Pen and Sword Books: Captain Bligh and Mister Christian by Richard Hough

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Captain Bligh and Mister Christian

Richard Hough
Found in: General Maritime
All Chatham Books
Paperback 320 pages
ISBN: 9781861761323
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• Well-known author and compelling subject. • Tremendous writing style; lucid and exciting in the manner of Dudley Pope. • Well-priced trade paperback to appeal to a wide, general audience. An epic drama of mutiny, courage, remarkable voyages, human deceit and treachery, told by one of the country's leading historians. The story of the mutiny on the Bounty has fascinated readers for 200 years, and there has been no shortage of books and films to feed that fascination. Few books on the subject, however, have come even near to Richard Hough's masterly and thrilling account. In Captain Bligh and Mr Christian he has set down all the aspects of this extraordinary story in a manner which is utterly compelling, and he has brought alive the powerful characters who played out those events. The Bounty set out in 1788 to transport breadfruit from Tahiti to the West Indies as a cheap source of food for slaves. The combination of the tough discipline of Bligh, however, and the attractions of life in the South Sea Islands drove Fletcher Christian and part of the crew to mutiny, and Bligh along with those loyal to him were set adrift in the ship's launch. Their remarkable 3,600-mile, open-boat voyage to Timor is one of the great feats of navigation, while the story of the mutineers' discovery of the uninhabited island of Pitcairn and their attempt to fashion a community away from the pursuing ships of the Royal Navy is as tense as it is horrific. The dismal episode of the Pandora and the remarkable survival of one of the mutineers, Seaman Adams, are further fascinating twists in the story. Richard Hough's account was first published in 1972 and is regarded as the best account of this episode of maritime history. '…an inexhaustible story powerfully and dramatically explored.' Christopher Wood in The Guardian RICHARD HOUGH needs little introduction. He had a distinguished career as one of the country's leading maritime historians and writers and his many books include The Great Dreadnought, British Battleships, The Potemkin Mutiny and First Sea Lord: An Authorised Biography of Admiral Lord Fisher.

by George Tobin

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