Philatelia.Net: Bonapart / Plots of stamps in the catalogue / Bligh William

	Napoleon Bonaparte and his epoch
	Dmitry Karasyuk's author's project

Main

Bonapart

Plots

Countries

Artists

Bibliography

Concept

Author

Philatelia.Net / Bonapart / Plots /

The directory «Plots of stamps in the catalogue»

Bligh William
(1754—1817)

Born in Cornwall on 9th September, 1754. He first went to sea as a cabin boy at the age of seven.The crew of his ship Bounty mutinied in 1789 with the set adrift Bligh and loyal crew showing amazing navigational skills in steering and rowing a small boat some 3,000 miles to Batavia. In 1806 Governor King of NSW, through poor health, handed power to Bligh and Bligh's orders were to break the military power within the colony. By this time the population of the colony was 8,500 persons.

After a court of inquiry, Bligh went on to serve under Admiral Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen, commanding HMS Glatton, a 64-gun ship of the line, which was experimentally fitted exclusively with carronades. After the battle Bligh was personally praised by Nelson for his contribution to the victory. His navigational skills allowed him to navigate safely the Glatton between the banks while three other vessels ran aground. When Nelson fainted not to notice the signal 43 of the Admiral Parker to stop the battle, and kept the signal 16 hoisted to continue the engagement, on the Glatton Bligh was the only captain who could see the conflicting two signals. By choosing to leave also the signal 16, Bligh fixed that all the vessels behind the Glatton remained fighting. As captain of the Director, at the Battle of Camperdown, Bligh engaged three Dutch vessels: the Haarlem, the Alkmaar and the Vrijheid. While the Dutch suffered serious casualties, on the Director they were only 7 seamen wounded. Bligh became governor of New South Wales in 1805. There he suffered another mutiny, this time the Rum Rebellion, and was imprisoned from 1808 to 1810.

On January 26th (now Australia Day), 1808, Bligh was arrested by the NSW Corps led by Major Johnston on the pretext of preventing a coup against Bligh. This revolt was named the Rum Rebellion. Bligh was held in custody for over 12 months and the colony was run by Johnston and John Macarthur of Merino sheep fame. Bligh was replaced by Colonel Lachlan Macquarie in January, 1810. Macquarie arrived with his own regiment and so a convict emancipation system was established under the encouragement of Macquarie and to the dislike of the landowners who had enjoyed the fruits of free convict labour up to now. William Bligh died in London in 1817.

Aitutaki, 1974, Captain Bligh, HMS «Bounty»