Seaford Stamp & Post Card Club Mutiny on the Bounty
Until the Bounty reached the Cape of Good Hope in April 1788, the captain, William Bligh, and the masters’ mate, Fletcher Anderson, had a good working relationship, but later events led to this relationship souring and finally, the mutiny. The ship had been promoted by the Royal Society to collect breadfruit plants from the Polynesian island of Tahiti and transport them to the West Indies, where it was thought they would grow well and be a good source of food for the slaves. Conditions on the ship were poor. To carry the plants the large Captain’s Cabin had been converted into a greenhouse, and most of the 46 crew were cramped into bunks in the ‘cockpit’ and ‘forecastle’. Upon arrival in Tahiti, they set about collecting over 1,000 breadfruit plants. During their five-month stay the crew had little to do and enjoyed a hedonistic life, many of them forming close relationships with the Tahitian women and about half of them catching venereal disease. Captain Bligh was a strict taskmaster and often lambasted the crew for slackness, and resorted to flogging miscreants. In the four weeks after setting sail from Tahiti he is said to have become a paranoid
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disciplinarian and Fletcher was often the target of his rages. Fletcher became very depressed and was persuaded that he would garner good support if he carried out a mutiny. On the night of 27th April 1789 he enlisted the help of others and successfully carried out the mutiny – but less than half the ship’s crew supported him. Captain Bligh was set loose with 18 others and five days of provisions in a small, over-crowded boat. They were lucky to survive and make it back to England. HMS Pandora was commissioned to track down the mutineers and bring them back to England for punishment. Nine were caught and three later executed but Fletcher Anderson, most of the mutineers and a number of women from Tahiti made it to Pitcairn Island and later Norfolk Island where they set up a long-lasting community. This display, beautifully presented by David Sumpter at our last meeting, contained a wide range of pictures, postcards, envelopes and stamps and was enjoyed by the largest audience our club has mustered for many years. I particularly liked the imaginative way someone has written the address on the envelope shown. We have a full agenda for next year starting with New Zealand on 12th January. The club meets on the second Wednesday of the the month at 7pm for 7.30pm at the Seaford Constitutional Club. You are welcome to come along, or if you would like to find out more about the club visit our website at Seaford Stamp and Postcard Club: http://www.seaford-sussex. co.uk/sspc/ or from our club secretary David at david.manthorpe10@gmail.com. Photos from top: Imaginatively addressed envelope from the Pitcairn Islands; Stamp of Norfolk Island; Tahitian woman sorting coffee beans.
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