William Bligh

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William Bligh's naval career involved various appointments and assignments. He first rose to prominence as Master of Resolution, under the command of Captain James Cook. Bligh received praise from Cook during what would be the latter's final voyage. Bligh served on three of the same ships on which Fletcher Christian also served simultaneously in his naval career.

In the early 1780s, while in the merchant service, Bligh became acquainted with a young man named Fletcher Christian (1764–1793), who was eager to learn navigation from him. Bligh took Christian under his wing, and the two became friends.

Subsequent career and the Rum Rebellion

In February 1797, while Bligh was captain of HMS Director, he surveyed the River Humber, preparing a map of the stretch from Spurn to the west of Sunk Island.

In April–May, Bligh was one of the captains whose crews mutinied over "issues of pay and involuntary service for common seamen" during the Nore mutiny. The mutiny was not triggered by any specific actions by Bligh; the mutinies "were widespread, [and] involved a fair number of English ships". Whilst Director's role was relatively minor in this mutiny, she was the last to raise the white flag at its cessation. It was at this time that he learned "that his common nickname among men in the fleet was 'that Bounty bastard'."

As captain of Director at the Battle of Camperdown on 11 October, Bligh engaged three Dutch vessels: Haarlem, Alkmaar and Vrijheid. While the Dutch suffered serious casualties, only seven seamen were wounded on Director. Director captured Vrijheid and the Dutch commander, Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter.

Bligh went on to serve under Admiral Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen on 2 April 1801, in command of Glatton, a 56-gun ship of the line, which was experimentally fitted exclusively with carronades. After the battle, Nelson personally praised Bligh for his contribution to the victory. He sailed Glatton safely between the banks while three other vessels ran aground. When Nelson pretended not to notice Admiral Parker's signal "43" (stop the battle) and kept the signal "16" hoisted to continue the engagement, Bligh was the only captain in the squadron who could see that the two signals were in conflict. By choosing to fly Nelson's signal, he ensured that all the vessels behind him kept fighting.

Bligh had gained a reputation as a firm disciplinarian. Accordingly, he was offered the position of Governor of New South Wales on the recommendation of Sir Joseph Banks (President of the Royal Society and a main sponsor of the breadfruit expeditions) and appointed in March 1805, at £2,000 per annum, twice the pay of the retiring governor, Philip Gidley King. He arrived in Sydney on 6 August 1806, to become the fourth governor. As his wife Elizabeth had been unwilling to undertake a long sea voyage, Bligh was accompanied by his daughter, Mary Putland, who would be the Lady of Government House; Mary's husband John Putland was appointed as William Bligh's aide-de-camp. During his time in Sydney, his confrontational administrative style provoked the wrath of a number of influential settlers and officials. They included the wealthy landowner and businessman John Macarthur, and prominent Crown representatives such as the colony's principal surgeon, Thomas Jamison, as well as senior officers of the New South Wales Corps. Jamison and his military associates were defying government regulations by engaging in private trading ventures for profit, a practice which Bligh was determined to put a stop to.

The conflict between Bligh and the entrenched colonists culminated in another mutiny, the Rum Rebellion, when, on 26 January 1808, 400 soldiers of the New South Wales Corps under the command of Major George Johnston marched on Government House in Sydney to arrest Bligh. A petition written by John Macarthur and addressed to George Johnston was written the day of the arrest but most of the 151 signatures were gathered in the days after Bligh's overthrow. A rebel government was subsequently installed and Bligh, now deposed, made for Hobart in Tasmania aboard HMS Porpoise. Bligh failed to gain support from the authorities in Hobart to retake control of New South Wales, and remained effectively imprisoned on the Porpoise from 1808 until January 1810.

Shortly after Bligh's arrest, a watercolour illustrating the arrest by an unknown artist was exhibited in Sydney at perhaps Australia's first public art exhibition. The watercolour depicts a soldier dragging Bligh from underneath one of the servants’ beds in Government House, with two other figures standing by. The two soldiers in the watercolour are most likely John Sutherland and Michael Marlborough and the other figure on the far right is believed to represent Lieutenant William Minchin. This cartoon is Australia's earliest surviving political cartoon and like all political cartoons it makes use of caricature and exaggeration to convey its message. The New South Wales Corps' officers regarded themselves as gentlemen, and in depicting Bligh as a coward, the cartoon declares that Bligh was not a gentleman and therefore not fit to govern.

Of interest, however, was Bligh's concern for the more recently arrived settlers in the colony, who did not have the wealth and influence of Macarthur and Jamison. From the tombstones in Ebenezer and Richmond cemeteries (areas being settled west of Sydney during Bligh's tenure as governor), can be seen the number of boys born around 1807 to 1811 who received "William Bligh" as a given name, e.g. William Bligh Turnbull b. 8 June 1809 at Windsor, ancestor of Malcolm Bligh Turnbull, Prime Minister of Australia; and James Bligh Johnston, b.1809 at Ebenezer, son of Andrew Johnston, who designed Ebenezer Chapel, Australia's oldest extant church and oldest extant school.

Bligh received a letter in January 1810, advising him that the rebellion had been declared illegal, and that the British Foreign Office had declared it to be a mutiny. Lachlan Macquarie had been appointed to replace him as governor. At this news Bligh sailed from Hobart. He arrived in Sydney on 17 January 1810, only two weeks into Macquarie's tenure. There he would collect evidence for the coming court martial in England of Major Johnston. He departed to attend the trial on 12 May 1810, arriving on 25 October 1810. In the days immediately prior to their departure, his daughter, Mary Putland (widowed in 1808), was hastily married to the new Lieutenant-Governor, Maurice Charles O'Connell, and remained in Sydney. The following year, the trial's presiding officers sentenced Johnston to be cashiered, a form of disgraceful dismissal that entailed surrendering his commission in the Royal Marines without compensation. (This was a comparatively mild punishment which enabled Johnston to return a free man to New South Wales, where he could continue to enjoy the benefits of his accumulated private wealth.) Bligh was court martialled twice again during his career, being acquitted both times. Soon after Johnston's trial had concluded, Bligh received a backdated promotion to rear admiral. In 1814 he was promoted again to vice admiral of the blue. Perhaps significantly, he never again received an important command, though with the Napoleonic Wars almost over there would have been few fleet commands available.

Bligh was recruited to chart and map Dublin Bay, and recommended the building walls for a refuge harbour at what was then known as Dunleary; the large harbour and naval base subsequently built there between 1816 and 1821 was called Kingstown, later renamed Dún Laoghaire. Many sources claim that Bligh designed the North Bull Wall at the mouth of the River Liffey in Dublin. He did propose the construction of a sea wall or barrier at the north of the bay clear a sandbar by Venturi action, but his design was not used. The wall which was constructed used a design by George Halpin and resulted in the formation of North Bull Island by the sand cleared by the river's now more narrowly focused force.

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