Bligh, Captain William

Bligh, Captain William (about 1753-1817), sailor, b. Plymouth, Devon, England.

Bligh was commander of HMS Bounty on an expedition to the Pacific Ocean in 1789.

After the ship left Tahiti, mutiny broke out. Bligh and eighteen other men were cast adrift in an open boat 23 feet long.

The nearest safe port was Timor, over 3542 miles away. Without chart or compass, Bligh found his way there in forty-eight days and the nineteen men stumbled ashore more dead than alive.

It was one of the greatest small-boat voyages in history. As a young man, Bligh had sailed on Captain Cook's second voyage (1772-74).

In later life he became governor of New South Wales, Australia, and rose to the rank of Vice-Admiral.

See Joyce Nicholson Man against Mutiny