The Mutineers Turning Lieutenant Bligh and Part of the Officers and Crew Adrift from His Majesty's Ship the Bounty

London: B. B. Evans, Poultry, 1790. Contemporary hand-colored aquatint engraving on cream laid paper. Sheet size: 19 1/2 x 25 5/8 inches. Rare separately-issued print showing Captain Bligh and his loyal men being cast adrift from the Bounty: one of the best known and most desirable of all maritime images, and the only known likeness of the mutineer Fletcher Christian.

This famous print shows the moment following the mutiny on the Bounty on April 29, 1789, when Bligh and his loyal crew members are being forced to board the ship's 23-foot launch. Still attached to the Bounty by a line, the mutineers toss four swords to the castaways in the small vessel. The six-line caption below the image relates Bligh's remarkable achievement of safely navigating the open vessel with nineteen men a distance of four thousand miles to safety: "Sustained life under divine providence for 41 days." On the right is a dedication to "the West Indian Planters and Merchants on whose benevolent representation the expedition for transporting the valuable Bread Fruit was undertaken." This print is particularly noteworthy for depicting the only known likeness of the infamous mutineer Fletcher Christian. Christian is shown wearing a hat, standing at the stern of the ship between two breadfruit trees. Dodd, who both painted and engraved this image, was a noted marine painter of the period. It's believed that Dodd consulted Bligh concerning the likenesses of the crew members, including Christian, as well as his general portrayal of the event. Bligh (1754-1817) was a naval officer and colonial governor who joined the Royal Navy at sixteen and was appointed, six years later, to Cook's third voyage as Master of HMS Resolution. His main task on that voyage was to draw charts, and so he honed his exceptional navigational talent. Promoted to Lieutenant, he served in the West Indies before being appointed Commander of HMS Bounty, set to embark to Tahiti to collect Breadfruit plants for British settlements in the Caribbean. After a five-month stay, few crewmembers wanted to leave the Tahitian women with whom they had began relationships, which eventually caused a mutiny on the ship three weeks after departure. According to Bligh, he was abducted from his bed at night, bound, and threatened with death before being put in the ship's launch with his supporters. The voyage that ensued is legendary: with no maps, Bligh successfully navigated three thousand miles to Timor and lost but one man. During the voyage, he even charted part of the coast of Australia. The mutineers, meanwhile, returned to Tahiti before heading to Pitcairn Island where they burned the Bounty at sea. Fourteen mutineers were apprehended in Tahiti, and three were hanged in England after trial. Bligh made a second, successful voyage for Breadfruit between 1791 and 1793. Dodd was a leading painter of maritime subjects who also issued his paintings as engravings. His works are characterized by high drama and include detailed studies of famous ships, naval actions, and battle scenes from the Napoleonic and American Revolutionary wars. His image of the mutiny on the Bounty is the best-known contemporary depiction of the event.

Nan Kivell and Spence, p. 32.