BLIGH ! by Sam McKinney

When this book was published in 1999, the author Sam McKinney was a research associate of the Vancouver Maritime Museum.

Publisher's comments: Bligh ! is the first book to tell the complete story -- the stormy voyage out from England, the dalliance in Tahiti, the mutineers' wandering quest for a safe haven, the court-martial in England -- based on the original written accounts of five of the principal witnesses. Within a few years, most of the men involved were dead, from drowning, disease, Admiralty justice or murder, but the odyssey of the Bounty lives on."

There are near as many books written on the Bounty mutiny as there are on the life of Nelson, and many of them are "detailed" accounts, but I found this one had all the historical information that I felt I needed. It begins with a chronicaling of Bligh's early years at sea, then his service with Cook, and his commission in 1787 for the ill-fated voyage. The voyage is covered in great detail followed by "the time in Paradise", the mutiny, the aftermath of the mutiny, the voyage by Bligh and his loyal followers to Timor, the return to England, the mutineers, the voyage of the Pandora , the trial and finally Pitcairn Island.

There are several appendix covering everything from shipboard rank and duty, vituals and grog, a Bounty chronology and even excerpts from the Articles of War.

I found this book to contain all the information and knowledge that I required as a student of military history. To critique it would be to "critique history", but you will be left to form your own opinions about the participants in this real life drama. I recommend it for the "armchair" historian or the reader of HNF that wants to know more about a subject (and person) continually referred to in the HNF books they read.

One caution......if you normally (or even sometimes) use reading glasses....bring them along because while the book isn't thick, the print is small. It's in my library.

My mother always asserted that she was a descendant of Bligh. I've never been able to check whether she was right or wrong, but all through my early years in Cornwall I believed it, and even gained some notoriety amongst my schoolmates by repeating the "fact".

Paul,

With all the current interest in geneology, coupled with access to records online from many credible sources, now would be a good time to "check it out".

LOL!

Not sure I want to actually know...