. It is an awful lot more interesting, bloodthirsty and downright fascinating than the story of the Bounty mutiny itself.
Lummis seems to have done his research too. He has tracked down all the accounts available, and compared them with one another. He clearly points out the strengths and weaknesses in each account and how he has reached his own conclusions about the actual story. In this way he makes his deductions, and the story far more transparent for us - and makes it all the more believable.
As most people know the mutiny on the bounty as about the uprising of a group of sailors led by acting Lieutenant, Fletcher Christian against their captain, Bligh. Lummis discusses the mutiny and the events which lead up to it, putting it perspective of the times and the problems which Bligh had had to deal with before hand (especially through the incompetency of the admiralty in delaying his sailing to Tahiti in the first place.) There is also a brief history of the English encounters in Tahiti prior to the arrival of the Bounty.
The most interesting part is really what happened to the Bounty muntineers once they sailed away from the Bligh. Some went reluctantly and stayed in Tahiti when the Bounty returned there. However Christian and a few others knew that they would never be safe unless they stayed out of range of the long arm of the British Navy. They therefore found the most remote island possible - Pitcairn - and settled there.
Then followed almost 20 years in which there was no contact with the outside world, just a handful of bounty mutineers, 6 tahitian men and a handful of Tahitian women. At the end of those 20 years just one of the men was left, John Adams. His story of what happened to the other men was at first straightforward. However as more people visited the Island his story started to become more complicated and even contradicted itself. It seemed that there must have been at least one catastrophic massacre of some sort. Yet they were all living in this peaceful and ideal society.
Lummis gleans the truth of the fate of the men of Pitcairn through the various accounts Adam's gave, as well as accounts given by one of the women, Jenny, and one of the eldest sons after Adam's died. In fact it seemed that Adam's himself had triggered the entire debacle. This I found the most fascinating part of the book - the careful unravelling of various stories by comparing them with others, and with logical progression.
Lummis completes the book with the fate of the islanders up until recent years. The gradual deterioration of the island, the move to Norfolk and the return of some of them to Pitcairn.
This book is well worth reading if you enjoy the story of the mutineers. It is also an interesting insight into pre-European Pacific culture, and it proves to be a darn good mystery as well....
"Lord of the Flies" in bloody reality........2000-11-26
Most readers would have a reasonably good knowledge of the events that took place on HMS Bounty in 1789 and they might even know the details of why the Bounty sailed and what happened to Bligh after he and those of the crew that didn't mutiny were set adrift in the Bounty's long boat. I would guess however that only a handful of people anywhere in the world would have an idea of what happened to the mutineers after they landed on Pitcairn and burnt their only means of escape-the Bounty herself. Trevor Lummis has done a tremendous job of research by stringing together all the odd bits of scattered information in order to present the whole bloody, sordid story of the events that ultimately left only one male alive on the island plus a number of Polynesian women who were part of the original group. What happened to the mutineers and the Polynesian men that went with them to Pitcairn is the subject of this book and what an extraordinary story it is! Hollywood missed it by building a movie around the mutiny-they should have filmed the story of the events after the mutiny. Anybody with even a miniscule curiosity about the incidents on Pitcairn owe it to themselves to savor this wonderfuly readable story.
Pitcairn Island: Life and Death in Eden.......2000-07-25
Excellent, exciting story of what happened AFTER the Mutiny on the Bounty. The author, using original source material, did extraordinary detective work to draw conclusions from limited sources about how the mutineers ended up slaughtering one another, as well as a few sympathetic natives who escaped with them to the miniscule island of Pitcairn--not even on the map at that time. Only one of the original white men survived (having killed or watched the killing of all the others).
It's a sordid story of swapping "wives," drunkenness on home brew, murder, rape and the survival of the fittest--here the most devious and cunning. That did not include the famous Mr. Christian who was among the first to go. Gripping story and a good read.
Average customer rating:
- Get a serious slap of adventure in the face
- Awsome!
- Tell others to read this wonderful story
- This is an amazing epic and well worth the read.
- READ ALL THREE PARTS!
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Bounty Trilogy
James Hall , and
Charles Nordhoff
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0316611662 |
Customer Reviews:
Get a serious slap of adventure in the face.......2006-11-21
To all those actively seeking hardy adventure from the comfort of a chair:
Look no farther, your search has come to an end. This is it. This is 100% total immersion into a world of adventure. So this thing comes in three equally consuming parts. I mean who writes an entire book about sixteen guys stuck on a small wooden paddle boat out in the middle of the pacific, and makes it a treat to read? Hardy adventure seeker I have your fix, and it's not a quick fix, it's a time consuming gem that will have you in its grips until the last page is eaten up. I have to admit that I can't think of an adventure novel(trilogy) that I've enjoyed this much. Quality entertainment. Quality.
Awsome!.......2006-04-17
This was one of my favoret books... a must read!!!! In the first book, you begin to think captain Bligh is evil but in the second book he seems verry reasanable guy...
Tell others to read this wonderful story.......2005-11-26
Having chanced to see the Mutiny on the Bounty movie starring
Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson recently, I immediately resolved
to obtain and read the book.
I can only add my praise to the preceding reviews. The
quality of the writing, the details of the sailing life
of the time, the descriptions of the characters, were all
excellent.
If you know of young readers enamoured of Harry Potter
and the like, get them a copy of the Bounty Trilogy
and encourage them to read it while they await the final
Potter tale. They won't be disappointed with the
adventure nor the struggle between good and evil men.
This is an amazing epic and well worth the read........2004-07-10
This is an amazing epic of 18th mutiny of the H.M.S. Bounty. Although the tale has been fictionalized as an historical novel, it portrays the conflicting cultures of that time as the forces of racism, imperialism, autonomy and autocracy clash on the high seas. The trilogy is comprised of three novels: The first is Mutiny on the Bounty which chronicles the abuse of Captain Bligh, the mutiny led by Fletcher Christian narrated by midshipmen Roger Byam. Men Against the Sea, narrated by ships surgeon Thomas Ledward, picks up the tale at the mutiny and chronicles the amazing feat of Captain Bligh in returning 19 souls to England after being set adrift in a twenty-three foot longboat with only seven or eight inches of freeboard. The trilogy concludes with the tragic, yet redeeming tale of Pitcairn's Island where the mutineers made their home.
On the surface, Captain Bligh is the villain and Fletcher Christian is the hero. This has been ingrained into our culture to such an extent that any hard-driving taskmaster will not doubt inherit the name Captain Bligh by those under his charge. Yet, Nordoff and Hall resist the temptation to draw these lines so clearly. Yes, Captain Bligh was his own worst enemy. He was so sold out to an autocratic model of leadership that he was incapable of recognizing the autonomy of his men- the needs of his men were subordinate to the success of his mission. Now, men will often subordinate their needs to the need of the mission, or even give their lives for it, if the mission is a noble one; but supplying breadfruit to feed slaves did not fit that bill. Yet, once set adrift, Bligh now becomes the hero navigating his overloaded longboat 3600 miles to safety- a deed that must rank as one of the most remarkable feats of seamanship and leadership in history.
This is also a story of imperialism and racism- the two are inexorably intertwined. British imperialism, carrying the white mans burden to the South Seas, lead to the inevitable conflict between the two races. The sailors, obviously enjoyed the company of the Tahitian woman, even fell in love with them; yet, the idea that the white race was superior was a festering boil just under the surface that exploded when the mutineers made their home on Pitcairn Island. It is interesting to note who was the more civilized race when the conflict arose on Pitcairns Island, the European men acted like savages, whereas we see a measured dignity among the Tahitian men.
What I find interesting about the other reviews written on this book, is the omission to mention what specially brought peace to the Island- it was the rediscovery of the Bible and man's submission to the will of God. Without transcendent values, each man was out for himself and the result was anarchy and death; but when the survivors submitted their will to God's will, peace and harmony was restored. This is an amazing epic and well worth the read.
READ ALL THREE PARTS!.......2003-11-24
Do your self a big favor and read this book. Make sure you read all three parts- The Bounty, Men against the sea, and Pitcairn's Island. It is an absolute shame that most people have only read the first book because the other two are just as good if not BETTER! My personal favorite is part three ,the last book, where the mutineers find an island and try to start new lives there.
Then, be sure and check out the movie - Mutiny on the Bounty starring Marlon Brando. That one is the most accurate version, and I have seen all three.
And then dream of being one of those lucky sailors landing at the paradise know as Tahiti.
Buy this book and read within a week, and you WILL want to explore to the south pacific.
Book Description
Life sailing with the Royal Navy in the 1780’s was particularly miserable: sailors slept in crowded hammocks, ate moldy cheese and maggoty bread, and were subject to very harsh discipline. So when the HMS Bounty arrived in Tahiti after 11 months at sea, the crew of the Bounty thought it was heaven on earth. Living on the island paradise made them lazy and careless.
As the return journey began, Captain Bligh’s crew proved reluctant to leave. His temper began to flare, and his second-in-command and old friend Fletcher Christian suffered the worst of Bligh’s outbursts. His honor at stake and a longing to return to the island, Christian led a mutiny, then set Bligh and 18 loyal crew members adrift in a launch.
A daring escape by Christian and the mutineers, paired with Bligh’s amazing story of survival all make up one of history’s most rousing true maritime tales, and Patrick O’Brien’s 85 illustrations reach epic proportions of drama and realism.
Customer Reviews:
a GREAT addition to libraries & young classrooms!.......2007-09-05
This beautifully wrought version of the tale of mutiny on the high seas blurs the distinction between picture book and graphic novel, creating a masterpiece of juvenile fiction that will bring drama, history, and adventure to even the most reluctant readers. This book, along with O'Brien's The Great Ships, would be an excellent addition to elementary libraries and classrooms
Beautifully Illustrated Book.......2007-06-16
Many children probably have not heard of the Mutiny on the Bounty. This picture book by Patrick O'Brien is a wonderful introduction to the infamous tale. The highlight of the book are the beautiful illustrations which accompany the text. The text and illustrations work hard to introduce the relevant background knowledge about sailing so that the reader can fully understand the tale told. O'Brien deserves commendation for his even handed telling of the tale, though the prose can become workman like at times. Overall this a book recommended for readers of nonfiction or children who would like to learn more about the ill fated voyage of the Bounty.
I may be cranky, but at least I'm not an idiot.......2007-05-10
It is a shame that customers who cannot spell properly or pay attention to what they are purchasing should under-rate a fabulous book--or a fabulous author and illustrator for that matter--because of their own error. Patrick O'Brien, with an "e", is the author and illustrator of well over a dozen picture books for children. To imply that Patrick O'Brien is not the "real" Patrick O'Brian would be a funny comment if the reviewer then didn't drag down the book's overall rating. Sorry I'm not being very positive here, but I would not like to see a continuation of one person after another claiming how this is not the book they thought it was, when if you read the description, the reviews or any of the criteria that Amazon provides, you will understand completely who this book is intended for.
Not the Real Deal.......2007-03-09
When I ordered this book, I thought it was the same person who authored the Aubrey/Maturin series -- which I loved. This however is not the same person at all. The book may be an excellent read for children but it is not meant for the adult adventure lovers who read the "real" O'Brian.
Mutiny on the Bounty A CHILD'S BOOK.......2007-03-08
This book is not for the adult reader.
The style and the illustrations is definitely
for the young teenager,
Book Description
"Captain Bligh" is a cliche of our times for the extravagant and violent misuse of power. In fact, William Bligh was one of the least physically violent disciplinarians in the British navy. That paradox inspires the author to ask why, then, did Bligh have a mutiny? Its answer is to display the theatricality of naval institutions and the mythologizing power of history. Mr Bligh's Bad Language is an anthropological and historical study of the mutiny on the Bounty, and its role in society and culture. Throughout the book, Greg Dening draws on a wide range of intellectual influences, ending with the cinematic versions of the mutiny in the twentieth century.
Customer Reviews:
A mutiny for all seasons.......2007-04-30
"I am a professor of parables," writes author Greg Dening, "and the Bounty is a parable. Indeed, there is much parable about ourselves in our peculiarly twentieth-century representations of the past of the Bounty." Five of those representations have taken the form of film. Dening has added a sixth, in the form of a three-act academesque. Thoughtful prologue(s), entr'actes, and an epilogue link the narrative to its historical context, its local mise-en-scene, and its modern role as an icon of cultural literacy. The drama takes place aboard ship (a wooden world where the language of every action reverberates upon the soul of the voyage), on the beach (the place where the conquering sea meets the vanquished land, a transitive action complete with subject and object), and on the island (where sailors fall from grace with the sea, "bad language" in anybody's book). The entr'actes bring us face to face with rituals of sacrifice, peace offerings, and politics, a brash yet brilliant contrast of original Polynesian culture with that of colonizing England. In Dening's final analysis, it's all a matter of management - management of work and play, management of the "oeconomy," management of the sublime - all work together to form one unabridged narrative of drama at sea in the eighteenth century. Superb.
Read this book last.......2004-01-03
Readers should be aware of what they are getting into before reading this book. This book should not be considered at narrative history of the events on the Bounty. It is more like a collection of essays. The author does provide spot narration of some the events, though these are non-linear. The author must assume that that reader is already familiar with the characters and events.
There are extended 'analysis' or essays on a variety of associated topics: from naval discipline to 18th century plays about Capt. Cook.
OK that is not exactly what I was looking for and I now I seek another, more conventional history to plug in the gaps not include here.
There are many lovely passages in the book, though I found myself skipping over many of the sections I was not interested in.
wide ranging & entertaining.......2000-10-13
Social theorists have tried many definitions of human nature: human beings are the animals that make tools, that laugh, that play. I have another: Human-beings are history-makers. We eternally make our present by looking backwards. We present ourselves by expressing a significant past. To know us in our history is to know who we are. -Greg Dening (Performances)
At 4:30 A.M. on April 28, 1789 a series of events began which has ever since held a grip on Western imagination. Fletcher Christian lead a mutiny against Captain William Bligh aboard HMS Bounty. The aftermath of this rebellion included: Bligh's remarkable 4,000 mile journey with 18 loyal crewmen in an open launch; the sinking of HMS Pandora, which had been sent out to arrest the mutineers, with a loss of 34 men, including 4 of the Bounty crew; and the establishment of a weird sort of tropical commune on Pitcairn's Island by Christian and eight other men along with the Tahitian women (and a few friends and progeny) who may or may not have been the precipitating cause of the whole fiasco. Eventually Bligh would return to sea, three of the mutineers would be returned to England and hanged and all but one of the men on Pitcairn's Island would be murdered or die of disease.
Now there's obviously enough material there to justify the boatload of Bounty books, plays and movies that have poured forth in a steady stream over the past two centuries, but what Professor Dening has uniquely done is to consider the uses to which the story has been put over those years. He makes the convincing argument that Captain Bligh, contrary to popular imagery, was not particularly abusive of his men. Indeed, the title of the book is reflective of Dening's position that Bligh was mostly despised for the harsh language he used in upbraiding men, not for any physical measures nor for the quality of his command in general. Having made his case, Dening moves on to a consideration of why our historical understanding of Bligh requires that he be seen as an ogre. If the "reality" is that he was a fairly mild captain for his time, why do we, looking backward, see him as the very embodiment of tyrannical authority? Why are Christian and his cohorts seen as heroes, virtual freedom fighters?
The book is wide ranging, learned, entertaining and thought provoking, but its best feature is the balance that Dening strikes between the effort to present the story of the Bounty as ethnographic history ("an attempt to represent the past as it was actually experienced") and the realization that:
a historical fact is not what happened but that small part of what has happened that has been used by historians to talk about, History is not the past: it is a consciousness of the past used for present purposes.
Everyone who has ever been subjected to a history course in the modern university is familiar with the obsession with primary sources, the Left dictatorship which controls academia insists that the "truth" is to be found in the pamphlets and diaries and letters of the unimportant and the obscure, rather than in the texts and speeches of the great who shaped our understanding of events. Dening, on the other hand, understands that there is a fundamental dichotomy between the way participants experienced historical events and their importance to the society as a whole. In a very real sense, it is simply not important whether Christ was the son of God, whether England ruled the colonies harshly, whether Southerners fought for slavery, whether FDR ended the Depression, whether Nixon subverted the Constitution and Clinton merely lied about sex--what matters is that this is how we perceive these events. In Denings' felicitous phrase: Illusions make things true; truth does not dispel illusion.
GRADE: A-
Finely detailed, but worth reading.......2000-06-27
Dening provides an interesting history of the Bounty story - what makes it different is his focus on the disparity between fact and the fiction that developed surrounding the characters of Christian and Bligh.
I liked the book (I read in twice, in fact), and I was a little put-off by the other online reviews. Maybe the book is, as another reader put it, "scholarly" but I didn't view that as a negative. All books need not be written for the average Joe (and, incidentally, cliometrics can be found in any decent dictionary) - so what's the problem?
Mr. Bligh's Impossible Language.......2000-03-26
I, too, found this book to be a plodding bore. I did finally manage to get all the way through, but it took months of effort (got to get back to it--after all, I paid good money for it!). Way too scholarly for any except the most masochistic. Re-read "Mutiny on the Bounty" -- maybe not the historical accuracy wanted, but a wonderful read none-the-less!
Book Description
MEN AGAINST THE SEA is the epic story of the 19 loyal men who, with Captain Bligh at the helm, were set adrift in a 23-foot open launch. Their 3,600-mile voyage remains one of the greatest feats of courage and adventure in the annals of the sea.
Customer Reviews:
Illustrates the complexities and perseverence of man.......2007-02-11
Really a fantastic read -- you'll get to see another side of William Bligh than of that of the first novel, Mutiny on the Bounty. This one, too, is a real page turner!
The second, and arguably the best, of the "Bounty" trilogy.......2006-10-24
I imagine the original publishers of this book had a look of incredulity on their faces when first pitched the idea for this book - put 19 men in a boat so small that they cannot move around in it, and have them sail the south Pacific for 43 days. That it was a true story no doubt helped, and that it was a companion story to the obviously interesting plot of The Mutiny on the Bounty would also have contributed to getting the go-ahead. The result is much like Tom Hanks's film Castaway - the very nature of the problem coupled with the delivery of the story makes this a riveting story. At ~200 pages, it doesn't wear out its welcome, and tells its story with the simplicity and narrative force such a tale requires.
There is really little else to say about this book, except to point out that, while it is the middle story of a trilogy, it probably can be read stand-alone or out of order of the other two. In terms of timing, it splits off from the story in "Mutiny on the Bounty," and ends sooner, so there are no real "spoilers" in the second book. I think it is, overall, a better-written story than the first. It is not as rich and detailed in presenting British sea life at the end of the 18th century, but it does bring forth the sheer magnitude of the achievement of these sailors against all odds, travelling such a great distance in an open vessel with scant supplies.
Unforgettable!.......2002-06-21
I actually picked up Men Against the Sea expecting a mundane but entertaining sea story. It started off innocently enough until the unlucky crew was sentenced to their watery fate. Then the book suddenly plunged into turbo mode. Now, for an authour to write such a long book about the adventures of 18 men on one small boat and not skip a beat is remarkable.
Captain Bligh establishes his presence on the vessel with an iron grip. His leadership skills and confidence are quite extrodinary as he takes control of boat. One cannot help but feel for the crew as they struggle against all odds. Men Against the Sea is one of those stories that swipes the reader right of their comfy couch and throws them head-first into the raging ocean. The writers describe the hunger and thirst of the men so convicingly that I actually had to grab a bite myself or starve with them! The storms and squalls are believably violent and the Island natives frightfully savage.
It is really a great adventure story. The book manages to surpass its predecessor, Mutiny on the Bounty, by leaps and bounds. From rationing food barely sufficient for one man amongst 18 hungry seamen, too eating raw fish, the crew, lead by their relentless captain, are determined to survive. You will no doubt find yourself cheering at their victories and subsequently mourning their defeats.
What makes the read even more enjoyable is the realization that it is basically a true story. Man against Nature! Trully a book not easily forgotten. It has been 4 years since I read the book and it is still imprinted in by mind.
Read it for yourself. Such books makes being an avid reader so much fun!
The Cleansing Influence of Adversity.......2001-09-06
Men Against the Sea is the fictionalized second book in the Bounty Trilogy. Mutiny on the Bounty recounts the tale of the voyage of the H.M.S. Bounty from England to Tahiti and a little way back, the mutiny, and the subsequent events that affect those of the Bounty's crew who remain on Tahiti. When last seen in that book, Captain William Bligh is cast adrift far from land in a small vessel overladen with 18 other loyal men and about 7 to 8 inches of freeboard above a flat sea. Practically speaking, their chances are slim.
Men Against the Sea begins with the mutiny and describes what happens to Captain Bligh and those he commands as they make their way eventually to the Dutch settlement of Batavia in the Dutch East Indies. Along the way, Captain Bligh and his men traverse around 3,600 miles in their fragile vessel while suffering many horrors including attacks from the native people, lack of sleep, storms, bailing for their lives, cold, thirst, too much sun, and hunger. The authors make a good decision in choosing to have the ship's surgeon serve as the narrator of this saga. This perspective made it possible for the book to include his physical descriptions of the deprivations of the Bounty's abandoned crew to help make the story more compelling. In the true spirit of a story about English tars, there is a considerable discussion of how the starvation the men experienced affected their intestinal tracts.
Captain Bligh comes across very poorly in Mutiny on the Bounty. The opposite occurs in Men Against the Sea. His leadership is one of the great accomplishments of seamanship of all time. Throughout the troubled voyage to the first landing at the Dutch settlement on Timor, Captain Bligh only lost one man. Captain Bligh also comes across as a brave, worthy, and dedicated sailor who is more than willing to share the deprivations of his men. In one stretch, he mans the tiller for 36 straight hours despite being exhausted. At the same time, even the most querulous of the crew usually keep their silence.
But the men are only human after all. Someone steals two pounds of pork. Another shipmate sent to capture birds is overcome by the need to eat them, and spoils the hunting for everyone. In their weakened state, they miss many wonderful chances for food. When they reach civilization and begin to recover from their privations, complaining quickly returns.
My test of how well written such an adventure tale is that I often felt like I was in the boat struggling with them. The main weakness of the book is that it skips many days on end, when the circumstances were at their most dire such as during unending days of storms. By doing this, the reader is denied the chance to have the full horror of the crossing bear down more strongly.
Most of the weaknesses of Mutiny on the Bounty are overcome in Men Against the Sea. So if you found that work unappealing, give this one a chance. It has many of the qualities of great survival and adventure books.
After you finish this remarkable tale, I suggest you think about the ways that adversity brings out the best in you. How can you do as well when times and circumstance are not adverse?
Squarely face the challenge, with confidence that success will follow!
A Tightly Written & Exciting Sea Story.......2000-08-07
It was a hot summer day, and I was in the mood for a sea story. I luckily picked up MEN AGAINST THE SEA and quickly became engrossed. Where the prequel, MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, was a story of a mutiny, this one was one of the best men against the elements stories ever penned. We see a very different Captain Bligh, whose temper still flares up from time to time, but who this time is successful in managing a small crew of men in an open boat over 3,000 miles from the site of the mutiny to Timor, which is today part of Indonesia.
Fletcher Christian and his mutineers allow Bligh and his loyalists no guns, three cutlasses, a small medical kit, and a pitiful store of water and victuals. Their boat must skirt all inhabited islands because they had no gifts to give to the natives -- which in the islands at that time meant that they were risking attack every time. Their water supply came from rainstorms and occasional landings for food. They had no gear for fishing. All they had to go on were Bligh's knowledge and guts.
I actually prefer this book to MUTINY and now eagerly look forward to seeing if PITCAIRN'S ISLAND, the third volume in the trilogy, is as good.
Book Description
Captain William Bligh's account of the fatal voyage of the Bounty, and his subsequent 3,600-mile trip to Timor in an open boat. Bligh was not the tyrant of legend--in fact, he may have been one of the most lenient commanders of a Pacific exploration ship of that period.
Customer Reviews:
Greatest Naval Officer in History.......2007-05-07
This book like the 1984 film dispels the myth of the evil Capt Bligh and the heroic and dashing Mr. Christian. William T Bligh was the greatest naval officer in history. The mutiny itself was not shocking in as much as Bligh's command of it's open launch and the 2600 mile journey he made in it with his loyal officers and men. Such a feat would be incredible today given the size of the Bounty's launch and the meager food and water given to them by the mutineers.
One heck of a book!!!.......2004-04-19
In The Mutiny on Board HMS Bounty is about man named William Bligh who as a boy of only 16 starts sailing on British ships. The events that happen to this man happen mostly on the South Seas. William eventually becomes a captain of a vessel called the HMS Bounty. He never expected the most dastardly dead that men can do on a ship would happen to him especially by the one man he trusted most Fletcher Christian. Christian was an officer that Bligh had taught everything to he was going to be his successor. Evidently Fletcher Christian wanted to be the successor earlier than planned.
As I started reading The Mutiny on Board HMS Bounty I thought that Bligh was a tuff commanded that treated his men very harshly. As I read on though, he may not have treated them harsh enough to keep them from committing mutiny. They committed the worst crime a sailor can commit out on the open seas. A crime that is punishable by death. If he would have treated them more severely when they took extra food and water that he ordered them not to take they may not have committed what they did. "I found necessary to punish Mathew Quintal, one of the seamen, for insolence and mutinous behavior" (William Bligh 40).
William Bligh is the only captain that I know of that could captain a rotten, smaller vessel that barely fits all eighteen of his men, fight off hostile natives and eventually make back to England. He also managed to keep his men's spirits up when the times were really tough. He even gave away part of his rations to keep his men healthy. "Come back, man! You'll be killed!" (Bligh 164).
One part of this book that bothered me the whole time until the very end was, "Why did then men of the Bounty commit mutiny and leave the captain with the mostly skilled workers when they new if the men that were set adrift made it back home they would be hung when found by the English government. "When we were put of the Bounty, we had only enough food for five days. The mutineers must have decided that we could find shelter only at the Friendly Islands" (Bligh 234).
I think readers learn a lot from this book. Not only is it a great book it teaches readers that if you believe in what you want to achieve anything can happen. The men on the little raft believed and they made it to the English settlements and eventually made it all the way back to England which was a wonderful achievement. These men believed in there leader (William Bligh) and he came through for them by leading them to safety and only losing six men.
From the Horse's Mouth makes this a Must Buy!.......2003-07-14
You are going to buy this book, of course you are. How can you not, for it is the actual book written by the notorious Capt. Bligh himself. If you are the least bit interested in the voyage that became the Mutiny on the Bounty and its aftermath, you've got to get to it. This book is fascinating not so much because of the description of the mutiny because Captain Bligh surprisingly has very little to say on the subject. No, you'll find this fascinating stuff because it allows one a glimpse into life in the South Pacific hundreds of years ago, and how miserable a castaway crew can become. You will also be able to form your own opnions about the sort of man Captain Bligh was. It is an interesting and challenging task to do so, however, because the man is careful to conceal most of his personality and emotions behind a rather dry and unimaginative journeyman's description of this adventure. Actually, it is this mechanical and rather bloodless recitation of facts surrounding what was a most terrifying and terrific adventure that clues one in that Captain Bligh, despite being an extraordinary seaman was certainly obtuse and even a bit of a creep (pompous ass, at the very least); at least he made my skin crawl at times. He also caused me to marvel at his many skills and tenacity (orneriness?), and even he was unable to completely suppress his emotions and allow himself free rein to personalize a few of the incidents that occured along the way. Few people could have accomplished his feat, that is to sail more than one thousand miles across the ocean in a small wooden boat filled with a hopeless and starving crew always teetering on the brink of disaster. It's also funny that Bligh turned up in all sorts of places around the globe in his life time and one finds him sprinkled throughout history. Did you know, for instance, that he commanded a ship under Lord Nelson in at least one of that man's most famous battles? He also accompanied the famed Captain Cook on one of his famous voyages which is how he got the job on the Bounty. I've ranked this only four stars because the book is really not a joy to read, Captain Bligh's skills most certainly lay in the nautical world. In this day and age, he probably would have found a ghost writer to lively up his self. Yet, this book is essential grist for the mill of Bounty hunters.
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