A 1/25th lb musket ball
The Loyal crew of Bounty who were forced into Bounty’s launch after the mutiny on the morning of April 28, 1789, were able to salvage very few personal belongings, mostly just bundles of clothing, and whatever food they could lay hands on.
In total they amassed 150 pounds of bread, 32 pounds of salt pork, six quarts of rum, six bottles of wine. And 28 gallons of water – enough to last them about five days.
Following the murder of one of the crew by islanders on Tofua. Bligh made the decision to sail to the nearest European settlement at Timor, 3,618 miles away. He asked each person to make a ‘sacred promise’ – to abide by his rationing programme.
Cuillin Bantock, Life in the Balance, 2007 - Installation, 60x35x35 cm
Bligh improvised a pair of scales from half coconut shells and bread was weighted out against a musket ball of 1/25 lb. This was the main source of food, three times a day, for 48 days, plus a scrap of pork and a teaspoon of rum when weather conditioned worsened. When they arrived at Timor they still had enough bread to last them a further eleven days.
Bligh later had the musket ball incorporated into a medallion which he wore on a ribbon round his neck for the rest of his life; it is likely to have been on him when he dropped dead in Bond Street on 7 December 1817. It is now in the National Maritime Museum.
2 comments:
Neat stuff, Scott! I'd forgotten about that..... Was that the same guy who was deemed to have poor people/management skills? Wouldn't it be interesting if we could go back in time & poll the survivors on that?
Lot
It is interesting point what Cuillin and I have discussed several times. We think that Bligh was a double-edged sword as a management operator. What didn't work in the cramped quarter of Bounty (He had a nasty temper, and could curse like a sailor, which he immediately forgot about. The focus of the danger in the launch really brought his skills of command into the light.
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