The Bounty Trilogy (1936)

Now this is historical fiction the way it should be written! The high seas and mutiny and south sea islands! The famous Bounty incident and aftermath is written with such a flair for the real-life characters, it's almost impossible to put down. I resorted to reading under the covers with a flashlight even though my childhood days are long ago.

The first part of the trilogy focuses upon the mutiny and what led up to it. The second part shows us the incredible voyage of Captain Bligh and his little rowboat of loyalists after they were cruelly abandoned at sea. The final third of the book brings us to Pitcairn Island, where the mutineers went to live, having burnt the Bounty and forced to live together on a rocky inhospitable island.

This book did enough to make me visit Norfolk Island, which is where the ancestors of the mutineers ended up living when they left Pitcairn. Truly a well-told tale. Classic.

Book Season = Summer (when the salty sea is in your face) ( )

The book that started my obsession with sea-going literature and maritime history. Thanks, Bounty. ( )

At daybreak, on the twenty-eighth of November 1789, His Majesty’s the H.M.S. Bounty set sail and began to journey across the Pacific Ocean. Her mission was a simple one: To set anchor at the island of Tahiti and acquire upwards of one thousand breadfruit trees; then, to return to England for transplant.
The crew consisted of forty-five men of varying ages and walks of life. In command was Lieutenant William Bligh, while Fletcher Christian, masters mate - his second in command, was a respectable sailor and a man of honor. The relationship between these two men deteriorates rapidly as the journey progresses and the seeds of mutiny are planted. Even in the best of times Bligh’s stern, tyrannical control weighs heavily on the crew and inevitably leads to its breakup. Shortly after daybreak one morning during the return voyage from Tahiti the narrator of book one, Roger Byam, is awakened to the realization that Lieutenant Bligh has been taken prisoner by the hand of Mr. Christian.
“Our company was divided, and, though linked together by a common disaster, we were not to share a common fate. I doubt whether a ship has ever sailed from England whose numbers, during the course of her voyage, were to be so widely scattered over the face of the earth, and whose individual members were to meet ends so strange and, in many cases, so tragic.”- (R. Byam)
After some deliberation, Christian decides to return to Tahiti and allow Byam and some others to remain there while the Bounty departs for shores unknown. The remaining two books tell the story of Lieutenant Bligh and the company of the Bounty's launch in "Men Against the Sea", and the mutineers with Fletcher Christian in the final book, "Pitcairn's Island".
The Mutiny on the Bounty trilogy is a deeply engrossing adventure story. Both a tale of human achievement and one of survival against all odds, it is deserving of the popularity it has achieved. It is among the best adventure books I have read. ( )

A book I read when I was 12 or 13 and that really helped to get me reading. A bit of everything for a young person: a bit of Rousseauian paradise and free love; the need for rebellion; the need for leadership and stoicism; and the tragic fates that sometimes meet our best hopes and intentions.

A bit of a boy's book, though. No doubt. ( )

Movies are basically based on the first story but they generally
ignore captains remarkable seamanship to dry land in a large row boat . Book is based on a true story and is an exceptional read. ( )