Awake, Bold Bligh

The mutiny which erupted on 28th April 1789 on board HMS Bounty, under the command of Lieutenant William Bligh RN, is one of the most celebrated of all maritime mutinies. The three letters here published together in facsimile for the first time were written by Bligh while recovering from the voyage in an open boat from Tahiti to Timor. They are his personal accounts, written for private reading by his family and friends. The first is written to Bligh's wife Elizabeth, the second is addressed to Duncan Campbell, his wife's uncle, once Bligh's employer and the third is written to Bligh's patron, Sir Joseph Banks, who was an important figure in the British exploration of the Pacific.