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Captain Bligh: A “Historical Villain Who Was Actually An OK Guy”

Last year Cracked.com published a list of 6 Historical Villains Who Were Actually OK Guys, and Captain Bligh came in at #2. I’m sharing because I love Cracked and the entry about him is both informative and hilarious. Also full of bad language, so be warned! Hitler. Stalin. Ivan the Terrible. We all love these [...]
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The Bounty Adventure Pt. 6/6: Home Again

Text from Mutiny and Romance in the South Seas: A Companion to the Bounty Adventure by Sven Wahlroos. Bligh and his seventeen loyalists were safely inside Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Reading Bligh’s account of the open-boat voyage from Tofua to Timor, one gets the impression that there had been little dissension on board, even though [...]
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The Bounty Adventure Pt. 5/6: Loyalists Adrift

Text from Mutiny and Romance in the South Seas: A Companion to the Bounty Adventure by Sven Wahlroos. During the events of the mutiny on the Bounty, three boats were launched: first the jolly boat which was found to be rotten through with worms and would certainly have sunk, then the cutter which also leaked [...]
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The Bounty Adventure Pt. 4/6: Mutiny and Pitcairn

Text from Mutiny and Romance in the South Seas: A Companion to the Bounty Adventure by Sven Wahlroos. On the night between April 17 and April 28 Christian had probably had very little sleep. There are some indications that he had been drinking. In any case, when he was awakened for his 4:00 to 8:00 [...]
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The Bounty Adventure Pt. 3/6: Discipline Undermined

Text from Mutiny and Romance in the South Seas: A Companion to the Bounty Adventure by Sven Wahlroos. The Bounty was now (May 1788) sailing eastward from Cape Horn to the Cape of Good Hope. For almost the whole voyage there was a strong westerly wind which often propelled the ship to her maximum speed [...]
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The Bounty Adventure Pt. 2/6: England to the Cape of Good Hope

Text from Mutiny and Romance in the South Seas: A Companion to the Bounty Adventure by Sven Wahlroos. After long delays, first because of the Admiralty’s tardiness in sending Bligh his sailing orders and then because of contrary winds, the Bounty finally got under way on Sunday, December 23, 1787. The atmosphere on board was [...]
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The Bounty Adventure Pt 1/6: HMS Bounty

Rear Admiral William Bligh was a notorious figure well-known (by reputation) to Captain Jack Aubrey. Jack himself praises the man’s navigational skills in our beloved series, and laments his bad luck in being the victim of a mutiny not once but twice (as Lieutenant of the Bounty and as Governor of New South Wales). The [...]
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The Life of Rear Admiral William Bligh

The Bligh family were resident in the parish of St. Tudy from at least 1680 and a John Bligh (or Blygh) of Bodmin was a commissioner for the suppression of monasteries in the reign of Henry IV. William Bligh was born at Tinten Manor, St. Tudy on September 9th, 1754, the only son of Francis [...]
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Promotion in the Flag Ranks in Aubrey’s Royal Navy

“Well. And promotion means a great deal to you, so?” “Of course it does. There never was an officer worth a farthing that did not long to succeed and hoist his flag at last.” - Conversation between Stephen Maturin and James Dillon, Master and Commander Throughout the entire Aubrey/Maturin series, one thing preoccupies Jack above [...]
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Complete Aubreyad Timeline: Books vs. Real Events

*SPOILERS* This is a very useful timeline created by the inimitable Don Seltzer placing the events in the series alongside events in the real world. By its very nature, this timeline is all spoilers fore and aft, for the entire series. Proceed with caution!
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All To Seek: Cross-Reference

Subjects Commonly Addressed