The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the BountyViking, 2003 - 491 pages More than two centuries have passed since Master's Mate Fletcher Christian mutinied against Lieutenant Bligh on a small, armed transport vessel called Bounty. Why the details of this obscure adventure at the end of the world remain vivid and enthralling is as intriguing as the truth behind the legend. In giving the Bounty mutiny its historical due, Caroline Alexander has chosen to frame her narrative by focusing on the court-martial of the ten mutineers who were captured in Tahiti and brought to justice in England. This fresh perspective revivifies the entire saga, and the salty, colorful language of the captured men themselves conjures the events of that April morning in 1789, when Christian's breakdown impelled every man on a fateful course: Bligh and his loyalists on the historic open boat voyage that revealed him to be one of history's great navigators; Christian on his restless exile; and the captured mutineers toward their day in court. As the book unfolds, each figure emerges as a full-blown character caught up in a drama that may well end on the gallows. And as Alexander shows, it was in a desperate fight to escape hanging that one of the accused defendants deliberately spun the mutiny into the myth we know today-of the tyrannical Lieutenant Bligh of the Bounty. Ultimately, Alexander concludes that the Bounty mutiny was sparked by that most unpredictable, combustible, and human of situations-the chemistry between strong personalities living in close quarters. Her account of the voyage, the trial, and the surprising fates of Bligh, Christian, and the mutineers is an epic of ambition, passion, pride, and duty at the dawn of the Romantic era. |
Table des matières
PRELUDE I | 1 |
BOUNTY | 37 |
VOYAGE OUT | 78 |
Droits d'auteur | |
13 autres sections non affichées
Autres éditions - Tout afficher
Expressions et termes fréquents
able Adams Admiralty allowed appear arms arrived asked assistance Banks Bligh boat Bounty Bounty's breadfruit brother brought called Captain Charles Christian close Cockermouth Cole command continued Cook correspondence court court-martial death deck described duty Edward England evidence fact Fletcher Fryer George give given Graham Hallett hand Hayward Heywood hope island James John joined Joseph land later launch letter Library Lieutenant live London Lord master mate months Morrison mutineers naval Nessy never night noted officers once orders Pandora passed Peter Peter Heywood prisoners Providence Purcell received recorded remained replied sailed seen sent served ship South story Tahiti Tahitian taken thing Thomas told took turned voyage watch weather weeks wife William Bligh witness wrote young