The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty [Hardcover]

Caroline Alexander (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2003

More than two centuries have passed since Master's Mate Fletcher Christian mutinied against Lieutenant Bligh on a small, armed transport vessel called Bounty. Why the details of this obscure adventure at the end of the world remain vivid and enthralling is as intriguing as the truth behind the legend.

In giving the Bounty mutiny its historical due, Caroline Alexander has chosen to frame her narrative by focusing on the court-martial of the ten mutineers who were captured in Tahiti and brought to justice in England. This fresh perspective wonderfully revivifies the entire saga, and the salty, colorful language of the captured men themselves conjures the events of that April morning in 1789, when Christian's breakdown impelled every man on a fateful course: Bligh and his loyalists on the historic open boat voyage that revealed him to be one of history's great navigators; Christian on his restless exile; and the captured mutineers toward their day in court. As the book unfolds, each figure emerges as a full-blown character caught up in a drama that may well end on the gallows. And as Alexander shows, it was in a desperate fight to escape hanging that one of the accused defendants deliberately spun the mutiny into the myth we know today-of the tyrannical Lieutenant Bligh of the Bounty.

Ultimately, Alexander concludes that the Bounty mutiny was sparked by that most unpredictable, combustible, and human of situations-the chemistry between strong personalities living in close quarters. Her account of the voyage, the trial, and the surprising fates of Bligh, Christian, and the mutineers is an epic of ambition, passion, pride, and duty at the dawn of the Romantic era.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Surely this exhaustingly-researched, enthralling and enthusiastically-written tome is the last word on the most famous of all seafaring mutinies, that of shipmate Fletcher Christian and against Lieutenant Bligh on the Bounty. More than 200 years have gone by since the ship left England after dreadful weather kept it harbored for months, on its mission to transport breadfruit from Tahiti to the West Indies. The mutiny in Tahiti left the mutineers scattered about the paradisiacal islands and found Bligh and 18 of his loyal crew members set adrift in a 23-foot open boat. Bligh, who'd served as Capt. James Cook's sailing master, fantastically maneuvered the crew on a 48-day, 3,600-mile journey to safety. Caroline Alexander, author of The Endurance, is never in over her head even when weaving together densely twisting narratives, or explaining the unwritten rules of the Royal Navy, of the complexities of class and hierarchy that impelled much of what happened aboard the Bounty. The book centers far more on the effort to round up the mutineers than the actual mutiny itself. The book is enlivened by the colorful commentary of the crew members themselves, gleaned from letters and court documents. Alexander does us all the favor of presenting Bligh the way he was understood and received in his day--as a brilliant navigator who, when placed in context, was not a brutal task-master at all. She roots the tyrannical figure we know so well from the movies on the last-ditch efforts of one well-connected crew member to save his own hide from hanging. --Mike McGonigal

From Publishers Weekly

A contributor to the New Yorker, Granta, Cond‚ Nast Traveler and National Geographic, Alexander brings the past to life with travel narratives spanning continents and centuries. Alexander (The Endurance) again recreates a high seas voyage, retelling a familiar story-of the South Pacific misadventures of the small British naval vessel the Bounty-yet taking a fresh look at the drama. Commanded by William Bligh, the Bounty left England in December 1787 to transport breadfruit trees from Tahiti to the West Indies. During the 1789 mutiny, Bligh and crew members were set adrift in an open boat and eventually returned to England. Bligh-who up until now has been viewed as a tyrant-was praised at the time, Alexander finds, since "no feat of seamanship was deemed to surpass Bligh's navigation and command of The Bounty's 23-foot-long launch, and few feats of survival compared with his men's forty-eight-day ordeal on starvation rations." Alexander's reconstruction of the mutiny and its aftermath (thanks to her exhaustive research through books, reports, newspapers, correspondence, historical societies and archives) is almost as remarkable as Bligh's feat. She details daily events during the captured mutineers' court-martial, expanding on court transcripts. Separating facts from falsehoods and myths in the closing chapters, she finally turns to the life of the mutineers on Pitcairn Island, noting "this fantastic tale of escape to paradise at the far end of the world had the allure of something epic." Alexander's work is destined to become the definitive, enthralling history of a great seafaring adventure. Maps and illus. not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; First printing/Full number line edition (September 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067003133X
• ISBN-13: 978-0670031337
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (107 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #826,801 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Caroline Alexander was born in Florida, of British parents and has lived in Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. She studied philosophy and theology at Oxford as a Rhodes scholar and has a doctorate in classics from Columbia University. She is the author of the best-selling The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition which has been translated into thirteen languages. She writes frequently for The New Yorker and National Geographic, and she is the author of four other books, including Mrs Chippy's Last Expedition, the journal of the Endurance's ship's cat.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bounty, September 22, 2003

By 

Jeff Peirce (Salt Lake City, Utah United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty (Hardcover)

I read the "Bounty Trilogy" over 40 years ago, and I never forgot the fascinating story of the Bounty. As the years passed,I read other books on the subject, including Bligh's account of the voyage and mutiny. All were interesting.

Finally, we have a wonderful new book on the subject. "The Bounty" could not have been a more enjoyable, and fascinating reading experience. I am still depressed the book is finished.

The book tells as true a story of the muntiny as one could expect. It was not,of course, like the old "Bounty Trilogy," but it was written as well, and told a wonderful non-fictionl account of the events. I learned more background, and the fate of the crew and others involved in the mutiny. The section on the court martial was extremely interesting.

I think this is one of the best books I have read in a long time. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

56 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superbly well written adventure, May 25, 2004

By 

bensmomma "bensmomma" (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty (Paperback)

Caroline Alexander takes a story you perhaps thought you knew-the 1789 mutiny on board the HMS Bounty-and says something new about it, in a style that is both economical, elegant, and exciting. In a first chapter that is a masterpiece of simple story-telling, she structures the fantastic story: "Captain" William Bligh (in fact, he was only a lieutenant) commanded the HMS Bounty to Tahiti, suffered the mutiny of part of his crew, and navigated a simple row-boat across many thousands of miles of the Pacific to be rescued. A second voyage, undertaken by the HMS Pandora, discovered many mutineers on a distant island, taking them into custody, only to be broken up in a terrible storm, its survivors (crew and prisoners) enduring a second open-boat voyage to safety. On return to England a length court-martial condemned many of the mutineers to death, but left unscathed young Peter Heywood, convicted but later pardoned.

The traditional view of things (i.e. the one you `know' from the movie versions) has Bligh as a torturer, the famous Fletcher Christian as a defender of the ordinary sailor's rights, and Heywood as an innocent bystander. Through careful reading of seemingly every contemporary document-including every bit of the trial transcripts-Alexander subverts the story to one of privilege rebelling against authority: whereas Bligh came from a family of extremely modest means, Christian and Heywood both came from old and well-connected families who, after the courtmartial, ensured their own good names by besmirching Bligh's.

This is not sensational journalism but careful scholarship, and even if you don't agree with Alexander's `take' on the subject, you will enjoy hearing the sailor's own first-person narratives, as well as Alexander's careful reconstruction of what actually occurred.

This book was nominated for the National Book Critic's Circle award for non-fiction; it was richly deserved. "HMS Bounty" receives my highest endorsement as well!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bounty Of Details, May 17, 2006

By 

L. Shirley "Laurie's Boomer Views" (Huntington Beach,CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty (Hardcover)

"The Bounty" by Caroline Alexander, is not only a thoroughly researched book about the infamous mutiny at sea that took place well over 200 years ago, but the story is told in a way that will keep you turning the pages as if you were reading a captivating adventure novel. I was most impressed by this account of the events, and learned new and interesting details in every chapter.

From logs and journals, personal letters, court martial records,and many other reliable sources, Alexander pieces together the story, and makes it an exciting read, From the planning stages of sending a crew for Breadfruit, to events transpiring at sea, the mutiny itself, Bligh and his loyalists dangerous but miraculous sea voyage home, the search and capture of the mutineers, the court martials, the consequences,and events and people pertaining to the years of aftermath,the events unfold in remarkable detail .

Everyone involved, including not only the ship's company, but the natives of 'Ohtaheite'(Tahiti), the families of all involved, the Sea Captains that made up the jury, and even the descendants of the mutineers, come to life with Alexander's detailed descriptions of their characters.

The story is a complex one, and as with most stories, there is more then one side. Was Bligh really a monster? Perhaps no one will ever know which side is the more accurate, but through testimony of the court martial and personal writings and quotations, we get a good look at what took place and a good idea of why it happened. The Author makes the maze of the people and places easy to follow. Included to refer to while reading is a complete list of the ship's company, denoting who were mutineers, and which loyalists were detained with them. Charts following the various journeys indicating the routes and pictures of portraits of nearly everyone important to the case are shown, as well as drawings and paintings made of the islands and the natives(even the descendants of the mutineers).

A most enjoyable and informative read. Highly recommended for anyone interested in this famous historical event.

"I have been in Hell this fortnight past and I am determin'd to suffer it no longer"...reportedly said by Fletcher Christian as told by a witness at the court martial.....Laurie

also recommended:
South: A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage