GBS

A Chronicle of the Voyage, Nothing More

Revisado: 03-10-24

This is a chronicle of the voyage, as seen by William Bligh, from the time of the Bounty's commissioning to Bligh's return to England. The description of the actual mutiny occupies less than ten minutes. It is all a first-person report of events. It includes a steady dose of dry daily position reports and mundane details of the voyage pre and post-mutiny, which lasted over two years. If you're already familiar with the story, some of Bligh's commentary is interesting. He was very much a sailor, navigator, diplomat, and explorer. His personal courage and resourcefulness are unquestionable. However, there is little personal insight offered regarding the events leading up to and reasons for the mutiny other than the attraction of life in Tahiti to the crew. There is no mention of his interaction with the crew that doesn't appear self-serving given his well known hot-tempered personality. Fletcher Christian, an obviously prominent figure before and during the mutiny, is barely mentioned. The narrator's delivery is, for me, what I imagine Bligh might have sounded like reading it.

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Outstanding from start to finish

Revisado: 06-19-23

A very balanced and detailed narrative of the voyage, the mutiny, and its aftermath. Bligh bore some fault, but he was made into a caricature by some very effective propaganda coming from two well connected families.

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A bit biased, but a good read...

Revisado: 01-28-23

A comprehensive history of the West's efforts to gain / regain control of the Holy Land. Although it's not grossly unbalanced, he comes of as a bit of an Islamic apologist. He seems to miss the idea that the medieval word "crusade" was the Christian equivalent to the Islamic "jihad". Further, the author focuses on the apparent excesses of the Christian crusaders while only giving passing mention to fact that medieval warfare was typically up close and brutal, and that Islamic forces committed the same types of what we now consider to be atrocities. He dances around another important fact; that the Crusades were a Western response to an Islamic invasion originating from the Arabian Peninsula that swallowed not only Jerusalem, but all of Northern Africa and much of Europe. His epilogue is most revealing when he highlights George W Bush's one-time use of the word in the modern sense after 911 as a propaganda goldmine for Islamists...as if that were somehow to blame for everything that came after.

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