Term Paper on Mutiny of the Bounty
Mutiny on the Bounty is a novel based on a genuine mutiny on board a British
ship in 1789. It archives the clash of two powerful personalities, the captain,
William Bligh and the second in command, Fletcher Christian. Mutiny on the
Bounty chronicles a struggle between two strong characters. In the story,
Captain Bligh was definitely in power until the ship reaches Tahiti, where the
crew becomes tranquil in discipline. The mass of the story centers on how
Captain Bligh was unable to recuperate power and the overthrow of his power by
Christian, who saw his rule as intense and brutal. The two characters have
contradictory personalities that, under unlike circumstances might serve to be
compliments, but here, serve only as abrasion The two share different views on
control, danger, delay and most definitely, mutiny. It is told that on the
morning of April 28, 1789, the crew awoke to find armed men embrace the captain
prisoner. Half of the crew had decided to insurgent and Fletcher Christian had
taken control of the ship. After much turmoil, Christian manages to unite the
crew, making it to Tahiti, making excuses for the captain’s absence and endeavor
to start a colony in Tahiti. Some men attempted to reach a Dutch colony to avoid
persecution. Christian took the eight remaining mutineers to Pitcairn Island,
where they raze the Mutiny and divided what was left on the ship.
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William Bligh was born at Cornwall, England on 9 Sept 1754 and later went to the
sea at an early age. Bligh was a competent seaman. At the age of 21, he served
as master on one of the ships on Captain Cook's third and final voyage to
discover the so-called North West Passage. ligh is best remembered for the
Mutiny on HMS Bounty, his heroic voyage in a longboat and being deposed while
governor of New South Wales. Many things apart from Bligh's personality,
contributed to the mutiny. Firstly, the departure from England was too late to
arrive at Tahiti at the right time for receiving the breadfruit. The late
departure was due to the unforeseen extra work that had to be done on the ship
to organize it for seaworthiness. The ship was too small to take marines. Many
have said that the mutiny may not have taken place if there had been marines
aboard. The highest rank
he had on the voyage was of Master, whereas Captain Cook, on his first voyage, a
lieutenant himself, had two other lieutenants and an objectivity of marines.
Bligh was only a lieutenant a lonesome lieutenant at that ship.
Bligh should have been promoted to Captain for such a vital & influential job.
He definitely had the skills, the leadership, the aptitude and the experience.
If, as will be demonstrated, his private & psychological problems were a reason
for not promoting him, why was he selected at all? Either he had the Stuff or he
did not. If he had the Stuff, why was he not promoted? If he did not have the
Stuff psychologically & socially that he competently demonstrated physically,
technically & practically, why was he given the job? The reasons are numerous.
For one, he was chosen partly by favoritism, in that Duncan Campbell, West
Indian truant Planter & powerbroker, had him selected, not only because of
Bligh's skills, knowledge & position as Cook's actual Caliph (successor). Due to
the accidents at Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii, where Cook was killed, & the fact that
Cook's First Lieutenant & not Bligh wrote up the send off, Bligh lost out in
favor to other officers who gained the most gratitude, promotion & fame. It was
more than just a case of Bligh, prickly to his own position & ability, harping
on about being passed over, overlooked, & deserted. There really was a case of
Bligh being left behind because he was different, an outsider, compared to the
other officers after Kealakekua Bay. Moderately this was of his own making;
because he always took a high moral ground, stress his own ability & restraint
while thundering against the morals & measures of others. As we will see, he was
seriously insensible, but worse still, Bligh was insensitive to his own
insensitivity, he simply had no idea that he rubbed people the wrong way,
ignored their delicate unspoken signals, & did not treat them the way they
expected. It is this confusion about roles & expectations in the minds of crew &
officers that sets the scene for the mutiny, as much as the deserters. It is
also a lack of recognition by the Admiralty of his psychological problems, his
powerlessness to handle people, which caused his selection.
His superiors neglected Bligh, in that he was not promoted. This would have
predestined a bigger ship, more men, and better equipment. He would have had a
second vessel as escort. He would have had Lieutenants under him, separating him
from the crew, allowing some distance & unfamiliarity for the alone position of
commander. He would have had a Corporal & a dozen marines to enforce his will,
if need be. This would have been significant in maintaining the crew's ideas of
command & authority as much as his own. Bligh sent vague signals about how he
worked; in his changes of mood, his need to let out his frustrations & fears by
swearing at & emotionally wounding his officers & men, by his obviously
humanitarian approach to sailing evinced by the foods. He took, the dancing he
enforced, the 3-watch, four hours-on- eight-hours-off systems, by the way he
looked after his men. He was actually over-protective in a way that disturbed
them, did not treat them like grown, dependable men.
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Now, however, Bounty had shown that Bligh gravely lacked people management. He
was selfish, self-assured, & insecure. He had no sympathy seamen were children
needing constant guidance & supervision. Much of Bligh's frustration came down
to his perception that men did not apply the only system of management that got
things done properly. Initiative & experience in others was scorned at best &
battered at worst. He had a hot temper mitigated only by brevity his temper
exploded and blew away on the wind. He could not cope with strain & lashed out
to relieve it & became calm as a result. Once Providence's officers realized
this, much of his abuse was disarmed.
Bligh may have been the only man for the job others with the experience and
authority were dead or unavailable. He was, however, not a well man. He had
endured a 3000nm open boat voyage with scanty supplies, driven by hatred of
Christian and willpower to survive. Bligh had a pressure-cooker personality. He
could not alleviate tension as other men did through exercise, or simply through
wine, women and song. Without an outlet tension aggravate within him until it
found a way out. He would explode over a minor incident, often shocking men by
his expressiveness but more so by his sternness, and then be perfectly contented
with the ship and crew.
Bligh's irregularity still made life difficult; reaction and punishment depended
on mood. If satisfied with tension, he could become enraged over the loss of a
grapnel or a coconut while in the Barrier Reef "Lookouts found making hats and
reading plays" got merely a line in the log. Not the trial and flogging seamen
expected preferred. Instead, A dog stopper left on an anchor cable that almost
lost the ship was verbally reprimanded where other men would have court
martialled.
Bligh was a man who suffered from unbelievable self-assurance and ego. He
believed he was always right and ever more later in life that he could never be
wrong. He viewed oppose as incompetence or malice and argument as attack on his
very being. He had to be first and seen and respected as such in all things,
wherever he went. Every order challenged his authority and changed the landscape
of his quarterdeck. Worse, he could not keep his beliefs to himself and
frequently embarrassed with his open and egotistical criticism of other men
merely because they did not operate the way he did. Better men than Edwards of
Pandora were labeled bungling or old-fashioned and stupid by Bligh, though not
always without cause. Cook and Bligh both railed against the inflexibility and
conservatism of captains and Admiralty.
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