THE TRUE STORY OF CAPTAIN BLIGH

New Zealand Listener, Volume 25, Issue 632, 10 August 1951, Page 6

THE TRUE STORY OF CAPTAIN BLIGH

LIGH OF THE BOUNTY, a BBC feature now being heard from several stations and soon to be broadcast from others, may help to correct the popular belief that Captain William Bligh, R.N., was no more than a bully and tyrant whose cruelties to his crew goaded them into mutiny. Recent research has thrown much light on Bligh. Dr. George Mackaness has written an authoritative biography, and Rum Rebellion, by Dr. H. V. Evatt, Leader of the Opposition in the Commonwealth Parliament, and former Australian Minister of External Affairs, is a sharply analytical study of Bligh’s governorship of New South Wales. In the light of such material Rex Rienits wrote this new BBC feature. Even in an age of adventure, few men led a more adventurous life than William Bligh. Though it is as Bligh of the Bounty that we know him best today, this was only one of many exciting incidents in his career-the most spectacular, perhaps, but far from being the most important. Bligh’s greatest contribution to history was as Governor of New South Wales, then a convict colony, almost twenty years after the mutiny;

and for all the attempts that have been made, from time to time, to discredit him, Australians today generally regard him as one of their outstanding national heroes. William Bligh, like so many other men of Devon, had a passion for the sea

and was in the navy at fifteen. As a lieutenant he was in Cook’s Resolution for four years and saw Cook killed. Later he was given command of an expedition to transplant bread-fruit trees from Tahiti to the West Indies, and his ship was the Bounty. It was on this voyage that the mutiny occurred, Courtmartialled, Bligh was acquitted, was promoted to captain, and given command of a second expedition to Tahiti. Bligh afterwards distinguished himself in several naval engagements; and during the mutiny of the Nore he was chosen, because of his popularity with the men, to negotiate peace terms with them. His success sayed much bloodshed. When Bligh was appointed Governor of New South Wales in 1805 the colony was in the grip of a monopolistic officer clique, who had introduced a system of using rum as currency which was turning the people into drunkards, After eighteen months of his uncompromising tule, during which New South Wales knew its first prosperity, the officers revolted against the curtailment of their privilege, arrested Bligh and proceeded again to plunder the colony. When (continued on next page)

(contirued from previous page) Colonel Lachlan Macquarie arrived he brought a regiment of soldiers to enforce his commands, Bligh was cleared of all blame and promoted to vice-ad-miral. He retired soon afterwards. Bligh of the Bounty is now being heard from 4ZB at 7.45 p.m. on Sundays, and 1XN at 8.15 p.m. on Sundays. It will start from 3ZB at 7.45 p.m, this Sunday (August 12); 2XA at 10.0 p.m. on Thursday, August 16; 4YZ on August 26, and 2ZA on September 9. Later it will be broadcast from other stations, both National and Commercial.