In 1787 William Bligh commander of the Bounty sailed under Captain Cook on a voyage to Tahiti to collect plants of the breadfruit tree with a view to acclimatizing the species to the West Indies. During their six-month stay on the island his men became completely demoralized and mutinied on the return voyage. But a resentful crew coupled with ravaging storms and ruthless savages proved to be merely stages leading up to the anxiety-charged ordeal to come. Bligh along with eighteen men was cast adrift in an open boat only twenty-three feet long with a small stock of provisions?and without a chart.
His narrative deeply personal yet objective documents the voyage and Bligh?s relationship to his men thereby exposing the oft debated question of what kind of man he really was.
