This is a well presented book and exceptionally well written. It takes a bit of bravado to publish these days a book on William Bligh, as so many have been written in the past and indeed the recent past which together with the films all of which seem to paint him in the worst possible light.
Mr. Mundle has the advantage of being an accomplished sailor and so is able fully to appreciate William Bligh’s skills in navigation, cartography and as a sailor.
Bligh is of course best known for the mutiny on the Bounty which as Mr. Mundle points out had very little to do with him but the fact that a number of the crew with little in the form of a lifestyle on returning to England and wanted to continue that which they had discovered in Tahiti. Fletcher Christian had left his islander, Mauatua, some few months pregnant.
The book covers well the story of the epic journey in the open boat from Tofua to Timor much from Bligh’s notebook which is preserved in the Mitchell Library in Sydney, the voyage of the Providence, his participation in the Battle of Copenhagen, after which he was congratulated by Nelson personally and commissioned to take a dinner set of Copenhagen china to Lady Hamilton.
William Bligh’s less than fortunate time as Governor of New South Wales where as with the Bounty he was not provided with any back up unlike his successor Macquarie who followed him is covered sympathetically.
William Bligh and his wife, Elizabeth, only had daughters. The eldest accompanied him to New South Wales , the second married a Bligh cousin and settled in Queensland where there are many of their descendants including the present prime minister of the State.
Mr. Mundle tells William Bligh’s life story factually and with admiration for his talents and achievements. This is also an admirable and very readable book
-Ian