To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the mutiny on the Bounty, this is a reissue of Nordhoff's and Hall's classic Bounty Trilogy in one volume. It is a story of drunkenness, betrayal, murder and vengeance - a saga that will be remembered as long as men sail the sea.
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To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the mutiny on the Bounty, this is a reissue of Nordhoff's and Hall's classic Bounty Trilogy in one volume. It is a story of drunkenness, betrayal, murder and vengeance - a saga that will be remembered as long as men sail the sea.
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Seller's Description:
Illustrated by N. C. Wyeth. Very Good in a Very Good dust jacket. Remainder mark on bottom text block edge. Small closed tear on top front gutter. Shelfwear on panel corners and spine crown and heel.
This book, first published in 1945, starts with a full account of the last voyage of H.M.S. Bounty, including her final journey to Pitcairn Island where she was beached by the mutineers. It is so well written that this reader felt transported to the high seas and then to the South Sea Islands. The story is thoroughly researched, with references to many original documents: old letters, Captain Bligh's logs of the ship's voyage and of the epic journey of the launch, and the official Proceedings of the Courts Martial. It is written as if it were the memoires of an actial retired officer whose navy career started when he joined H.M.S. Bounty as a midshipman. By mischance he was classed as a mutineer, by lucky chance he was acquitted on the evidence of one witness, and survived to old age. The purpose of the voyage was to transplant a large number of young breadfruit trees from Tahiti to the West Indies, to make a long-term food supply for the slaves. The voyage ended in mutiny because of the foul temper of Captain Bligh, his failure to support his officers, and his frequent use of the cruelest of naval punishments for minor infractions. The second part of the book is an equally well-written account of the extraordinary achievement of Captain Bligh in navigating the overloaded ship's launch 3,600 miles, from The Friendly Islands to Coupang in Batavia. Eventually Bligh and most of his party reached England, where Bligh had to face a Court Martial for losing his ship, and so had several of the crew accused of taking part in the mutiny. The third part is a fictional account of the 18 years on Pitcairn Island, until the first contact with the outside world. The original inhabitants were 9 of the mutineers, 6 Tahitian men and 12 Tahitian women. It is a sad tale of the violence resulting from their failure to meld two cultures, and the mistake of taking a party of fifteen men and only twelve women. A plausible tale is woven from the recollections of the sole male survivor of the 9 mutineers who landed there, and of the Tahitian women who came with them. When a party from the U.S. ship Topaz landed on Pitcairn in 1808 they found a peaceful colony of middle-aged Tahitian women under the benign leadership of the one remaining British seaman, with a bunch of happy teenagers and children who had never known anything different from this bountiful island.
