Captain
Bligh and Mister Christian: The Men and the Mutiny
(Bluejacket Paperback)
by Richard Hough
The mutiny on the Bounty has fascinated readers for more than two hundred
years, but no other book on this extraordinary episode in maritime history
tells the story as well as this masterly and thrilling account by Richard
Hough. He has set down all the aspects of the extraordinary story in a
manner that is utterly compelling, and he has brought alive the powerful
characters who played out the events. Highly touted when first published
in 1972, it is an epic drama of courage, discovery, deceit, and treachery.
The story of Fletcher Christian and the rest of the mutineers' discovery
of an uninhabited island and their attempt to fashion a community away
from the pursuing ships of the Royal Navy is as tense as it is horrific.
Captain Bligh's remarkable 3,600-mile voyage to Timor in the ship's open
launch is fully described as one of the great feats of navigation. The
dismal episode of the Pandora and the remarkable survival of one of the
mutineers add further fascinating twists to the story. Amazon.com
Paperback - 288 pages (August 1, )
United States Naval Inst.; ISBN: 1557502307 |
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Captain
Bligh's Portable Nightmare
by John Toohey
Ignore the silly title; this book is a gem. Subtitled "From the Bounty
to safety--4,162 Miles Across the Pacific in a Rowing Boat," it tells the
little-known story of what happened to Captain Bligh after the Bounty
mutineers herded him and those 18 other crewmen who refused to go along
with the mutiny into a 23-foot-long boat and set them adrift in open ocean.
And it is a continually amazing tale. John Toohey writes vividly but unpretentiously,
bringing to life Bligh's youthful service with Captain Cook, an experience
of mapping the South Seas that served him well when he eventually came
to be marooned, as well as his Bounty experience. Navigating by
the stars, bailing frantically as storms filled the tiny vessel with water,
and eating the foulest stuff imaginable (when a booby was foolish enough
to perch on the edge of the boat, they carved it up, discovering "to their
joy" half-digested flying fish and squid in its stomach that they also
ate "greedily"). You end up agreeing with Toohey that crossing the Pacific
in a small boat under these incredible conditions constitutes "one of the
greatest achievements in the history of European seafaring," and that Bligh
himself--poor, maligned "sadist" Bligh--was actually a thoroughly decent
and even heroic figure. It is a book out of the Longitude school, but a
superior example of the type. Captain Bligh's Portable Nightmare
could just resurrect the man as a neglected hero. --Adam Roberts, Amazon.co.uk
Paperback - 224 pages (February 5, )
Harperperennial Library; ISBN: 0060959525
The
Bounty Mutiny (Penguin Classics)
by William Bligh, Edward Christian, R. D. Madison (Introduction)
The true story. Surprisingly readable.
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. The Publisher
Paperback - 254 pages
Penguin USA (Paper); ISBN: 0140439161
The
Bounty Trilogy
by Charles Nordhoff & James Hall
An historical novel, upon which was based the Mel Gibson movie.
Paperback - 691 pages Reprint edition (July 1985)
Little Brown & Co (Pap); ISBN: 0316611662 |
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Mutiny
on the Bounty
by Charles Nordhoff, et al
Paperback - 379 pages Reprint edition (April 1989)
Little Brown & Co (Juv Pap); ISBN: 0316611689
The Mutiny on Board HMS Bounty (Great Illustrated Classics)
by William Bligh, Brendan Lynch (Illustrator), Malvina Vogel (Editor)
Reading level: Ages 9-12
School & Library Binding - 240 pages
Abdo & Daughters; ISBN: 0866119701
Out of Print - Try Used
Books
Pitcairn
Island : Life and Death in Eden
by Trevor Lummis
Hardcover
Ashgate Publishing Company; ISBN: 1859284310
The
Pitcairners
by Robert B. Nicolson
The Bounty Mutineers were a lost tribe in the South Pacific, who finally
found a safe haven in Pitcairn Island. There they, along with a small group
of Tahitian men and women, hid from the world and established a far from
ideal community. Racism and greed created divisions, blood was spilt -
in the end, few would make it off the isolated island of Pitcairn alive.
The descendents of those that stayed, however, more than made up for the
failings of their ancestors. They became a model of piety and purity. From
the fate of the mutineers to life on the island 200 years later, Robert
Nicolson reveals a fascinating story. The Publisher
- 264 pages
Pasifika Press; ISBN: 0908597282
Serpent
in Paradise
by Dea Birkett
Most people know the story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, how in 1789
Captain Bligh's crew mutinied then founded their paradise on Pitcairn
Island. Two centuries later, the mutineers' descendants still live on Pitcairn
with no cars, doctors, crime, or regular contact with the outside world,
despite the hordes of paradise-seekers who deluge the island with requests,
most of which are refused. After two years' persistence and 4,000 miles
aboard a chemical tanker, Dea Birkett finally made her way to Pitcairn,
but the island paradise has a dark legacy. Birkett's account is a fascinating
look at a tight community with a notorious past and a shady present. Amazon.com
Paperback - 368 pages 1 Anchor edition
Doubleday; ISBN: 0385488718
The
Bounty (1984)
Starring: Mel Gibson, Anthony Hopkins, et al.
Director: Roger Donaldson |
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