1962 classic starring Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard
The compass Captain Bligh used to sail 3,600 miles to safety in a tiny, overcrowded boat after Fletcher Christian led the Mutiny on the Bounty
The compass used by Captain Bligh to find land 48 days after he was set adrift by his mutinous crew has sold 236 years later for thousands of pounds.
The seaman and 18 of his loyal men only had the compass, a watch, a quadrant and a week's worth of food and drink following the Mutiny on the Bounty.
They were cast off in HMS Bounty's small launch boat east of Tahiti in the South Pacific in 1789.
While the mutinous crew, led by Fletcher Christian, made for Tahiti and the Pitcairn Islands on the Bounty, Bligh headed east towards Timor, 3,600 miles away.
Despite having limited equipment, Captain Bligh had perfected excellent navigational skills under the famous Captain James Cook.
He and his crew made it to Timor in 48 days via the island of Tofua, from which they had to flee after the natives attacked and killed one of them.
The compass that guided Captain Bligh has now been sold in London for more than £14,000.
The 3ins wide compass is set in a mahogany case.
The compass used by Captain Bligh to find land 48 days after he was set adrift by his mutinous crew has sold 236 years later for thousands of pounds
Anthony Hopkins as Captain Bligh alongside fellow stars John Sessions and Liam Neeson in the film 'The Bounty', 1984
A note in period ink writing on a paper label on the inside of the hinged lid reads: 'Mutiny of the Bounty.
'This compass given to me by the daughter of Admiral Bligh was used by the Admiral in finding his way to land, when he was turned adrift in the Pacific Ocean by the mutinous crew of the Bounty. J.B Toogood.'
Toogood was a 19th century collector of maritime artefacts.
It is thought the compass remained in his family for 200 years before it was acquired by a private collector who has now sold it.
A spokesperson for Bonhams said: 'No description of the compass employed by Bligh is recorded, but it is likely to have been readily portable in the confusion of the mutiny.
'The pocket watch stopped on June 2, 1789 but Bligh successfully navigated the 3,618 nautical miles to Timor in 47 days, with the loss of only one crew member, and landed on June 14.'
To this day, the motives for the mutiny remain unclear.
Bligh was later subjected to character assassination by Fletcher Christian's supporters, who accused him of abusing his crew.
The compass that guided Bligh has now been sold in London for more than £14,000. The 3ins wide compass is set in a mahogany case
The seaman and 18 of his loyal men only had the compass, a watch, a quadrant and a week's worth of food and drink following the Mutiny on the Bounty
Before the mutiny, the crew had spent five months on Tahiti to collect breadfruit seedlings that they were meant to take to the West Indies, where they would be planted to provide a diet for thousands of slaves working on sugar plantations.
The Bounty's crew had come to enjoy the freedoms and hedonism of Tahiti, where they found native women willing to sleep with them.
Discipline disintegrated on the island, leading to rows. The mood descended further when the crew had to bid reluctant farewell to their friends and lovers on Tahiti.
The mutiny was triggered by Captain Bligh accusing Christian of taking a coconut from a pile kept on deck.
Christian refused Captain Bligh's conciliatory offer of dinner that evening. The next morning, he led a rebellion.
When Captain Bligh landed in England in March 1790, news of the mutiny had preceded him and he was welcomed as a hero.
He was later acquitted of responsibility for the loss of the Bounty at a court martial.
Two years later, a ship was dispatched to the South Pacific to arrest the mutineers.
Captain Bligh went on to serve under Admiral Lord Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 and was praised by him after the victory
After rounding up 14 out of 23 rebels, they were imprisoned in a makeshift cell on the deck of HMS Pandora and sent back to Britain.
Four died along the way but the remaining 10 prisoners faced a court martial in Portsmouth.
Three of the mutineers were hanged while four were acquitted and three were pardoned.
The other mutineers, led by Christian, picked up women from other islands and bred quickly on Pitcairn Island.
From a population peak of 233 people in 1937 there are now thought to be less than 50 inhabitants.
Captain Bligh went on to serve under Admiral Lord Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 and was praised by him after the victory.
He later became governor of New South Wales in Australia.
He died in 1817 in London and was buried in Lambeth.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15220833/The-compass-Captain-Bligh-used-sail-3-600-miles-safety-tiny-overcrowded-boat-rogue-Fletcher-Christian-led-Mutiny-Bounty.html
The greatest sea-tale of them all - Mutiny On The Bounty - is also the biggest lie, an obscuration of history according to Michael Buerk
'Fletcher Christian, the mutineers’ leader, is always played by an (American) heart-throb — Clark Gable, Marlon Brando. Captain Bligh is an exercise in splenetic tyranny for an (English) character actor — Charles Laughton, Trevor Howard — spluttering with rage and fairly simmering with savagery'
Mel Gibson as Fletcher Christian in The Bounty
Marlon fell in love with the South Pacific region after filming his project Mutiny On The Bounty in Tahiti (pictured with Tarita Teriipaia)
Brando was enthralled by the Polynesian way of life – and the leading lady Tarita
Brando on the set of Mutiny on the Bounty with 3rd wife Tarita Teripia
Another Brando Wife Movita Castaneda
Scene: Here, Castaneda is seen in the 1935 film 'Mutiny on the Bounty' alongside Franchot Tone (center) Clark Gable (right)
'The idea was to sail to Tahiti, load the ship with young breadfruit plants and take them to the West Indies where they would provide a suitably cheap diet for the thousands of African slaves on the sugar plantations.'
'Bligh had been to Tahiti with Captain Cook and was with him when he was killed. He inherited Cook’s mantle as the foremost navigator of the age. Fletcher Christian, a charming but petulant man, was his protégé'
'The Bounty, at least in the early stages of the voyage, was a contented vessel. Bligh wrote home: ‘My men are all active, good fellows & what has given me much pleasure is that I have not yet been obliged to punish anyone’
'The flashpoint for the most famous shipboard rebellion in history was ridiculously trivial. Bligh accused Christian of taking a coconut from a pile kept on deck'
'The natives were handsome, clean-limbed, smooth-skinned, their smiles full of snow-white teeth. The English sailors were mostly toothless, the majority of them pockmarked from endemic smallpox, bow-legged, misshapen, scarred — and, despite Bligh’s best efforts, filthy and stinking as well'
The painting "The Loyal Men of the Bounty" showing HMS Bounty leaving her infamous Captain Bligh adrift in small boat with a cadre of loyal men somewhere near Pitcarn Island
The former home of Captain William Bligh, the English naval commander in charge of the HMS Bounty at the time of its infamous mutiny
Captain Bligh lived at the home for 10 years after the 1789 mutiny with his wife Elizabeth and their children, before he was made Governor of New South Wales in 1805. Pictured: the rear garden
The property on Lambeth Road in South London, built in 1794, features an English Heritage blue plaque (right) - unveiled by Prince Philip in 1952 - to recognise its first ever owner Captain William Bligh
Its quirky interiors are also currently themed to capitalise on its connection to the seaman. This garden room on the ground floor features a mural of an 18th century circus on the wall
This sitting room, which doubles up as an office, features a chimney breast adorned with the entire history of the famous Mutiny on the Bounty as well as a copy of the English Heritage blue plaque
The main reception room has a distinctly regal theme, with an elaborate chandelier and the plush curtains, velvet arm chairs and ceiling all painted purple
To denote the history of the property and its nautical ties, this large bathroom suite features wallpaper designed to look like the shelves of a library, antique wood furniture that wouldn't look out of place on a ship, and an enormous fish tank
The 'music room', which features a sign reading 'Bligh Empire', appears to carry a Gilbert and Sullivan theme, with a large grand piano and photographs of theatrical productions
Captain Bligh's story is immortalised in five films; he was portrayed by Trevor Howard in the 1962 movie - with Marlon Brandon starring as mutineer Fletcher Christian (pictured) - and by Anthony Hopkins in 1984, alongside Mel Gibson as Christian
Another living room has a distinctly London theme, with Union Jack furnishings and scenes from the capital hanging on the walls
Once a single home, William Bligh House, which boasts a 35 foot rear garden (pictured) and a 141 sq ft terrace on its first floor, has been turned into a £130-a-night bed and breakfast
As a single 3,332 sq ft house, the ground and first floors offer three reception rooms, a family kitchen and breakfast room and a study, while the upper floors are equipped with six bedrooms. Pictured: the hallway on the first floor that leads to the terrace
The 42 people living on Pitcairn island are descendants of sailors who took part in the Mutiny on the Bounty
The island is believed to have been inhabited by Polynesians for hundreds of years, but the first European encounter came when Captain Philip Carteret's HMS Swallow stumbled across it in 1767
Pitcairn’s coast
A ferry, which costs £1.2million a year to run, makes four annual trips to New Zealand, with voyages lasting 12 days each way
Pitcairn is one of 14 overseas territories where inhabitants have a right to British citizenship and the Government is obliged to protect their wellbeing under international law
On the outcrop, which has a population of about 50, there is no proper harbor or airstrip, so access to the outside world is dependent solely upon two tough steel vessels
Island life has 'fishing, diving and community environment,' and there aren't really any negatives
Pitcairn - which measures just two miles long and one mile wide - was sighted in 1767 by the British and settled by the HMS Bounty mutineers in 1789
The island's capital Adamstown, which is located above Bounty Bay and accessed by the aptly named road The Hill of Difficulty, was named for the last surviving mutineer, John Adams
Henderson island, uninhabited and about the size of Oxford, is one of four in the remote Pitcairn chain, which are all British Overseas Territories
The Pitcairn Islands are the last British territory in the Pacific Ocean
There is a small general store selling everything from warehouse parts to frozen goods
Pitcairn is the only inhabited island of the Pitcairn Islands Group with the other outcrops being Henderson, Ducie and Oeno
In a bid to boost the population, the Government is offering free land for migrants to build on and residency permits can be obtained by completing a 'settlement agreement' form
Beautiful but doomed: Pitcairn's population is declining after it was rocked by a sex scandal
Two centuries on and Fletcher Christian's grand experiment could be nearing its end. Pitcairn, Britain's last possession in the Pacific, is dying - slowly but surely
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2731382/The-paradise-island-thats-dying-shame-How-sex-scandals-poisonous-legacy-destroying-remote-British-isle-founded-Bounty-mutineers.html
Shirking paradise: Inhabitants on Pitcairn Island, the last British overseas territory in the Pacific Ocean, are struggling to attract new residents because of a lack of jobs and its dark past of child sex abuse scandals
Cut off from civilisation: The islands are more than 3,000 miles from New Zealand and 1,000 miles from Tahiti
The island features beautiful scenery and wildlife
Bleak future: Pitcairn residents wave off a boat of tourists. Only one person has applied to relocate there
History: A cannon from the HMS Bounty is proudly displayed in front of Len Brown's house on the island
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