Mutiny on the Bounty

They're known and remembered as bitter mortal enemies -- the cruel-hearted ship's captain and the daringly brave second-in-command who rose up against him. But the truth of Captain William Bligh and master's mate Fletcher Christian is more complicated than pop culture retellings have led us to believe.

William Bligh's career as a naval officer was always a certainty. His path into the navy was one of the hardest; rather than the nepotism of becoming a "captain's servant," or the "intellectualism" of the Naval Academy, Bligh spent five years working his way up from the lower decks (without the usual patronage of a rich relative to assist him).

Fletcher Christian had a similar longing for a naval career, and made his way up the ranks with surprising speed. Still, he was desperate to prove himself and knew that serving under William Bligh would provide him with invaluable experience. Determined to win over Bligh, Christian wrote personally to Captain William Bligh, asking the man directly for the opportunity to sail with him. Bligh promptly brought him on board his ship, the Britannia.

The two man came to be good friends as the Britannia made two voyages to the West Indies. Bligh was ten years Christian's senior, and Bligh took it upon himself to form a sort of mentor-student relationship with the younger man. The two men were constantly seen in conversation or dining together, and other sailors noted that Bligh seemed to give Christian plenty of slack in regard to his duties. When Bligh was given the Bethia (shortly renamed the Bounty) to take on a journey through the West Indies to deliver naval supplies, it was natural for Bligh to choose his friend and protege Fletcher Christian as his second-in-command.

4:00 a.m., April 28, 1789. The last few weeks had been a trying time for master's mate Fletcher Christian. Things had been stressful throughout the voyage, but ever since the crew had left the island of Tahiti several weeks previously, Christian had reached his breaking point. As the Bounty's second-in-command, Christian was the go-between between the captain and the crew, and it was up to him to keep the peace between them. The job put Christian first in line to receive the worst of the captain's temper, and the growing strain had proven intolerable.

Christian's original plan had been escape, and to that end he had spent the previous night lashing together some loose planks into a raft. Facing off against the Pacific Ocean was a plan that was suicidal at best -- but it was all Christian, in his panicked state, could come up with. Until a crewman approached him to implore him to change his mind. He was insistent that there was a better way: mutiny.

Before dawn had begun to appear on the horizon's edge, Christian had decided to abandon his original plan. All accounts suggest it was a move brought about by pure desperation, more than anything else. Christian's first move was to slice through the line holding one of the sounding leads in place and drape the length of rope around his neck. Should the mutiny fail, the heavy weight would provide him with a quicker end than he'd have if he was left to flounder above the waves with the sharks.

The grim precaution was ultimately an unnecessary one. Moving from crewman to crewman, Christian quickly amassed a small group of mutineers. By great good fortune, one of the men, Joseph Coleman, happened to have been given the keys to the arms chest that night, which allowed Christian and his followers to arm themselves to the teeth.

Within an hour, nearly a dozen men had joined the cause. Incredibly, no one uninvolved with the mutiny had yet to realize what was happening. It wasn't until Christian and his men began charging towards the captain's cabin that those unconnected to the mutiny realized, and by then it was far too late.

Captain William Bligh was yanked from his bunk by five of the mutineers (there wasn't room in his cabin for the whole lot). His capture set the ship into a kind of chaos. Men were shouting, running, dashing back and forth to deliver curses and news of the mutiny to one another. Many seemed to be waiting to see which way the mutiny seemed to be swinging before choosing a side. And, much to Christian's surprise, at least twenty members of the crew were not only refusing to join the mutiny -- they were, in fact, insisting on remaining at the captain's side.

It was decided that Bligh and his loyalists would be set at sea in the Bounty's launch (the largest boat on board). The launch was lowered and the loyalists made their way down the gangplank, arguing with the mutineers that they should be given supplies and tools to increase their chances of survival. Before leaving for the launch, Bligh made a last attempt to reclaim his ship and change the mind of his former friend. "Consider what you are about, Mr. Christian," he said. "I'll give my bond never to think of it again if you'll desist. I have a wife and four children in England, and you have danced my children on your knee." Replied Christian, "It is too late."

After Bligh had made his way into the launch, he was followed a moment later by one of the mutineers, who had come to hand Bligh and his loyalist crew a sextant and nautical tables -- tools they would need had they any hope of reaching land. The tools were Christian's own. "There, Captain Bligh," Christian shouted down to him. "This is sufficient for every purpose. You know the sextant to be a good one." It was a charitable act to the captain from his second-in-command, even then.

It took the launch weeks to make its way to land. But Captain Bligh ultimately survived, making his way back to England to report the mutiny. Of the mutineers, only three were ever caught, tried, and executed. Fletcher Christian and many of his fellow mutineers made their way to Pitcairn Island (in the South Pacific), and his ultimate fate is debated to this day. 

The theories on what drove William Bligh to his bouts of fury at his crew -- and what drove Fletcher Christian to mutiny -- are unending, precisely because a sure answer will never be known. What is certain is that the black-and-white portrayals of the mutiny on the Bounty that have become so popular in mainstream fiction, while entertaining, can't be taken as the whole truth. It is, however, precisely those literary and filmed adaptations that have ensured that that night on the Bounty will be regarded, in the words of author Richard Hough, as "the most celebrated mutiny of all time."

Mutiny on the Bounty in Pop Culture:

-- The 1932 novel, by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall

-- The 1935 film, starring Charles Laughton and Clark Gable

-- The 1962 film, starring Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard 

-- The 1984 film, starring Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson

More about the real Bounty:

-- The Mutiny on Board HMS Bounty by William Bligh

From the captain of the Bounty.

-- After the Bounty: A Sailor's Account of the Mutiny and Life in the South Seas by James Morrison

An account from one of the Bounty's mutineers.

-- Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian: The Men and the Mutiny by Richard Hough

Presents a new theory on the motives behind the mutiny.

-- The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty by Caroline Alexander

An attempt to separate the myth from the reality of the infamous mutiny.

-- Post by Ms. B

Livin' on a Prayer

Pope Francis I

When Pope Benedict XVI announced this February that he was resigning, it came as a shock to Catholics the world over. It is exceedingly rare for a pope to step down -- in fact, it's been six centuries since a pope has not held the office for life. And, interestingly enough, when the last pope resigned in the 15th century, it was for reasons a little more complicated than you might expect.

We all know that the papacy is located in Rome, Italy -- except for a century or so when it wasn't. In 1306, at the command of King Philip IV of France, French pope Clement V moved the seat of the papacy from Rome to the more defensively-strenghtened city of Avignon, France. And for almost a century, the papacy remained in Avignon.

When the papacy seat was finally returned to Rome in 1378, there was pressure on the mostly-French cardinals from the Roman citizens to pick an Italian man as pope. Wanting to make a show of good faith (no pun intended), the cardinals chose Bartolemeo Prignano for the office. They meant well.

Ol' Prignano looks like a friendly guy.

Unfortunately, Prignano, who would become Pope Urban VI, drank too much and may have been slightly insane. (One of his first actions as pope was to order the torture and execution of six cardinals who had had the nerve to defy him.) The French cardinals, hoping to reverse the problem, chose a new pope -- Clement VII -- and returned to Avignon with the new, "true" pope. One problem: Urban wasn't about to back down and acknowledge his successor. Urban just picked some new cardinals and keep on popin'.

So now there was two elected popes and two colleges of cardinals, with one set residing in Rome and the other in France. This ushered in the Great Western Schism, with every Christian in Europe having to, essentially, choose a side. It generally went by country: France and Scotland chose to follow Clement VII; while England, Germany, and the kingdoms of central Europe allied themselves to Urban VI.

It was a tough time to be a Christian.

When the Roman Urban VI died in 1389, his replacement was Boniface IX -- whose first act was to excommunicate (that is, threw out of the church) Clement VII. But the French cardinals were undaunted by their Roman-proclaimed blasphemy; when Clement died, a new French pope was chosen to replace him. The dualing popes continued until 1409, when both groups of cardinals decided the schism had to be repaired. Banding together, the united cardinals deposed Gregory XII (the current Roman pope) and Benedict XIII (the current Avignon pope), choosing a neutral newcomer for the job: Pope Alexander V. But -- surprise! -- Benedict and Gregory were happy where they were.

So now there were three popes, and three sides. All of Christendom was in a quandary: which pope was the true pope?  It was a more pressing question than we might realize today: with the belief that one must follow the true pope in order to secure a place in heaven, choosing correctly was a very real concern. And, as my former history professor so succinctly put it: "European Christians had reached a point where, no matter what they did, they were going to be excommunicated by a minimum of two popes."

Fortunately, this state of affairs didn't last long. At the 1417 Council of Constance, the trio of popes was deposed, with Martin V finally emerging as the one, and only, pope. Since then, those elected to the office of the papacy have held the position for life -- until now.

Let's be honest: this guy would have been a tough act for anyone to follow.

For more about Pope Francis, former popes, and the history of the papacy:

Jorge Mario Bergoglio: Fast Facts About Pope Francis -- A 14-fact "primer" on Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires, from Time magazine.

Cardinals Once Took 3 Years to Name Pope -- Some little-known facts about the history of papal elections from Anderson Cooper.

How to Become Pope -- YouTube show Grey Explains takes you through the process of becoming a pope.



-- Books on the papacy

-- Books about the popes

-- Post by Ms. B