Boat Name: HMS Bounty
Year Launched: 1783
Country: Great Britain

Actual Dimensions of Model: Length 28 inches, Height 22 inches.
Year Model Built: April 12, 2003 – June 22, 2003

Historical Significance:
The Bounty was originally built as a merchant vessel but later fitted out and armed by the British navy as a discovery ship. In December 1787, i t set sail from Spithead under the command of ship captain William Bligh. It reached Tahiti without incident & remained there for several months. When it left Tahiti a mood of rebellion started to spread among the crew. The most common account given to explain the events was that Bligh’s conduct was the main cause of the mutiny on the Bounty.

Bligh was intolerant but the hardships of life on board after their pleasant stay in Tahiti must have played a decisive part. There was only one member of the crew on board to whom Bligh showed insulting behavior and whom he even went so far as to accuse of theft, the master’s mate Christian Fletcher. In 1789, Fletcher & his fellow mutineers forced Bligh to abandon ship in the Bounty’s longboat together with 18 members of the crew who were loyal to him & a few provisions.

After a hazardous voyage of over 4000 miles, he managed to reach the island of Timor in the East Indies and from here returned to England. The Bounty sailed back to Tahiti and left 16 of the mutineers there before setting off again for Pitcairn Island where Fletcher and the others settled and where all trace of them were lost until in 1808, the last survivors were found by American whalers. The Tahiti group was captured by Commander Edwards of the frigate Pandora and court-martialed. Three of the sailors were hanged and the rest were absolved.