Discover how Captain William Bligh was betrayed by his best friend and, along with 18 others, cast adrift in the Pacific Ocean.

This programme uses Bligh’s own journals to recreate the voyage and reveals the real man. It shows how his perfectionism eventually alienated him from his crew and how his closest friend, Fletcher Christian, committed the ultimate betrayal, by leading the mutiny against Bligh.

Perhaps one of the most famous episodes in maritime history, the Mutiny on the Bounty is still shrouded in a good deal of myth. The HMS Bounty sailed from Spithead, England, on 23rd December 1787, captained by William Bligh, with a voluntary crew of 45 men. They were bound for Tahiti to collect breadfruit plants to be used in the West Indies as cheap food for slaves.

Their mission accomplished, the Bounty was en route back to England, when on 28th April 1789 everything went sour. William Bligh was known as a cruel and ruthless captain and his violent nature provoked his crew to the last resort of mutiny. Amongst the crew was Fletcher Christian, who is said to have acted like a hero to save the crew from Bligh's evil leadership.

However, there are many historians who would dispute this, claiming the roles were reversed, with Christian being evil and Bligh being heroic. Descendants of these famous seamen have argued for more than two centuries over their ancestors’ reputations.

The truth of the matter is that most historic accounts cover only the events leading up to the mutiny, when in fact that is only half of the story and the events that occurred after the mutiny shed light on the protagonists’ true natures.

Following the mutiny on the HMS Bounty, Captain Bligh was cast adrift in the ship’s 23-foot launch, an open boat, with 18 of his crew who had not participated in the mutiny. Bligh was forced to navigate across 3,600 miles of dangerous open ocean before reaching East Timor, Indonesia on 12th June 1789. This feat proved him to be a worthy seafarer and extraordinary navigator. Bligh finally returned to England on 14th March 1790, where he was court-martialled and then acquitted. He died in 1817, a Vice Admiral, and was buried in Lambeth, London.

The mutinous crew, captained by Christian, sailed the HMS Bounty back to Tahiti. As mutineers, the crew faced the threat of execution under British law. They took with them 18 Polynesian men and women and sailed the ship to Pitcairn Island, in the South Pacific Ocean, arriving on 15th January 1790. Here they removed everything of value from the ship, burned the HMS Bounty and created a small community and a settlement that exists to this day as part of the British empire. It is said that Christian had a relationship with one of the Polynesian women, had tribal tattoos drawn all over his body and disregarded his responsibilities as captain or as leader. The crew became undisciplined and fractious.

Further fuel to this fire was the belief that Christian was using drugs and was not of sound mind. Current historians claim he may have been suffering a borderline personality disorder and possibly addicted to Laudanum, an alcoholic tincture of opium. There is more than one version of Christian’s end. Some claim he was killed in 1793, along with four of his crew, by Tahitian men on Pitcairn. Others claim he faked his own death and made his escape back to England.

The tragic story of Captain Bligh and the Mutiny on the Bounty is remembered to this day, by the people on Pitcairn Island, when they celebrate Bounty Day on 23rd January each year.