Mutiny on the Bounty

by Peter Fitzsimons

  Peter is stunned.

  ‘The spectacle was as sudden to my eyes as it was unknown to my heart,’ he will later recall, ‘and both were convulsed at the scene.’49

  What has Fletcher done? What is he going to do? How has it come to this?

  Many of Heywood’s brethren are going through similar emotions. All over the ship there is confusion and alarm, as different reports of the Mutiny, the Mutineers, and the extraordinary fate of Captain Bligh spread from cabin to cabin, deck to deck, man to man.

  The old salt Gunner, Peckover, has awoken from a nightmare about bayonets being fixed to sockets on musket barrels. What a strange thing to imagine hearing? He is just putting his trousers on when the worthy botanist, Nelson, pale-faced, flings open his door and blurts out the news.

  ‘The Ship is taken from us!’50 he says.

  What? How on earth could the revenging Natives of Annamooka have pulled off such a feat, this far out to sea! By God, their canoes are extraordinary!

  ‘We are a long way from Land!’51 he replies, quite astonished.

  ‘By our own People!’ Nelson responds with uncharacteristic verbosity. ‘And Mr. Christian at their head! But we know who is to blame!’52

  Nelson does not need to say more.

  Infernal, tyrannical Bligh has driven the usually mild-mannered Christian to this. All of them know it. And no, they can’t condone Christian’s actions, but they understand them, all right.

  ‘Let us go forward and see what is to be done,’53 says Peckover, but he and Nelson can go no further than the hatch before they are stopped by Quintal and Sumner guarding the hatchway, and Mr Fryer’s cabin door, wielding their muskets and bayonets.

  ‘Mr. Peckover,’ says Quintal, his voice cold, ‘… we have Mutinied and taken the Ship, and Mr. Christian has got the Command.’54

  Peckover and Nelson are ordered to the cockpit.

  Meanwhile, Quintal stomps down the passageway – there is no need to creep anymore – and yanks open the door to Purcell’s tiny cabin, prodding the sleeping Carpenter awake with his bayonet, to rather make the point. There are new commanders on this ship, and you are now a prisoner, who will do as he is told. In the berth next door, Cole awakes to the hubbub. With malicious glee, Quintal tells Purcell not just the news – about Captain Christian and his men, which include Quintal – but offers an invitation to join them.

  ‘Mr Purcell, you and Mr Cole go on deck and do as you think proper.’55

  Purcell blinks, confused.

  ‘The Captain is confined,’56 Quintal continues. ‘All resistance will be in vain, if you attempt it you are a Dead Man!’57

  Having heard everything, Cole now bursts into Purcell’s cabin and expostulates, ‘For God’s sake, I hope you know nothing of this?’58

  ‘No!’59 replies a stunned Purcell.

  Both men are thinking the same thing. Just hours ago, they had been helping Christian plan a desertion. And yet, somehow, while they slept, it has turned into a full-blown mutiny.

  My God, what has Fletcher done?

  What will the Royal Navy think that we have done?

  Will Captain Bligh believe we have had no hand in it?

  Hastily conferring, they know what they must do. They must get to Fletcher quickly, and get him to come to his senses.

  •

  With little ceremony, ex-Captain Bligh, still in his nightshirt – now fully aware that he is the planned victim of, ‘one of the most atrocious and consummate acts of piracy ever committed’60 – is placed before the mizzenmast by his former Lieutenant. While Christian holds the end of the rope that binds Bligh in one sweaty hand, he holds his cutlass in the other, the point at Bligh’s chest.

  Such is the scene that many of the crew see as they pop their heads up out of the hatchways like curious bunnies emerging from their burrow, wondering what all the commotion is about. It is a shocking sight. Here is Captain Bligh, held at the point of a sword by Fletcher Christian, while they themselves now have muskets pointed at them by their former crewmates Smith, Churchill and Martin, who are yelling at them as they tumble and stumble onto the deck.

  The 16-year-old Monkey, for one, cannot take his eyes off the officer he is so very fond of. The once calm and collected Christian looks ‘like a Madman, his long hair loose, his shirt collar open’,61 his eyes ‘flaming with revenge’.62

  And … goodness!

  Shifting his frightened youthful gaze to Captain Bligh, Monkey notices he is half naked! ‘Without breeches and with his shirt tail tied up with the seizing that secure his hands’,63 his pale buttocks are exposed. He is being hung out to dry in more ways than one, it seems.

  Despite the sheer indignity of it all, however, Bligh’s expression is one of scorn, and he can still summon the voice of domineering authority, complete with menace.

  ‘What is the meaning of all this?’64 Bligh demands, for all the world as if he is still in charge. Christian can barely believe it.

  ‘Can you ask, Captain Bligh,’ Christian growls, ‘when you know you have treated us officers, and all these poor fellows, like Turks?’65

  And yet Bligh appears to be genuinely mystified.

  ‘What is the reason for such a violent act …?’66 he begins to ask again.

  ‘Mamu, sir!’ roars Christian. ‘Not a word, or death’s your portion!’67

  Mamu.

  In that one word, Bligh perceives the root cause of the Mutiny – Tahiti. The lure of lurid paradise is so strong that it has turned dutiful English officers into conniving, conspiring, treacherous and traitorous savages, backed by the common sailors. But not all of them! Bligh is at least pleased to see that among the jeering Mutineers, the wretched traitorous officers, there are bleak faces of men, men of honour, men of integrity, Loyalists, Englishmen faithful to King George III and his esteemed officers; men who will risk all to stand by their Captain even as he stands prisoner, bottom exposed. Are there enough Loyalists, perhaps, to retake the ship and throw the brigands in chains? Perhaps! There are enough of them with shocked expressions that it at least has to be a possibility.

  And who could lead that re-revolt? Where is Fryer?

  •

  Mr Fryer sits on his bunk, still staring into the dark abyss of two muzzles, trying to persuade his captors – the menacing Quintal and Sumner – to allow him to leave his cabin, and join Captain Bligh on deck, so he can speak with the skipper before he is cast adrift.

  ‘You cannot,’68 comes the repeated reply.

  ‘At least, call upon the deck to ask Christian if I may be given permission to come up?’69

  His captors hesitate, they look at each other. With a rough nod from Quintal, Sumner backs out of the cabin.

  On deck, Bligh is still struggling to comprehend the staggering pace of events, and how this has all happened. He twists his hands in agony. The ropes on his wrists are so tight that his hands are turning blue, and his fingertips, which at first roared with pain, are now dully dumb and numb.

  And now Christian swaps his cutlass for a bayonet – even more lethal at close quarters – proffered by one of his men, his eyes ever on Bligh, who is trying to speak once again, this time to his former crew:

  ‘Do not persist …’70

  ‘Hold your tongue, Sir, or you are dead this instant,’71 repeats Captain Christian, with such a tone and such a look in his eye that even Bligh obeys.

  Pock-marked young Burkett, meanwhile, cannot help himself. A most reluctant Mutineer from the first – with his decision taken while at the wrong end of Billy McCoy’s pistol – he still has enough respect for Captain Bligh that he insists the deposed leader’s bare buttocks should not remain exposed. They have taken the Captain’s ship, yes, but let him at least have his dignity.

  He lays his musket by the dripstone.

  ‘What are you going to do?’72 snaps Christian, mystified.

  ‘Let down the Captain’s shirt,’73 replies Burkett calmly, using the rank that, as far as Christian is concerned, Bligh no longer has. Wi
th a soft yank, Burkett pulls the shirt free of the seizing, which sees Bligh’s bare buttocks covered and his dignity returned to him.

  And yet, even after the buttocks are covered to Burkett’s satisfaction, he, strangely, leaves his musket lying exactly where he had placed it.

  ‘Take up your arms,’74 snaps Captain Christian.

  But Burkett ignores him, instead walking over to the hatch and calling down to Sumner, who happens to be on his way up. ‘Hand me up the Captain’s clothes.’75

  Sumner declines to do any such thing. He is a Mutineer, not a valet. Very well, then. Given that Bligh’s actual valet, John Smith, now comes aft, Mr Burkett addresses him.

  ‘Jack, go fetch the Captain’s clothes, it is a shame to see him stand naked.’

  ‘Why don’t you take up your arms, Burkett,’76 says Christian sharply, in a tone that will brook no opposition. I am the new Captain here, and do not forget it. And here’s a pistol pointed at your head, to help you concentrate.

  ‘I would have you take care,’77 replies the shocked Burkett, though he picks up his musket and points it at Bligh, exactly as ordered.

  The point is made, and his fate – for good or bad – is sealed. As the sun breaks free of the horizon, Christian is not just the Captain of the Mutiny, he is also now Captain of the Bounty, and all her crew.

  Captain Christian?

  Yes …?

  John Sumner has a request from Master Fryer. He wishes to be allowed to come up on deck.

  Captain Christian accedes with a nod.

  •

  Below deck, Nelson and Peckover are huddled in the cockpit completely stunned by this turn of events, when Mr Samuel, Captain Bligh’s ever nervous Clerk, now more nervous than ever, pops his head through the door.

  ‘I am going away in the small Cutter with Captain Bligh, Mr. Hayward [and] Mr. Hallett,’78 Samuel whispers to the two Loyalists. Always thinking ahead, as to what will make his Master and Commander most comfortable, he seeks advice about what he should provide for Bligh.

  After all, just what does one put in one’s sea bag, when one is about to be cast adrift?

  ‘If I was in your place,’ whispers Peckover, contemplating such an exceedingly small boat, which will need to stay high out of the water on a long journey in stormy seas, ‘I should take but very few things.’79

  Samuel nods in agreement and scurries off.

  •

  Asleep in his hammock through much of the drama, Morrison is now shaken awake by Cole with the staggering news, and with distinct purpose. Yes, he knows Morrison to be bright and witty, but there is also a mischievous side to him, a scallywag bordering on rogue, and so he must ask him.

  ‘I hope, Morrison, you have no intention to join Christian’s party?’80 asks Cole plaintively.

  ‘No, sir,’ Morrison replies convincingly, ‘you may depend upon it, that I will not; it is far from my intentions.’81

  As it happens, waking up right next to Morrison at this time, in the next hammock, is John Millward, who had deserted with Churchill on Tahiti, and will likely be facing even more severe punishment than the punishment already received, once they get back to England. If ever there is a man likely to join the Mutineers, it is Millward, but, right now, he is most anxious to tell Cole he is not part of this mutiny.

  ‘As I had a hand in the former foolish piece of business,’ Millward says miserably to Cole, ‘I suppose that they will make me have a hand in this also.’82

  Millward is right, for at this very moment, the voice of Churchill bellows down the hatch: ‘Millward, I have a musket for you!’83

  Millward freezes and makes no reply.

  ‘Damn you!’ the angry voice comes again, ‘come up, there is a musket ready.’84

  Still nothing.

  ‘Come up on deck, immediately!’85

  Reluctantly, Millward goes on deck to tell Churchill face to face.

  ‘No, Charles,’ he says evenly, ‘you brought me into one predicament already.’86

  Another pause. And now Churchill replies.

  ‘As you like it,’87 says he with a shrug. Already they have plenty of Mutineers. If Millward is too much of a coward to join them, then so be it.

  Morrison, meanwhile, drags on his clothes and goes on deck.

  Good God, what a scene it is!

  The Bounty taken by her own men! Most staggeringly of all, this is not a mutiny only of those before the mast, led by Christian, for he clearly has many petty officers with him, too.

  Morrison carefully notes where each armed Mutineer is, and what weapons each sentinel holds. Williams is ‘on the Fore Castel with a Musket and fixed Bayonet, William M’Coy and Robert Lamb at the fore-hatchway, Isaac Martin and William Brown on the after part of the Booms, and Henry Hillbrant on the Quarter deck, all armed in the same manner’.88 (With both the forecastle and quarter-deck being on opposite ends of the ship and slightly raised, Christian has placed an armed man on each, surveying the scene and ready to shoot down the first sign of resistance.)

  And the most amazing sight of all, in this early morning light, is noted with sheer stupefaction.

  For there is Bligh on the larboard side of the quarter-deck, glaring, and for good reason. His hands are tied behind him and while Captain Christian has one hand on his shoulder, the other hand is holding a bayonet pointed at Bligh’s chest.

  Five feet above them all, up on the boom of the mizzenmast, is the wretch, Churchill, barking orders and swishing his cutlass about, as if to the manner born, the manor itself being far beyond him.

  Stunned at this turn of events, the enormity of what the Mutineers are about, and how quickly it has happened, Morrison is making his way to the fore hatchway when he runs into Cole again.

  ‘Mr Cole,’ he asks in a low voice, ‘what is to be done?’89

  ‘By God, James,’ Cole replies, equally stunned, ‘I do not know.’90

  •

  Put in charge of preparing the Jolly Boat, Churchill – now descended from the booms, with a cutlass in one hand and a pointed pistol in the other – gives an order to the frightened Carpenter’s Mate, Charles Norman.

  ‘Norman, clear the Yams out of the Small Cutter.’91

  ‘For what?’92 asks a genuinely puzzled Norman. Yes, of course he knows that Christian has taken Captain Bligh prisoner, but he has not yet heard of him being set adrift on the High Seas. The ‘normal’ way of such things, if one can so describe something so extraordinary, is for the Captain – if he is not thrown overboard – to be kept prisoner in the bowels of the vessel he used to command. But Churchill is in no mood to either explain or justify Christian’s plans.

  ‘Do as I order you,’93 Churchill growls, menacingly enough that Norman sets to with all speed.

  •

  Unbowed, Bligh continues to glare balefully at these ‘lubberly rascals’.94 His primary concern right now is to work out a way whereby Christian would find himself jerking at the end of a hangman’s rope. The way things are turning, however, that event appears likely to be a good way off. For now, giving full vent to his furies, which is really saying something, Bligh expresses himself in such a manner that one of the Mutineers makes a suggestion to the others that they, ‘Blow his brains out!!’95

  In response, a Mutineer close to Bligh cocks his musket, followed by another, and then another, just as if they are readying to unleash a deadly fusillade of fire at him, hoping to see him frightened, perhaps even weep and beg for his life? But Bligh is made of sterner stuff.

  ‘Fire, you ungrateful wretches, I dare you!’96 Bligh taunts them. They dare not.

  Several long seconds pass and some of the Mutineers waver, coming to their senses. Bligh, for all his sins, is a formidable man, with the entire weight of the Royal Navy behind him. Is it really a good idea to throw in your lot with those who would try to take him on?

  One such waverer is the tall, bony American Mutineer, Isaac Martin, the first man to wholeheartedly join Christian in the revolt. Sure, he aches to get back t
o Tahiti, to the wonderful woman he has left behind. But actually going through with MUTINY – a crime punishable by death? It all feels too real. Besides that, he is a man who has long survived by compromising his principles when expedient. Why, that is how he came to be serving in the Royal Navy in the first place! When, in the Revolutionary War, his American warship had been captured by the British in 1781, he had turned traitor to join the Royal Navy. It had, therefore, been neither a huge wrench to turn away from it once more as he had when committing to Christian’s Mutiny, nor to turn once more, as he is now tempted to do. Suddenly unsure, but very quiet about it, he steps forward to serve Bligh with the breakfast that Mr Christian has allowed him, a large and juicy slice of Tahitian grapefruit.

  Yes, just as King Tinah had been fed by a servant, spooning the food directly into his mouth like an infant, so too is Bligh, with his hands still tightly tied behind him, Martin’s face just a foot distant.

  As he swallows his first mouthful, Bligh is gratified, if stunned, to see that Mutineer Martin is signalling him with his eyes.

  I am with you, Captain! I may appear a Mutineer, but I actually want you back in charge!

  Sucking on the fruit, savouring the relief it brings to his parched lips, Bligh gives Martin an equally significant look in return. Ten yards away, Joseph Coleman is coming up the fore hatchway, when he runs into Cole, who addresses him.

  ‘Armourer, what do you intend to do?’97

  ‘To go with the Captain, go where he will!’98 replies Coleman.

  ‘So will I,’99 replies a pleased Cole, before leaning in to add a quiet, stealthy instruction, hopefully before they can be seen or heard.

  ‘Jump down below and put your clothes into a bag. If you have any Trade left, put them into the bag, it might be of service to us.’100

  •

  Fryer is, at last, led up the ladder by his menacing sentinels, Sumner and Quintal. And he can barely believe his squinting eyes: Bligh in his nightshirt, tied by the mizzenmast; the Mutineers with their guns and swords surrounding him; Christian apparently directing proceedings, and another group neither armed, nor seemingly involved. Are they all Loyalists?