What Hollywood Missed

I've read about half of The Bounty now, and as I had hoped, the author goes back to the beginning to tell the story of how all these unfortunate events took place.  Like all such accountings, the mutiny's story benefits from hindsight in that incidents that seemed minor or unconnected at the time are shown to have contributed in a major way to the outcome.

Caroline Alexander's purpose in writing this book, it seems, is to correct the misconceptions many people have about the mutiny on the Bounty, mostly derived from the movies that were made about it. She has certainly succeeded in that, at least with me.  It was, I have learned, a much more complex affair than Hollywood has portrayed. Its complexities are brought out through Alexander's detailed descriptions of the time and place of the mutiny along with plenty of quotes from diaries, letters, records and other documents of the era.  William Bligh's own journals and ship's logs make up the centerpiece of her sources, but many other primary sources are quoted, including reports in the London Times, that show all sides of the issue.  And of course there are a number of pictures to help us visualize the late 18th century and the story's principal players.

One of my responses to this book was almost immediate: I had no idea!  I thought I knew this story but it turns out I was wrong.  It is not a simple story of mutiny against a tyrannical captain, but an entirely different tale, one that involves the British Navy, 18th century class distinctions, imperialist policies, scientific exploration, international conflict, global weather patterns, even theories of medical treatment.  A much more interesting tale, in fact.

I've learned quite a bit so far, though the trial for the mutineers has barely begun. As I read along, I find it difficult to judge who are the villains and who the heroes in this tale.  For the actual judges, it was probably a no-brainer: a mutiny occurred and those who mutinied should be punished according to law. All that remained to be decided was their relative degree of guilt.

But for the public, then and now, it's not so easy.  We want answers: why did this happen?  Hollywood gave us its answer, but we no longer have to accept it.  Caroline Alexander has given us the tools to come to our own conclusions.

One conclusion I've come to already is that the mutiny on the Bounty was not a tragedy.  In fact, for most of the people involved, things worked out pretty well.  But I may have different ideas by the time I've finished the book.  I'll keep you informed, in any case.