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N0KFQ > TODAY 28.04.15 18:02l 79 Lines 3869 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 53964_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Apr 28
Path: IW8PGT<IW7BFZ<I3XTY<I0OJJ<N6RME<N0KFQ
Sent: 150428/1700Z 53964@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.63
1789
Mutiny on the HMS Bounty
Three weeks into a journey from Tahiti to the West Indies, the
HMS Bounty is seized in a mutiny led by Fletcher Christian, the
master's mate. Captain William Bligh and 18 of his loyal
supporters were set adrift in a small, open boat, and the Bounty
set course for Tubuai south of Tahiti.
In December 1787, the Bounty left England for Tahiti in the South
Pacific, where it was to collect a cargo of breadfruit saplings
to transport to the West Indies. There, the breadfruit would
serve as food for slaves. After a 10-month journey, the Bounty
arrived in Tahiti in October 1788 and remained there for more
than five months. On Tahiti, the crew enjoyed an idyllic life,
reveling in the comfortable climate, lush surroundings, and the
famous hospitality of the Tahitians. Fletcher Christian fell in
love with a Tahitian woman named Mauatua.
On April 4, 1789, the Bounty departed Tahiti with its store of
breadfruit saplings. On April 28, near the island of Tonga,
Christian and 25 petty officers and seamen seized the ship.
Bligh, who eventually would fall prey to a total of three
mutinies in his career, was an oppressive commander and insulted
those under him. By setting him adrift in an overcrowded
23-foot-long boat in the middle of the Pacific, Christian and his
conspirators had apparently handed him a death sentence. By
remarkable seamanship, however, Bligh and his men reached Timor
in the East Indies on June 14, 1789, after a voyage of about
3,600 miles. Bligh returned to England and soon sailed again to
Tahiti, from where he successfully transported breadfruit trees
to the West Indies.
Meanwhile, Christian and his men attempted to establish
themselves on the island of Tubuai. Unsuccessful in their
colonizing effort, the Bounty sailed north to Tahiti, and 16
crewmen decided to stay there, despite the risk of capture by
British authorities. Christian and eight others, together with
six Tahitian men, a dozen Tahitian women, and a child, decided to
search the South Pacific for a safe haven. In January 1790, the
Bounty settled on Pitcairn Island, an isolated and uninhabited
volcanic island more than 1,000 miles east of Tahiti. The
mutineers who remained on Tahiti were captured and taken back to
England where three were hanged. A British ship searched for
Christian and the others but did not find them.
In 1808, an American whaling vessel was drawn to Pitcairn by
smoke from a cooking fire. The Americans discovered a community
of children and women led by John Adams, the sole survivor of the
original nine mutineers. According to Adams, after settling on
Pitcairn the colonists had stripped and burned the Bounty, and
internal strife and sickness had led to the death of Fletcher and
all the men but him. In 1825, a British ship arrived and formally
granted Adams amnesty, and he served as patriarch of the Pitcairn
community until his death in 1829.
In 1831, the Pitcairn islanders were resettled on Tahiti, but
unsatisfied with life there they soon returned to their native
island. In 1838, the Pitcairn Islands, which includes three
nearby uninhabited islands, was incorporated into the British
Empire. By 1855, Pitcairn's population had grown to nearly 200,
and the two-square-mile island could not sustain its residents.
In 1856, the islanders were removed to Norfolk Island, a former
penal colony nearly 4,000 miles to the west. However, less than
two years later, 17 of the islanders returned to Pitcairn,
followed by more families in 1864. Today, around 40 people live
on Pitcairn Island, and all but a handful are descendants of the
Bounty mutineers. About a thousand residents of Norfolk Island
(half its population) trace their lineage from Fletcher Christian
and the eight other Englishmen.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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