Originally privately built and launched as the Bertha, she was sold to the Royal Navy and was renamed Bounty when first commissioned. Sailing out of Bristol in the winter of 1787, her commander William Bligh was 33 years old and together with Fletcher Christian was destined to become the two main characters in the famous mutiny on 28th. April 1789.
The name of the Bounty, frigate of the British Navy, is indissolubly tied to its captain's Bligh and to vicissitudes whom caused the crew to mutiny. The ship set out Spit head in December 1787, final destination Tahiti. On the return voyage, owing to the strict discipline imposed by the captain, which clashed with the idle stay in Tahiti, a certain discontent began to spread through the crew and it soon turned into a mutiny. Christian Fletcher, the boatswain, took command of the ship and forced Bligh to embark on a life-boat with 18 still faithful men. After a dangerous navigation for more than 4000 miles, Bligh reached the isle of Timor and afterwards England. The Bounty went back to Tahiti where part of the crew landed. Then it sailed for the Pitcairn Isle where Fletcher and the remaining men settled. Only 20 years later the group landed in Tahiti was captured and tried by the English Court-martial. Only three seamen where condemned, while the others were acquitted.
