William Bligh

William Bligh was born near Plymouth, England, in 1754. His sailing career began in 1762, when, at the age of seven, he was entered on the books of the Monmouth as captain’s servant. In 1787, he was given command of an expedition to transplant breadfruit plants from Tahiti to the West Indies aboard the Bounty. The mutiny that took place on the voyage has excited the popular imagination for more than 200 years, and his account of it, The Bounty Mutiny, is published by Penguin Classics.