| New Zealand Sub Antarctic Islands(9) – Bounty Island Group |
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New Zealand Sub Antarctic Islands – Bounty Island Group
The Bounty Island Group is the most remote and least visited of the sub Antarctic islands. It is even rare for scientists to land for research purposes as the Group does not have a safe anchorage or easy landing sites on the 20 Jurassic Age granite tips (about 180 million years old) of the Bounty Platform sticking out of the ocean. These granite formations are more closely related to West Antarctica than to New Zealand and its island formations. The largest island, Depot Island, is only 800 meters in length, and reaches a high point of 88 meters (about 285 feet). The total land mass of the Group is about 135 hectares and all of it very slippery polished granite covered in breeding season by white guano most of which gets washed away by the winter storms that can be so violent that the crashing sea spray reaches the high point.
We cruised all night after departing the Antipodes and with the rising sun, as is my habit, I went up on deck. The Bounty Island Group was ahead and I could see thousands of sea birds wheeling and soaring above the protruding rock islands on the horizon. The morning was clear, the wind was not too violent and the expedition leadership decided we could launch zodiacs for closer observations of the rocks and the residents.
I saw no beaches only very rocky shelves at the base of the granite cliffs. These shelves were squirming with baby fur seals and adults. Considering that 50,000 seals were killed in the first two years of hunting in the Group after Bligh’s visit and that by 1830 only five or six seals were to be found in and about the 20 islands the recovery has been slow but steady. In one story from this period of killing seals a group of men were put ashore to accumulate skins and when the mother ship returned the men had all perished from lack of shelter, food and water, but they had piled the skins for the ship to collect.
Above the seals in the cliff faces prions and pigeons came and went from their nests. Salvins mollymawks created a din with their cliff climbing fellow residents, the Erect-crested penguins. Being so rare I expected the Bounty Island Shags would be difficult to see, but they stayed on their nests or stood nearby.
Because of the remoteness and the ruggedness of the islands themselves I found myself liking the place very much, especially since the weather was moderate and clear for a few hours. We were able to spend only about 2 hours in the Zodiacs before the weather began to change and the wind rose. We headed back to the Spirit of Enderby and Chatham Island to the northeast.
CAPTAIN BLIGH
My earliest cultural impressions of Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian were shaped by the book, Mutiny on the Bounty, and the two films, same names, of these events: The first film had Charles Laughton as Bligh and Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian and the second with Trevor Howard and Marlon Brando in these roles. [Just looking at the actors you can guess who the white hat good guys were and the other two must be the necessary protagonist bad guys] Being a “Captain Bligh” was the equivalent of calling someone dictatorial, a harsh and brutal taskmaster and probably someone who was evil.
William Bligh was enrolled in the English navy in 1754 when he was 9 years old and he served nearly continuously until he retired about 50 years later. I have read several good biographies and historical monographs that universally indicate he quickly learned that for a boy from the lower classes to have a hope making a senior naval career he would have to outperform, be more naval and be smarter and faster than his fellows.
In 1776 after becoming a full Lieutenant, he was appointed sailing master of HMS Resolution by Captain James Cook on Cook’s third and last scientific voyage.
Bligh was kind of like a modern MBA graduate on the fast track from a poor family. He was dedicated, loyal and totally concerned with the details of the navy’s missions. He did not have patience or understanding for those who tried to get by or failed in their “duties.” Yet throughout his career it was noted that he was overly concerned about the health and welfare of his subordinates. They were usually lower class seaman for example who did not like him forcing them to eat lemons to keep scurvy away or other new ideas and they certainly did not like his ferocious temper that got them tongue lashings for making mistakes…after all, in these early days he may have been an officer, but he was a kid and they were often “old salts” who believed their knowledge and ways were better.
One of his wife’s relatives was Captain Sir James Campbell of the West Indies Trade Company. Bligh went to work for Campbell and the company for four years and received his first command of a ship, The Lynx. His next assignment was on Campbell’s ship the Britannia where he struck up a friendship with another young officer on this assignment. The new friend was Fletcher Christian who was from a first class family from the Isle of Man, more polished and considered by some more of a gentleman.
When Bligh was given the Bounty by Sir Joseph Banks of the British Admiralty in 1787 to transport a new food source, breadfruit, from Tahiti to the West Indies for the slave work force, he chose Fletcher Christian as the ship’s first mate. The journey was a more difficult and longer than expected transit from England to Tahiti. Failing to get through Drake’s passage past Cape Horn, Bligh turned and sailed west to east, the long way through the Indian Ocean to Tahiti. They were late in the sailing season in arriving. After loading his cargo of breadfruit plants Bligh decided to wait. The wait turned out to be about four months for the winds and weather to change before attempting to pass through Drakes passage from West to East to take their breadfruit cargo to the West Indies. It was 1789 and they were two years into the voyage. Again the seas and winds were too difficult and in returning to take the long way back (East to West) they came upon the Bounty Island Group. Since Bligh was of a scientific-explorer and map-making type disposition he made a description and named the Group. Not long after this Fletcher led the famous mutiny and put Bligh and a loyal group of 18 other sailors into the 26 foot ships open-boat and set them adrift.
There are a number of descriptions of this mutiny and its causes. I found it more telling that after Captain Bligh successfully sailed the open row boat nearly four thousand miles with only a sextant to steer by to Timor through the open sea without loosing a man over a 47 day period the navy did not find Bligh at fault for the mutiny and in fact his star began to rise to greater heights. Like Shackleton he was viewed as a more than competent leader and survivor and was given more and more responsibility.
After the Bounty incident Bligh’s commands increased in size and station. He specialized in scientific and hydrological voyages for the navy. He was named a fellow of the Royal Society. He commanded one of the largest scientific ships of the line, the HMS Director, followed by higher promotions into senior positions. In 1797 there was a famous larger mutiny involving a larger segment of the navy referred to as the Mutiny at Nore. Bligh was a primary player and was commended by both superiors and his own men and officers who he defended rigorously as to how he assisted in solving the problems. A few years later in 1801 he was in command of a fighting ship in one of the lines behind Admiral Nelson at the Battle of Brave near Copenhagen. Another admiral ran up a flag to cease firing, but Bligh led his line into the fray and was later decorated by Nelson himself for making the better command decision that may have saved the day and hence Nelson. When this war ended in 1802 Bligh went back to scientific expeditions. He retired after fifty years of service as a Vice Admiral. The facts of Bligh’s life do not line up with the literature or the film depictions that I (and I suspect most everyone else) have grown up with.
A modern curiosity: A reef in Alaska was named to honor Captain Bligh. It was this reef that the Exxon Valdez struck and produced a massive oil spill.
For those who might be interested in reading some secondary sources or more critical analysis than I have engaged in I offer some reference sites:
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These islands are a seabird metropolis that they share with New Zealand fur seals (20,000 at the last census made in 1992). The Bounty Group is the primary breeding area for Erect-Crested Penguins and Salvins mollymawks (75,000 pairs). Fulmar Prions, Snares Cape Pigeons, Southern Black-Backed Gulls and Antarctic Terns also nest here in lesser numbers. Bounty is also the home of one of the rarest birds, the Bounty Island Shag, of which there are only 500-600 living birds.
Fletcher Christian was always someone who attempted to do right and be the good guy. The teaching message was that the mutiny was probably a necessary act and putting the bad Bligh and his 18 loyal followers in a 26 foot dingy and setting them adrift after the mutiny gave Bligh the treatment he deserved. After Christian set him adrift for all I knew he disappeared from history. Christian and his followers went on to Pitcairn’s Island and until quite recently even these few survivors were of endless interest should the subject be raised. My interest in the Southern Ocean and its true tales certainly changed my earlier and simpler view of the Bounty and its events. This morality play may someday be reassessed and the roles reversed for a number of factual reasons.
It turned out that he was very intelligent and did well in science and mathematics. Bligh was an excellent writer and illustrator, which is why he eventually led many scientific and mapping voyages while rising to the top of that branch of the service. He learned his training lessons well and was promoted to midshipman after passing the exams. After this promotion he served on two royal navy ships, the HMS Crescent and the HMS Ranger.
He was 22 years old and this appointment put him in constant contact with Cook and the scientific staff. In fact naval records indicate he prepared the maps of this fateful voyage, but after Cook’s death in Hawaii other officers placed their names on the charts and gave no mention or credit to Bligh’s significant contributions. After Cook’s death and the Resolution returned to England in 1780 Bligh took a one year leave of absence to get married and consider the future.
