![]() Tynah concedes, and Mauatua chooses the uncertainty of a life with Christian over remaining with her father. Christian pleads with Tynah to allow Mauatua to decide her own destiny. Realising the folly of staying, the mutineers gather supplies and sail away to try to find a safe refuge. King Tynah, however, is concerned that their presence on the island could incite King George to declare war against Tahiti and his people. The mutineers sail back to Tahiti to collect their wives, girlfriends and native friends. Bligh is portrayed as a man who, on the one hand takes his sense of discipline and command too far, exceeding the limits of the ship's company, but whose character ultimately successfully protects his loyal non-mutineers and guides their overcrowded boat to safety. One man, however, is killed by natives as the crew stop for supplies on a hostile island. The film follows both the efforts of Fletcher Christian to get his men beyond the reach of British punishment and the epic voyage of Bligh to get his loyalists safely to the Dutch East Indies in a longboat.īligh, through courage and excellent seamanship, and a return of his good character and leadership qualities, successfully manages to reach civilisation after a very harrowing journey without navigational charts or firearms. Bligh is roused from his bed and arrested, along with those considered loyal to him, and they are forced into a ship's boat, minimally supplied, and cast adrift. Playing on Christian's resentment against Bligh's treatment of both him and the men, the more militant members of the crew finally persuade Christian to take control of the ship. Many of the men, including Christian, are singled out for tongue-lashings by Bligh. Bligh insists that the ship is dirty and orders the crew to clean up several times a day. The resumption of naval discipline on the return voyage turns Bligh into a tyrant not willing to tolerate any disobedience whatsoever, creating an atmosphere of tension and violence. When the ship leaves Tahiti, Fletcher is forced to leave his native wife, Mauatua, behind. Bligh, at the same time, subjects the crew to pressure, eventually reaching breaking point when some members become intent on staying on the island. Many of the crew develop a taste for the easy pleasures that island life offers, especially the native women, making the relationship with their Captain tense. Finally arriving in Tahiti in October 1788, Bligh finds that due to the delays, the wind is against them for a quick return journey and they must stay on the island for four months longer than planned.ĭuring their stay in Tahiti, ship discipline becomes problematic. The attempt to round Cape Horn fails due to harsh weather, and the ship is obliged to take the longer eastern route. The film is set as flashbacks from the court martial at Portsmouth of Commanding Lieutenant William Bligh for the loss of HMS Bounty to mutineers, led by his friend Fletcher Christian, during its expedition to Tahiti to gather breadfruit pods for transplantation in the Caribbean.īligh sets out from Great Britain in December 1787, electing to sail the Bounty west round the tip of South America in an attempt to use the expedition to fulfill an ambition to circumnavigate the globe.
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