Mutiny on the Bounty : Ken Gibbs

William Bligh and Loyalists

You learn the darnedest things. . . .which had me gathering the history of ‘The Mutiny on the Bounty’ which readers might want to check before reading on from here,
especially the life of the Captain of the ship ‘Bounty’. He was put by the mutineers into an open boat and cast adrift somewhere between Tahiti and Tonga. He and his loyalists sailed some 6,500 kms till they reached Timor, from where he made his way back to England to ensure that the mutineers would face justice. . . . .well, you don’t want to know too many details. Suffice it to say that the Captain, William Bligh, was born reputedly in St Tudy not far from where I live in Cornwall, England.

The reason for the voyage of The Bounty was, so I understand, to collect samples of breadfruit for transport to the West Indies. Having personal experience of breadfruit from my career with UNICEF, I can fully sympathise with the mutineers as that ‘fruit’ is revolting to the delicate palate of the ordinary Caucasian – but is an ‘acquired taste’ by many born in the east and Pacific areas. So pungent is one member of the breadfruit family, that one is forbidden to take it on board an aircraft. . . . .Remember the durian ?

My own interest in Captain Bligh’s history is because I have a friend who, for many years, lived in St Tudy – where we played bridge, periodically.
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Now read the letter which I addressed to my ex-St Tudyian friend Kevin.

Dear Kevin:

For many years, I have been placing my hairbrush on a tile in the shower-room to save the shelves on which I place the necessary accessories. Recently, the hairbrush kept leaving a nasty brown stain on my hand each time I picked it up. Bathroom; brown stain ???

Well, one thing led to another. I washed the tile and found it didn’t cure the problem because encased in the tile were pressed flowers, covered by a plastic coating which obviously had not sealed the pressed flowers completely. My wife noticed on the back of the tile that it was made by one Pamela xx Xxxxxx – so I looked her up with Google, perhaps to contact her to suggest a more robust covering on her pressed flower tiles.

Ah-ha ! She lives in St Tudy and has a Vice Admiral for a husband. Means that Kevin is likely to know them as he had a military career, albeit driving helicopters rather than driving ships.

Then I read something about the Vice Admiral and right at the end of his Wikipedia entry, there was a reference to Pamela with footnote 10. I checked footnote 10 and found that it was the death notice of Lady Pamela who died just three weeks ago. Obviously, my timing wasn’t ideal.

I continued reading about the Vice Admiral and found that he was an ardent Brexiteer long before Boris Johnson had his opportunistic Damascene moment. And that he wrote lots of letters to the Times. . . . . One of the subjects close to his heart, I read, was that he was keen to have the pub in St Tudy renamed to celebrate William Bligh.

Following discovery of this gem, I sought to refresh my memory of William Bligh post the Mutiny. Seems he made his way to Timor and later was made Governor of New South Wales where he caused yet another mutiny now called ‘The Rum Rebellion’. Oh, dear, must I look up this later rebellion ? Perhaps William Bligh was rather like some of our own former colleagues who were lacking in people-skills ?

Kevin, you seem to have been keeping all this information a closely guarded secret from us ! What other ‘treasures’ remain concealed in St Tudy, I wonder ?
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I don’t think I ever received a response from Kevin on this matter, making me wonder why not ?
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Acknowledgement:

The picture is a hand tinted aquatint engraving by Robert Dodd, dated 1790
Photo of the picture by David Westwood, using a Hasselblad H3D11