The Bounty Experience
by Gary Wallace
The following is a collection of websites and supplementary literary, art and film works that will give the student a varied perspective on the voyage and subsequent incidents surrounding the HMS Bounty and its crew. The site is intended to demonstrate how different disciplines interpret a common event. In the final analysis as Dening suggests, “History makes good theatre,” and the Bounty saga lends itself to great theatre. The people, events, and exotic locations are all probably why the journey to find cheap food for slaves in Jamaica has remained a popular subject through so many venues and genres over the past two hundred years. Probably what is most fascinating about the whole Bounty Experience is that it inspired such a diverse range of interpretations over a rather long period of time from a rather inauspicious act. As you will discover the Bounty mutiny is still very much an unresolved mystery and for some, a still very perplexing event. Some questions for considerations: why was the British Admiralty so uninspired towards the original Bounty’s mission? What actually did Captain Bligh do to Fletcher Christian to make him act so violently against him? What about their relationship? What role did Ned Young play in the mutiny? What happen to the mutineers on Pitcairn Island? Was Bligh an ogre? Was Christian crazy? Is everything a matter of rhetoric? See if you can find the answers to these questions. See if you can find even more questions to ponder…
Site Overview
The site is broken into modules that present material from specific and related disciplines. While there is some overlap within the sections, each is intended to provide some perspectives from a genre-domain on the various elements and themes concerning the HMS Bounty, its crew members and the major events and locations that are part of or directly related to the incidents leading up to and after the mutiny.
HMS Bounty: Historical Perspective and Rhetoric:
The Bounty Chronicles: www.geocites.com/~jhagan/chronicles
A diverse site that incorporates art, history, and pertinent extracts from the Bounty mutiny trial.
The Lareau Organization: www.lareau.org//bounty.html
The Lareau site is a comprehensive collection of short essays and related information concerning the mutiny and subsequent events, people and places involved in the Bounty mutiny and the mutineer’s refuge (turned into hell) on Pitcairn Island. Site also includes an interesting article concerning the women of Pitcairn Island who became the matriarchal element for the genealogy of the Bounty mutineers.
Events Matrixing: Restriction, Confusion and Neglect In the Bounty Mutiny: www.lareau.org/cont.html
An in depth academic investigation by Ian Campbell that speculates on the causes of the mutiny through a matrixing of various causal events, actions, and circumstances on board the Bounty. The paper also examines the-relationship between Christian and Bligh. One of Campbell’s observations is that “it was not a classic mutiny, merely resembling one.”
The Historical Significance of the Mutiny on the Bounty, By Jack Holtitzell: www.trincoll.edu/zines/tj/tj10.29.98/articles/cover.html
The article presents a concise discussion of Nordhoff and Hall’s history novel The Bounty Trilogy, and Bligh characterization as a brutal and corrupt as being a reflection of their direct exposure to WWI. The article argues that Nordhoff and Hall’s interpretation gave rise to Bligh and Christian’s characterizations in the 1936 movie rendition. As well as how Bligh’s depiction changed with each era’s interpretation of him.
South Pacific-HMS Bounty Connection: www.clanhanna.org/bounty.html
An incisive summary of the events surrounding and leading up to the Bounty voyage; the mutiny, the aftermath, and the mutineers settling on Pitcairn Island.
Captain Bligh’s Awful Voyage, by Ian Campbell: www.cronab.demon.co.uk/intro.htm
An informative look at Captain Bligh’s second voyage to Tahiti as Commander of the Providence. It presents a total different picture of Bligh’s navel career and personality during the period of 1791-93.
The Bounty Experience in Films and Theatre:
The Bounty experience made for “good theatre,” as is represented with the following sites. It is fascinating to note how the events that occurred on the Bounty have inspired such a wide range of thematic interpretation. It as though each period made the experience to conform to a particular point of view and message.
Films:
“Mutiny on the Bounty” (1916) silent film version directed by Australian born Raymond Langford (1878-1959) later relocated to New Zealand. Base on current information it is the earliest know film version of the mutiny. There is little information on the film itself it was lost some years ago and efforts to find a copy of have been unsuccessful.
“ Mutiny of the Bounty” (1935) B&W, probably most celebrated of the movie versions. Done almost completely at sea starring Clark Gable as Christian and Charles Laughton as Bligh. Based on the historic novel by Nordhoff and Hall.
www.rottentomatoes.com/movie-1056526/
“Mutiny on the Bounty” (1962) color remake of the 1935 version with Marlon Brando as Christian and Trevor Howard as Bligh. Grander scale, but not as well received as the original.
www.rottentomatoes.com/movie-1014482/
www.britmovie.com/directors/c_reed/filmograpghy/028.html
“The Bounty” (1984) color version based more on the actual transcripts of the Bounty mutiny trial and personal journals of the crew. Mel Gipson as Christian and Anthony Hopkins as Bligh. While this version portrays a closer to historic fact, depiction of Bligh it doesn’t quite equal the dramatic and cinematic power of the 1935 version.
(Several sites being considered)
www.rottentomatoes.com/movie-1012947/
Musical Drama “Mutiny” (1985)
TV Series:
“Bligh” (1992)
“The Timeless Land” (1980)
“The Women of Pitcairn Island” (1956)
Radio Dramas:
“Mutiny on the Bounty” (Mr. Punch Audio Productions, 1996)
“Mutiny on the Bounty” (Independent Radio Drama Productions, 1989)
Bounty Genealogy and Pitcairn Island:
Probably one of the more tragic and causal consequences of the mutineers settling on Pitcairn Island was the subsequent murders and later progeny that became a society of their own under the leadership of the sole surviving mutineer, John Adams (called himself Alexander Smith on the Bounty).
Bloodless Genocide: A Political History of the Pitcairn People in Norfolk Island from 1856 to 1996: Chronological political history of the discovery of the island and major historical and political events from 1856 to 1996.
www.pitcairners.org/bloodless_genocide2.html
Who Killed Fletcher Christian? Recap of the major events leading up to Christian’s murder on Pitcairn Island, plus some informative links to other related sites of interest.
www.channel4.com/plus/ends_of_earth/week5.html
Pitcairn Islands Study Center: A comprehensive history and related links to the discovery of the island, the mutiny and the surrounding islands.
http://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/indes.html
Pitcairn and Norfolk Islands Genealogy: General site that includes specific links to biographical information on the Bounty crewmembers, ancestors and descendants:
The Bounty, Pitcairn Island, and Fletcher Christian: Summary site that outlines significant facts regarding the Bounty mutiny, the discovery of Pitcairn Island, and Fletcher Christian’s descendants.
www.infoplease.com/spot/pitcairn.html
HMS Bounty Descendants Page: Multi-link page with a wide range of databases for tracking Bounty crewmembers and descendants as well as Pitcairn settlers, Court Marshal members, Pandora crewmembers and more…
http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/hmsbounty
The Bounty and The Pandora as Archeological Studies:
Diving on the Pandora: Article covering the expedition to uncover the wreck of the Pandora. American born, Australian filmmaker Ben Cropp and American-born Naturalist Steve Domm lead the expedition. Included is an interesting overview of the ill-fated voyage of the Pandora. The ship set sail in 1790 with orders from the British Admiralty “to proceed as expeditiously as possible into the vast reaches of the Pacific, there to track down the mutineers and bring them to justice.”
www.archaeology.org/cgi-bin/site2.pl?page=/online/features/pandora/index.html
Reclaiming the Bounty, by Nigel Erskine: Included in this article about an excavation of the Bounty is a concise background on the sinking of the Bounty off Pitcairn Island and the subsequent aftermath.
www.archaeology.org/9905/etc/bounty.html
The HMS Bounty: Short articles and various links providing historical information on the original Bounty, and the replica constructed for the 1962 movie.
The HMS Bounty II: A colorful look at the Bounty II constructed for the 1962 movie. Included are links to brief narratives on the cast and crew of the movie. Also include are articles and facts about the original HMS Bounty.
www.3.ns.sympatico.ca/ccarey/binex.html
The Bounty Experience in Fiction and Poetry:
A Bibliography of Bounty Literature: Well represented list of literature, non-fictional titles that encompass all the relevant people and places involved in the Bounty mutiny and subsequent events.
http://voyer.crosswinds.net/bounty.htm
Bibliography of the HMS Bounty, Wm. Bligh, and Pitcairn Island, compiled by H.L. Kerr (1989). A diverse reference site that is part of the Lareau web-directory.