The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty

by Caroline Alexander

  Captain Douglas’s career and tragic life are described in the Naval Chronicle 25 (1811), pp. 353-82; and J. W. Norie, comp. and arr., The Naval Gazetteer, Biographer and Chronologist (London, 1842), pp. 101 ff.

  For Inglefield’s colorful biography, see Marshall, Royal Naval Biography, vol. 2, pp. 62- 70. An account of his travails at sea is given in John Nicholson Inglefield, Capt. Inglefield’s Narrative, concerning the loss of His Majesty’s ship, the Centaur, of seventy-four guns: and the miraculous preservation of the Pinnace (London, 1783). Byron’s borrowings can be seen in Don Juan, Canto II; verse LXI is quoted. Inglefield’s travails on the domestic front are chronicled in New annals of gallantry: containing, a complete collection of all the genuine letters which have passed between Captain Inglefield, and Mrs. Inglefield; signed with their respective names, relative to a charge brought by the former against the latter, for partiality to her black servant. To which are added, the black’s affidavits, pro and con, and Mrs. Inglefield’s also, upon this extraordinary business. Likewise, the letters of Mr. Mills, man-midwife, of Greenwich, relative to his conduct since the

  suspicion of this strange connection (London, 1785). Adm. 1/1988 contains correspondence relating to the Centaur and Inglefield’s letter on behalf of the pirates.

  Captain Bertie’s meager record is given in Marshall, Royal Naval Biography, vol. 1, p. 195; and in an obituary in Gentleman’s Magazine, May 1824, pp. 459ff. His meeting with Jane Austen is recorded in her letters; see Deirdre Le Faye, ed., Jane Austen’s Letters, 3d ed. (Oxford, 1997), p. 117.

  James Modyford Heywood’s biography is found in Gentleman’s Magazine, April 1798, p. 356; important details are also found in A. Aspinall, ed., The Later Correspondence of George III, vol. 1 (Cambridge, 1962), pp. 15-16. Evidence of Heywood’s relationship and close friendship with Richard, Earl Howe is found in his will, PROB 11/1305, of which Lord Howe was named as executor. The royal visit of 1789 is described by Fanny Burney in Diary and Letters of Madame D’Arblay, edited by her niece, vol. 2 (London, 1843), p. 56; and in the local press, see for instance Exeter Flying Post, August 27, 1789. Details of the colorful life of Sophia Heywood Musters are given in a short description of the Musters family found in the Norfolk Record Office (HMN 5/235/4-8). This famous beauty was painted by Reynolds, Romney, and Stubbs; a portrait of Mr. Musters and his wife on horseback was later returned to Stubbs by the jealous husband with the request that Sophia, whom he believed to have been unfaithful to him, be painted out. Stubbs complied and, until restored, this painting showed a stable lad leading a horse with a vacant side saddle ( John and Sophia Musters Riding at Colwick Hall, dated 1777, by George Stubbs; in a private collection).

  That James Modyford Heywood read Peter’s letter from the Cape to Lord Howe is evident from Peter John Heywood’s letter to his son Peter of December 15, 1788, MNHL MS (AP 122 [4th]—33[a]); this letter also contains Mr. Heywood’s version of the events between himself and the Duke of Atholl. Howe’s letter to Captain Curtis of September 8, 1792, is in HO 119 Howe; Richard, Earl Howe to Sir Roger Curtis, Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif.

  COURT-MARTIAL

  Day-to-day events are taken from the contemporary press and logs of the Hector and Duke: Adm. 51/448 and Adm. 52/3097 contain the captain’s and master’s logs of the Hector; Adm. 51/265 and Adm. 52/2985, the same of the Duke.

  The transcription of the court-martial of the mutineers is found at Adm. 1/5330. These records were published by Owen Rutter, ed., The Court-Martial of the “Bounty” Mutineers (Edinburgh, 1931); this was reprinted by the Notable Trials Library—with an introduction by Alan Dershowitz (Birmingham, Ala., 1989).

  Stephen Barney, Muspratt’s lawyer, also published a partial, less accurate transcript, Minutes of the Proceedings . . . (London, 1794).

  Several books outlined court-martial protocol, including a work by one of Peter Heywood’s advisers: John Delafons, A Treatise on Naval Courts Martial (London, 1805). This manual uses incidents from both Bligh’s court-martial of 1790 and that of the Bounty mutineers as instructive examples.

  Hood’s opinion that the defendants should be tried together is found in Adm. 1/1002. Distinguished members of the audience attending the trial are cited by The Star • Daily Evening Advertiser, September 19, 1792.

  Biographical information on John Fryer’s family was kindly supplied by Mike Welland, from parish records in Wells-next-the-Sea.

  John Hallett’s travel expenses are found in Adm. 106/2217.

  For John Smith’s continued service with Bligh, see Edward Christian, A Short Reply to Capt. William Bligh’s Answer (London, 1795), p. 6 (reprinted in facsimile by the Australiana Society, Melbourne, 1952).

  The record of the court-martial on Captain Edwards and the officers of the Pandora is found at Adm. 1/5330.

  DEFENSE

  The atrocities of the French Revolution are reported in the Times, September 12, 1792; the influx of refugees reported in articles of September 14 and 15.

  The age of Joseph Coleman is a vexed question. Adm. 36/8013, the muster of the Discovery, records his age as twenty-five in March 1776; Adm. 36/10744, the muster of the Bounty, as thirty-six in August 1787; Adm. 35/298, the muster of the Calcutta, as forty-eight in 1795; and Adm. 6/271, a hospital record, as forty-eight in January 1793. I have chosen to follow the age stated in the muster of the Bounty, which is at least consistent with that of the Discovery.

  The superiority of written testimony is stated in John McArthur, Principles and Practice of Naval and Military Courts Martial: with an appendix illustrative of the subject, 4th ed., vol. 2 (1813), pp. 161-62.

  Early versions of Peter Heywood’s defense, entitled “The Defence of Peter Heywood at a Court Martial held on him & others on board H. M. Ship the Duke at Portsmouth September 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th & 18th 1792,” are found in “Correspondence of Miss Nessy Heywood,” E5. H5078, the Newberry Library, Chicago; and MNHL MS 09519/2/1. A slightly more polished version was published in Edward Tagart, A Memoir of the Late Captain Peter Heywood, R.N., with Extracts From His Diaries and Correspondence (London, 1832).

  Byrn’s service record is outlined in Adm. 73/2, his admission form for entrance to Greenwich Hospital. The muster of the Robust, Adm. 36/8495, confirms his service with Lieutenant Inglefield. That he was held in irons throughout the voyage of the Gorgon is stated by James Scott (Sargeant of Marines), Remarks on a Passage to Botany Bay, 1787-1792 (Sydney, 1963), from the original manuscript held by Dixson Library, SLNSW, MS Q43; see entry for April 5, 1792.

  For Morrison’s stint as a taio of a chief, see James Morrison, “Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, 1792,” ML, ZML Safe 1/42, pp. 140 ff.

  The article describing the uncommon caliber of men on the Bounty, written by an unidentified officer of the Brunswick, appeared in Gentleman’s Magazine, December 1792, pp. 1097-98.

  The baptismal record of Charles Norman, son of Charles and Mary Norman, is found in the archives of Holy Trinity Church, Gosport. Bligh’s letter to Norman’s brother is found with other documents of the court-martial, in Adm. 1/5330 and in Owen Rutter, ed., The Court-Martial of the “Bounty” Mutineers (Edinburgh, 1931).

  Bligh’s indulgent remarks about Ellison were made in his letters to Duncan Campbell, cited in “Voyage Out.” Christian’s calling Ellison a monkey is in Edward Christian’s “Appendix” to Stephen Barney’s Minutes of the Proceedings . . . (London, 1794), p. 74, note.

  The description of North Shields is taken from William Whellan & Co., History, Topography, and Directory of Northumberland (London, 1855), pp. 467ff. That McIntosh’s mother ran a public house is stated by Edward Christian, “Appendix,” p. 62. Bligh’s letter to Mrs. Tosh is found in the court-martial documents, as cited above.

  William Muspratt’s baptismal certificate is found in the Bray parish records, in the Berkshire Records Office. London Guildhall Records, MS 21543, p. 27, indicate that John Muspratt, William’s father, was admitted to the Bray almshouse on June 8, 1781. Evidence of Jo
hn Muspratt’s suicide is found in the coroner’s account book, in the Berkshire Records Office, noting the day of death as December 6, 1786; and an article in the Reading Mercury, December 11, 1786.

  William’s brother Joseph married a Rebecca Fryer less than a year after the court-martial in nearby Fareham; “Fryer” is not a Fareham name; there is, however, a Rebecca Fryer in the family of the Bounty’s master—a relative who accompanied John Fryer to Portsmouth, there to meet William Muspratt’s brother? This would be too delicious. . . .

  Burkett’s earlier service on the Hector is confirmed by Adm. 36/10544 and Adm. 35/758.

  John Millward’s biography is drawn from parish records of Stoke Damerel, Plymouth, which records both his own christening on June 15, 1767, and the marriage of his parents, Henry Millward, a mariner “lately discharged from H.M.S. Ocean,” and Mary Simmons, widow, on March 18, 1762, in the Dock Chapel. John Millward’s trade as a sailmaker is recorded in Adm. 102/271. Descriptions of Stoke Damerel of the time are found in Daniel and Samuel Lysons, Magna Britannia: Being a Concise Topographical Account of the Several Counties of Great Britain, vol. 6 (London, 1822)—Samuel Lysons, incidentally, was a friend of William Bligh.

  SENTENCE

  The account of the Heywood family’s reaction to Peter’s sentence and all correspondence between Nessy and other members of the Heywood family, including that of Aaron Graham, are taken from the “Correspondence of Miss Nessy Heywood,” E5. H5078, the Newberry Library, Chicago.

  Information about James Heywood’s naval career is found in Adm. 36/11467 and Adm. 36/12747, which show him as a twenty-nine-year-old master’s mate on the Caesar, Captain Nugent, in 1795.

  Peter’s letter to Dr. Patrick Scott is held by the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (A GC/H/26/2).

  Reports of the conclusion of the court-martial appear in a great many papers; see, for example, the Times, September 18, 1792; the Hereford Journal, September 26, 1792; the Reading Mercury, September 24, 1792; and the Observer, September 23, 1792.

  Aaron Graham’s marriage to Sarah Dawes is confirmed by Guildhall Library Doc. MS 10091/135; and Sir Henry Tempest’s will, Ref. PROB 11/1613, 386 ff., the latter also giving proof of her relationship to Sir Henry.

  The admission of Coleman and Byrn to Greenwich Hospital is confirmed by Adm. 73/2, Adm. 73/5, Adm. 73/38, Adm. 6/271, and Adm. 2/1136. The later activities of McIntosh are mentioned in Edward Christian’s “Appendix” to Stephen Barney, Minutes of the Proceedings . . . (London, 1794), p. 62.

  Muspratt’s petition is discussed, with quotations from the Admiralty’s legal briefs, by Bonner Smith, “Some Remarks About the Mutiny of the Bounty,” Mariner’s Mirror, 22 (1936), pp. 200-237. The muster of the Hector shows that Muspratt was discharged, in theory to the Royal William, on February 10, 1793, the day before his reprieve—although the ship’s papers show no record of Muspratt.

  Information about the post-court-martial movements of the various ships is found in ship’s logs and the local press; see, for example, the Times, September 26 and 28, 1792.

  Records of punishment are found in the logs of the ships: for the Hector, Adm. 51/448; the Brunswick, Adm. 51/112; the Bounty, Adm. 55/151.

  William Howell’s biography comes from Gavin Kennedy, Bligh (London, 1978), pp. 199ff.; Gentleman’s Magazine, January 1822, p. 92; the Bury and Norwich Post, January 16, 1822; Suffolk Record Office, Bury St. Edmund’s Branch, FL 574/3/15; “Recollections of St. Johns’ Portsea, from 1872-1880” (kindly provided by the Museums and Records Service, Portsmouth City Council); and Adm. 36/11296.

  The account of Howell’s hours spent with the mutineers is reported in the journal of the Reverend Thomas Haweis, under his entry for September 16, 1796, ML, MSS 633. For a detailed examination of Howell’s interaction with the mutineers and later missionaries, see Rolf E. Du Rietz, Peter Heywood’s Tahitian Vocabulary and the Narratives by James Morrison: Some Notes on Their Origin and History (Uppsala, 1986).

  Reports of the pardon appear in many newspapers; see, for instance, the Times, October 30, 1792, and the Evening Mail, October 29, 1792. The fullest report is found in the Oracle, October 30, 1792, which describes Graham’s escort of Peter off the ship in the Hector’s boat. Peter Heywood’s inheritance is reported, for example, in the Observer, September 23, 1792.

  Events of the last days of the condemned mutineers are described in the logs of the Hector and the Brunswick; and the fulsome report by an anonymous officer of the Brunswick in Gentleman’s Magazine, December 1792, pp. 1097f., which contains the account of Morrison’s ministration to his former shipmates. The account of the boats ringing the Brunswick is found in the Hampshire Chronicle, November 5, 1792, as is the report of the condemned men’s exit from their “cell” and thanks to their captors. The report of the men’s farewells to one another and insistence on their innocence is found in the Reading Mercury, November 5, 1792, and the Diary or Woodfall’s Register, October 31, 1792, for example, the latter recording the absence of respectable people. The official report of the execution is found in Captain Curtis’s log of the Brunswick.

  Haslar Hospital records are found in Adm. 102/271.

  The whereabouts of the manuscript of Howell’s sermon are now unknown; it is known only by its title: William Howell, “Original Autograph ms Sermon preached on the Sunday after the Execution of Three Mutineers on the text: Hebrew 13v. 17. 16pp. 4 to. Portsmouth, 1792.”

  See the London Chronicle, October 30 to November 1, 1792, and the Times, October 31, 1792, for accounts of the reported sufferings of the mutineers.

  Andrew Snape Hamond’s report to the Admiralty is found in Adm. 1/1002.

  Morrison’s later service is documented in James Shaw Grant’s Morrison of the Bounty (Stornoway, Scotland, 1997). Muspratt’s reaction to the executions is described in the Caledonian Mercury, December 10, 1792.

  Heywood’s later career is documented in John Marshall, “Peter Heywood, Esq.,” Royal Naval Biography, vol. 2, part 2 (London, 1825), pp. 747-97.

  The remarkable letter by the midshipman of the Queen Charlotte was written by James Clerk to his father, John Clerk, on December 12, 1793; the letter is quoted here with the kind permission of Sir Robert Clerk, Bart., and is located in the National Archives of Scotland, GD18/4250.

  JUDGMENT

  For the incident with Admiral Bowyer, see, for example, Joseph Farrington, The Farington Diary, vol. 1 (London, 1923), p. 217 (entry for July 18, 1794).

  The pamphlets cited are: Sir George Montagu and Edward Pelham Brenton, A Refutation of the Incorrect Statements, and Unjust Insinuations, contained in Captain Brenton’s Naval History of Great Britain, as far as the same refers to the conduct of Admiral Sir George Montagu, G.C.B. In a letter addressed to the author (London, 1821); and Sir Roger Curtis, The reply of Sir Roger Curtis, to the person who stiles himself A neglected naval officer (London, 1784). For a similar series of pamphlets following Cook’s second voyage, see Johann Georg Adam Forster, A Voyage Round the World in His Britannic Majesty’s Sloop, Resolution, commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the Years 1772, 3, 4, and 5 (London, 1777); the same author’s Reply to Mr. Wales’s Remarks (London, 1778); and William Wales, Remarks on Mr. Forster’s Account of Captain Cook’s last Voyage round the World, in the Years 1772, 1773, 1774, and 1775 (London, 1778).

  There are many sources reporting Nelson’s famous signal; see, for example, Ernle Bradford, Nelson: The Essential Hero (London, 1977), pp. 338ff. This book also contains Nelson’s prayer before the action, remarkable, amid much else, for its failure to request personal safety: “May the Great God, whom I worship, grant to my Country, and to the benefit of Europe in general, a great and glorious Victory; and may no misconduct in any one tarnish it; and may humanity after Victory be the predominant feature in the British Fleet. For myself, individually, I commit my life to Him who made me, and may his blessing light upon my endeavours for serving my country faithfully. To Him I resign myself and the just cause which is entrusted to me to defend. Amen. Ame
n. Amen.”

  Bligh’s letters to Banks relating to the Providence voyage are found in SLNSW: the Sir Joseph Banks Electronic Archive, Series 50. Bligh’s remarks about the Providence officers, and the ill health of the two men formerly with him on the Bounty, are found in his letter of August 30, 1791 (50.13); his comment regarding Portlock was made in a letter of July 17, 1791 (50.05). His report of returning to his “little flock” is in a letter of August 4, 1793 (50.29). Bligh’s description to Banks of his treatment by Lord Chatham and his reaction to the allegations made by Edward Christian and Morrison are found in his letter of October 30, 1793 (50.32).

  Lieutenant Francis Godolphin Bond was the son of Bligh’s half sister (from Bligh’s mother’s first marriage). Bond had been badly burned and disfigured in an explosion on an earlier voyage. The somewhat complicated Bligh-Bond family tree is discussed in George Mackaness, ed., Fresh Light on Bligh: Being Some Unpublished Correspondence of Captain William Bligh, R.N., and Lieutenant Francis Godolphin Bond, R.N., with Lieutenant Bond’s Manuscript Notes Made on the Voyage of HMS Providence, 1791-1795 (Sydney, 1953). Bond’s forcibly expressed complaints against Bligh are found in an undated letter to his brother Thomas Bond (pp. 68ff.). The original correspondence is in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BND/1).

  For Bond’s log, see above and George Mackaness, “Extracts from a Log-Book of HMS Providence Kept by Lt. Francis Godolphin Bond RN,” Royal Australian Historical Society Journal 46 (1960), pp. 24-66. The log itself is in Adm. 55/96.