| csteel
|
| 1273411. Wed Feb 07, 2018 1:56 am |
 |
|
Season 14: Episode 2 - Military Matters
Wrong, wrong, wrong - William Bligh was seriously maligned.
The Mutiny on the Bounty occurred because the crew, after 6 months on Tahiti, didn't want to give up their women, had become totally undisciplined.
They were so bad, when eventually found on Pitcairn Island, all but one of the men were dead - murdered. They murdered each other, over the women, and the grog had run out
Fletcher Christian was a bad boy from a toff family - sent to sea to get him out of the way
The Rum Rebellion was NOTHING about Bligh's Governorship.
Two issues - 1. Bligh was instructed to dismantle the control the NSW Corp (The Rum Corp) had over the colonies economy. The military, lead by John Macarthur, Abbott - 2. who was at school with Fletcher Christian's brother, and other's were extorting settlers, using rum as currency, knowing many would drink it, and extorting those who opposed them. The Lt Governor, the Commander on the Military hidThey were criminals. The Rum Rebellion was about keeping control. So the sent in Lachlan Macquarie, with his own regiment. Unlike Bligh, who they sent with no support, just WRITTEN Orders. A drawing on Bligh hiding under a bed IS NOT proof he hid, or did anything he is described as having done. Also, he was suffering severely from gout - wasn't very well when they picked their time to act
John Macarthur was so mad in the end - tertiary syphillis, he needed to be bodily dragged from the NEW Legislative Council. Nasty bastard, send back to England twice, and finally resigned his commission to avoid court marshall. The toffs didn't like a commoner Bligh being right, and many false and malicious rumours were spread
Next. During the General Mutiny in the Royal Navy - early 1810s, of over 500 Sea Captains the sailors wanted disciplined or reprimanded, BLIGH was was on less than 100 not names for some censure.
It is now so bad, the Tories in Australia openly criticize a midshipman who served under Bligh, after the Bounty mutiny, who, although he did not like the man's common" habits (language mostly) DID NOT fault his conduct as a sea captain - published diaries. Bligh was known as a very fair and modern sea Captain, for his time, but was known to not suffer fools or insubordinates, and could display anger, although he was known to get over it, within minutes
Try reading The Rum Rebellion - by Herbert Vere EVATT (Angus & Robertson - 1978), Time house published in 1984 I think |
|
