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421494

Title
Series 09: Reverend James Bligh, papers, 'Bligh's Mutiny Bounty'
Call number
SAFE/C 695
Level of description
series
Date

1790-1794, 1800-1834
Type of material
Textual Records, Clippings
Reference code
421494
Issue Copy
Microfilm
Physical Description
1 volume of textual material (427 pp.) - full leather binding, spine blocked in gold 'Bligh's Mutiny Bounty', covers tools and blocked in gold, marbled endpapers, manuscript, print with manuscript annotations, clippings
Scope and Content
Bound volume containing Bligh publications:

1. 'A Narrative of the Mutiny on Board His Majesty's ship Bounty; and the Subsequent voyage of Part of the crew, in the Ship's Boat, from Tofoa, one of the Friendly Islands, To Timor, a Dutch Settlement in the East Indies'. London, George Nicol, 1790.

Printed text with manuscript annotations, title page inscribed `James Bligh', page 88 inscribed with biblical text on wisdom.

After page 88, the last printed text page of this publication:

a. Manuscript account giving the subsequent histories of the crew of HMS Bounty (Launch crew and mutineers), later annotated with additional notes possibly by James Bligh, approximately 1800-1834.

b. Newscutting concerning grateful thanks from the inhabitants of St Helena, 24 December 1792 and copied extract from the logbook of Captain Folger of the Topaz, 10 October 1808, concerning visit to Pitcairn Island.

c. Continuation of crew histories. Includes copied extract from newspapers, The English Chronicle or Whitehall Evening Post, 16 -18 May 1809 concerning the Bounty mutiny and the subsequent fates of the mutineers. Mentions the fate of Bligh's Kendall timekeeper (chronometer).

d. Seven newscuttings approximately 1790-6 August 1811 concerning court martial of the Bounty mutineers and Peter Heywood's recent (2 September 1792) inheritance of 30,000 pounds sterling; notification of the court martial of Lieutenant-Colonel George Johnston, 1 May 1811; promotion of William Bligh to Rear Admiral of the Blue, 1 August 1811. Undated scrap records the death of David Nelson (botanist on the Bounty) and the arrival in London of Captain Bligh, after approximately 13 March 1790.

2. 'A Voyage to the South Sea undertaken by the command of His Majesty for the purpose of Conveying the Bread-Fruit Tree to the West Indies, in His Majesty's Ship the Bounty commanded by Lieutenant William Bligh...', London, George Nicol, 1792.

Printed text with manuscript annotaton on page 264 regarding the fate of Thomas Ledward.

3. Poem by George Keate. To Captain Bligh, On His Return to England in 1793, after having in so Successful a manner executed the Commission intrusted to his Care, of transporting the Bread Fruit Trees from Otaheite to the Islands of Jamaica and St Vincent. Undated.

4. Captain William Bligh. 'An Answer to Certain Assertions Contained in the Appendix to a Pamphlet entitled Minutes of the Proceedings on the Court-Martial held at Portsmouth, August 12th, 1792, on Ten persons charged with Mutiny on Board his Majesty's Ship the Bounty'. London, George Nicol, 1794.

Page 31 and verso contain manuscript extracts from The British Critic, December 1794; and The Monthly Review, December 1794; regarding support for Bligh's published criticism of Stephen Barney and Edward Christian's pamphlet.
Copying Conditions
Out of copyright:
Please acknowledge:: State Library of New South Wales
General note

Frontispiece missing from publications 1 and 2.
Microfilm copy available at CY 1380, frames 15-349.
Some Mitchell Library repairs to volume.
Signatures / Inscriptions

Publication 1: Title page inscribed 'James Bligh', page 88 inscribed with biblical text on wisdom.
Name
Bligh, William, 1754-1817
Subject
Bounty Mutiny, 1789.
Courts-martial and courts of inquiry--History, Naval--18th century.
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