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"The Bounty". I love men in breeches and fluffy shirts.

I find it interesting that dramatists usually frame this story with an authoritarian, rigid Captain Bligh played by an older actor...in reality Bligh was in his 30's when the famous mutiny occurred. By all accounts his was a stubborn personality, but by standards of the day he was not a harsh captain, in fact, quite the opposite. Fletcher Christian was hardly a "hero", nor was Bligh a villain.

One of Bligh's problems was that to save maximum room aboard for the precious breadfruit, the RN sent him on this long voyage without the normal complement of marines. The marines answered directly to the captain and were his "police" on board. Had they been present, the mutiny likely would never have happened or been quelled. Bligh's travails didn't end after surviving the open boat ordeal, he endured many delays and frustrations returning to Britain, including a shipwreck.

A good book on the subject is The Bounty, The True Story, by Alexander. Prolly been out a year or two. It's fascinating to read Bligh's actual log excerpts, transcripts from the trial and other journals/commentary of the principals. Alas for poor Bligh, a protege of Sir Joseph Banks, he rather bungled things in Oz in later years. On the sea it was a different matter as his navigational skills attest.

The Bounty is likely the best of the films, although I still have a soft spot the Brando/Trevor Howard one, which is kind of a glorious mess. Richard Harris is one of the crew on that voyage.

I read the N&H books as a youngster and loved them - they probably fueled my love of the RN during the Napoleonic wars. Through them I discovered Forester's Hornblower series and the quite wonderful Aubrey/Maturin books of Patrick O'Brian.


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  • "The Bounty". I love men in breeches and fluffy shirts. - Harmonia 10:42:12 05/05/05 (0)


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