John Fryer - Narrative of the mutiny on HMS Bounty and the voyage in the Bounty launch, letter and documents, 1789-1804; with associated biographical information compiled in 1932

Safe 1/38

fonds

1789-1804, 1932

456623

Microfilm : Safe 1/38)

0.01 metres of textual material (1 volume) - manuscript, typescript

John Fryer (1752-1817) was master on HMS Bounty. After the mutiny he sailed to Timor with William Bligh in the Bounty's launch. He later became master and then commander of several ships, went on half pay in 1812 because of ill health, and died in 1817.

It was formerly the property of Owen Potter who purchased it from Mary Gamble, John Fryer's great granddaughter.

undated, July, 16-18 Sept. 1789; Original manuscript in Fryer's hand, headed 'Narrative, &c', which describes the events of April to June 1789 : the mutiny on the Bounty and the voyage of the Bounty's launch to Timor (48 pages). The Narrative is undated, and was probably written in England in late 1790 or early 1791 because it refers to William Bligh's Narrative which was published after the court martial in October 1790. The Narrative is accompanied by two other documents in Fryer's hand : an account, dated 8 July 1789, of events at Coupang, Timor (2 pages); and an account, dated 16 Sept. and 18 Sept. 1789, of events at Sourabaya on the way to Batavia (5 pages).
1792?; 'Account of the seizure of His Majesty's Arm'd Vessel Bounty 27th April 1789', being a 7 page revised copy of part of Fryer's narrative describing the mutiny; not in Fryer's hand. This version may have been made for the trial of the mutineers held in September 1792.
undated [1789]; Letter from Fryer to his wife Mary (5 pages). Writing from Batava [Batavia] a week after the launch's arrival on 1 Oct. 1789, Fryer gives a brief account of the mutiny and the voyage in the launch. He also reports on the welfare of Robert Tinkler, his wife's brother, who was also on the voyage.
16 July 1804; Check issued by the Navy Pay Office, showing receipt from John Fryer of probate of the will of his son Harrison Fryer who died on 18 Jan. 1804 (4 pages).
1932; The Naval Services of John Fryer, Master in His Majesty's Navy, 1781-1817, being a typescript list of Fryer's naval service compiled by maritime historian Owen Rutter (3 pages).

Further information concerning the purchase of the documents can be found at Af 69.

A printed transcription of the Narrative can be found in 'The voyage of the Bounty's launch as related in William Bligh's despatch to the Admiralty and the journal of John Fryer' / with an introd. by Owen Rutter and wood-engravings by Robert Gibbings, 1934, located in the printed books collection at DL Q93/116 and ML Q988/B.