Mutiny!!

Myself I enjoyed reading about the mutiny of Bounty. This essay is about the court testimony of Bounty's captain, William Bligh.

Bligh’s Court Testimony

         Back during the day a mutiny is a crime for the captain during Bligh’s period. According to the rules back then, mutiny happened because the captain couldn’t watch over his crew. But the question is why the navy let Bligh off the hook. After studying some historical papers, there is an explanation.

         A letter was sent from Timor to the British Admiral written by Lieutenant Bligh. This letter described the mutiny aboard HMS Bounty, the voyage across the sea, and the landing in Timor. This letter stated that he was caught off guard while he was sleeping. This letter also stated that Christian was leading the mutiny. In Bligh’s second letter, he mentioned William Purcell to the court. William Purcell is a carpenter and is loyal to him. He proved that Bligh was actually a nice person instead a cruel hearted one. In that letter he stated that Purcell was ill-behaved but he never punished anything but a day in his cabin. He also stated that he did not mistreat his fellow sailors, and what will be 25 slashes punishment he only gave him a lock in a key.

         Through his letters and his testimony, Bligh said that he shouldn’t deserve the punishment. The easy way to say Bligh was stating that the crew rebel not because of him but because of the paradise Tahiti and what the Tahitian offered. 

         So under this, Bligh made the point that he was not a cruel captain, not cruel to his fellow sailor, and not responsible for this mutiny that Christian planned out to keep the crew in Tahiti because of the comfortable life there.

          In conclusion, the navy let Bligh go due to the amount of evidence supporting the fact that Bligh was not at fault for the mutiny. The navy could only let him go because of the lack of evidence against him. Due to this evidence, the navy sent a battleship to capture the mutineer. The capture mutineer was brought to court and two were set free and one is hanged, and Bligh went on to become a rear admiral and a sea captain.