Captain Bligh's Portable Nightmare: From the Bounty to Safety--4,162 Miles Across the Pacific in a Rowing Boat (Paperback)

by John Toohey (Author), Fourth Estate (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Instead of rehashing the tale of the famed 1789 mutiny on the HMS Bounty (as done by so many historians, novelists and filmmakers), Australian historian Toohey tells the story of what happened to Capt. William Bligh after the mutiny was over. After his ejection from the Bounty, Bligh traveled halfway across the Pacific (to Java) on a cramped 23-foot launch with 18 crew members. Drawing heavily on survivors' accounts and other contemporary sources, Toohey recounts the dramatic tale of this voyage in an almost novelistic narrative, reconstructing conversations and interior monologues and capturing the terror and cunning of men facing slow death on the high seas. Like other "pro-Bligh" historians, Toohey implies that the mutiny occurred largely because Bligh's spoiled crew had trouble readjusting to navy discipline and rations after spending six months eating, sunning themselves, and having sex on Tahiti. Bligh, he argues, was not the abusive tyrant of Hollywood epics but a misunderstood perfectionist, a brilliant navigator and explorer, a family man and an empathetic personal friend to at least some men on the launch. He often seems to forget that Bligh was also an imperialist--his mission was to transport breadfruit plants from Tahiti to feed West Indies slaves; he sets Bligh's saga, only offhandedly, in the context of Britain's expanding empire, James Cook's fatal 1776 voyage to the Pacific (on which Bligh served as cartographer) and European rivalries. Still, this fiercely lyrical, stylish chronicle is likely to resurrect debate over the mutiny, Bligh's character and his place in history. B&w illus., maps. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (February 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060959525
• ISBN-13: 978-0060959524
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,531,386 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Long Overdue Balance to Much Maligned Bligh, March 11, 2000

By	David M. Garrett (San Antonio, Texas USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Captain Bligh's Portable Nightmare: From the Bounty to Safety--4,162 Miles Across the Pacific in a Rowing Boat (Hardcover)

Apologies to Charles Laughton, Hollywood's swaggering, autocratic 18th Century British naval officer who loses HMS Bounty to Marlon Brando's Mr. Christian. Author John Toohey's book "Captain Bligh's Portable Nightmare" lends long overdue balance to the extremely capable if troubled William Bligh.

Combining history with literary license, Toohey weaves a gripping account of survival and intrigue. The book's early focus is on Bligh's experiences as ship's Master and principal cartographer during James Cook's third exploration of the Pacific. When Cook is killed in the Sandwich Islands Bligh feels blame. This guilt is compounded by disgust when, upon returning to England, Bligh finds he has been deprived credit for his work on the expedition's soon famous maps of the Pacific. These "failures" drive Bligh to seek an opportunity to reclaim just honor and recognition.

It comes in 1787 when Bligh is sent on a mission of moderate importance. Like all he does, Bligh is compelled to conduct it as though the world were watching (as they had Cook ten years earlier). There is a mutiny. Bligh and eighteen men are set adrift in a 23 foot launch with a meager ration of food, water, instruments but no charts. His leadership and navigation skills are challenged by storms, starvation, exposure, and (again) growing dissention yet Bligh negotiates nearly 4,200 miles of ocean to safety in Timor -- with the loss of one man and all the while obsessively (if not dutifully) making notations and drawings of landforms along the way. It is an incomparable achievement yet, upon returning to England questions of the mutiny share headlines with the tale of brilliant navigation and survival.

Though Bligh's wife's words, Toohey sums up the man best: "He has always given the impression he has been victimized, yet he seems wilfully prepared to destroy his career for an insignificant principle... His troubles consume him... He is so determined to abide by the letter of the law he can never understand how he aggravates people who know that certain situations require more imagination than he is prepared to put in. They admire him, respect him, call him a hero -- but they never warm to him... More than any man she has ever met he feels utterly alone."

Toohey description of Bligh and his interrelationship with his "boat mates," -- particularly stubborn William Purcell and the conspiring John Fryer -- lend intrigue. This story evokes qualities from "Bridge On the River Kwai" and "Tweleve Angry Men". It's a good read and a balanced account that helps the reader climb into a 23 foot boat in the South Pacific and into the head of Britain's most maligned sea captain.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Did not compare well to fictionalized 'Men Against the Sea', August 10, 2000

By	David Hutton "occasional reviewer" (Bedford, NH USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Captain Bligh's Portable Nightmare: From the Bounty to Safety--4,162 Miles Across the Pacific in a Rowing Boat (Hardcover)

While this book was nicely written and a quick read, I did not particularly enjoy it. While the story of Bligh and his men and their journey across the South Pacific is truly one of the most amazing stories of sea survival ever to occur, this book tooled thru so much of the journey so quickly that I never got the sense of its scope or its heroic nature. I also agree with comments of other reviewers that it did not convey Bligh's great leadership abilities well. In that regard the fcitionalized 'Men Against the Sea' (Nordhoff and Hall) did a much better job. If anything, this telling made me more understanding of the resentment of the men in the boat (as opposed to those who stayed behind after the mutiny) against Bligh, while the novel made it clear that the same qualites of control and rigor which resulted in the mutiny are also the major reasons that Bligh and his men survived the journey. I would heartily recommend the entire MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY trilogy for those who are interested in the Bounty story over this somewhat factual account.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly a gold nugget..., May 12, 2000

By	Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Captain Bligh's Portable Nightmare: From the Bounty to Safety--4,162 Miles Across the Pacific in a Rowing Boat (Hardcover)

A few years ago, I visited the Museum of Gardening History on the south embankment of the Thames in London. The Museum is housed in a former church, and plant specimens from the New World as well as the remains of Tradescants, the botanists who discovered and classified many of them, are located on the grounds.

The crisp October day I visited the museum, Tradescantia (blue-flowered Virgina Spiderwort) were in bloom and the leaves of the Virginia Creeper were turning a bright red. I lingered in this beautiful spot, reading the inscriptions on the tombstones, and in so doing discovered the grave of Captain William Bligh.

Until that moment, I had had no idea Bligh was anything other than the dreadful character portrayed by Charles Laughton in the film "Mutiny on the Bounty." That day, I learned he was an educated man who transported a number of botanists overseas, including the Tradescants, and thereby played an important role in the collection and classification of plant life.

Since then, I have made it a point to learn all I can about this amazing and much maligned man. For example, I once lived in Hawaii, and knew Captain Cook had died at Kealakekua Bay, but I did not know Bligh was on that ill-fated expedition until I saw the 1980's film "The Bounty" starring Sir Anthony Hopkins as Bligh. (A far more accurate film than the older version.)

I enjoyed Toohey's book. It is an excellent history: factual, interesting, balanced. I did not know until I read Toohey's book that Bligh had distinguished himself during the Napoleonic Wars. This man was truly a hero, and deserves to be re-discovered and honored for his accomplishments.