Mutiny is considered to be the most serious offence of disobedience or defiance committed on board a warship or for that matter, in any unit of the army or the air force. Since the days of the sailing ships to the era of power propelled modern iron ships, there have been mutinies on board by the men of war or in the flotillas.
A mutiny for long had not been very well-defined even in the Articles of War and it was the captain of the ship who had to decide if an offence was serious enough to be considered a mutiny. But most mutinies were refusal to carry out orders or lawful commands by individuals or groups on board. The penalty for such extraordinary overstep usually was death dispensed through a court martial.
In the past, working and living conditions on board the ships were really very harsh. The social divide, which existed in the civilian society, also existed in the compact world of a sailing platform. The command, rank and rate structure was also the replica of master-servant relationship, which existed in civil feudal society. The mutinies on board were the result of harsh treatment meted out to the sailors by cruel officers and excessive captains.
Difficult conditions on board, poor food, rudimentary medical care and low pays would create extreme dissatisfaction amongst the ranks to kindle fires of hatred. The use of foul language by the officers and the captains was a common dispensation. Flogging for minor infringements was a routine punishment. Many times the captains and the ship’s officers’ attitude was the cause of mutinous behaviour which ultimately resulted in extreme punishments to the rising sailors. but, in many instances, also, of the removal of the Captains from their commands and officers from their ships. However, many a mutinous incidents, on the other hand, was cooled down by diplomatic intervention of senior Officers. During the Napoleonic wars toward the end of the eighteenth century, an incident on board the Royal Navy frigate HMS Blanche was scotched by Nelson’s handling of the situation. The appointment of a Captain Hotham who had a reputation of being a tough disciplinarian sparkled mass unrest amongst the ship’s company. The crew refused to accept the new Captain. They refused to partake in the ceremony at which his appointment orders were to be read to the ship’s company on board the Blanche. So infuriated were the crew that they trained the forward guns of the ship aft ready to fire! The consul of the Staff Officers of the Fleet Commander, Commodore Nelson and even threat of death by them did not bend the crew till the Commodore himself intervened. He came on board to address them. Reminding them of the meritorious record of their ship, which had earlier defeated two enemy ships superior to her, he brought them down by saying “‘Lads’, will be with you if Captain Hotham ever mistreats you!” There were three cheers all round; and the mutiny had ended! The personality, reputation and standing of Nelson had won the day where his staff had failed!
In 1797, another sailors’ mutiny took place on board the Frigate Hermione when the crew rebelled again the officers and killed the Commanding Officer, Captain Pigot and eight of the ship’s officers. Pigot was a tough disciplinarian and a very cruel person who would, by normal count, take extreme measures, which provoked the ship’s company. At one occasion he threatened to flog the top men for a job not done properly. Under fear, two of them fell from the rigging and died. Pigot had the dead bodies thrown over board. The crew rose against the Command. They took control of Hermione and surrendered her to the enemy! The Royal Navy raided the Spanish port where Hermione had been interned and retrieved the ship. The mutineers were subsequently court martialled and many were hanged. The mutiny on board the Bounty, whilst on high seas reads like fiction. But it was a rebellion with real drama that had followed it and still remains a talking point. His Majesty’s armed vessel Bounty under the command of Lieutenant Bligh, was sent on a mission to Tahiti in the Pacific to pick up breadfruit plants to be grown in the West Indies to become a cheap source of food for the West African indentured slave labour.
Bligh was an abusive captain but a renowned navigator. Bounty left the UK in December 1787. It was at sea for ten months before she raised Tahiti. During the voyage Lieutenant Bligh had demoted his Sailing Master, John Friar replacing him with Fletcher Christian, the ship’s Master Mate and promoted him to the rank of Lieutenant. This step spoiled the ship’s atmosphere.
At Tahiti, the crew lived ashore for five months to care for the saplings of the breadfruit plants. There they became accustomed to the free and easy ways of Tahitian life. Some, including Fletcher Christian married Tahitian lasses.
On completion of its mission, Bounty left Tahiti in April 1789 and headed back to England. Out at sea, on 28 April 1789, off Friendly Islands (currently named Toga) the newly appointed Sailing Master, Fletcher Christian rose in mutiny along with eleven sailors. They took control of the ship from Bligh. The mutineers ordered Bligh and 18 crew members into the ship’s boat and sailed away with the Bounty.
Equipped with a sextant only, Bligh navigated the 23 ft boat on a 3000 miles epic open sea voyage to Timor. Meanwhile, the mutineers returned to Tahiti. Dropping half the crew there, Friar with eight other crewmen, six Tahitian and 11 Tahitian women sailed the Bounty from Tahiti and landed at Pitcairn Island in the Pacific close to New Zealand. They burned the Bounty and settled there. Most of the settlers were initially victim of disease, accidents, internecine fighting and murders. Some of their English speaking decedents still inhabit the Pitcairn Island. Bligh and Company was repatriated to England. A ship was sent by the Admiralty to search the Bounty. At Tahiti, fourteen of the crew of the Bounty were rounded up. They were court martialled in England. Three amongst them were convicted and hanged. Bligh, too, was court-martialled. He was exonerated and went on to reach the rank of a captain.
There are different views about the causes of the mutiny. Some think that Bligh was an abusive person and a tyrant who forced the crew to extreme steps. He slashed crew’s rations for personal gains. He even flogged dead sailors! Some blame Fletcher Christian for his action because he had reached his limits with Bligh for mistreating the crew. Some accounts blame the crew for the rebellion as they harboured keen desire to go back to the easy and free ways of life they have tasted during Bounty’s mission at Tahiti.
