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William Bligh

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Military Personnel

The Resume

    (September 9, 1754-December 7, 1817)
    Born in Plymouth, England, United Kingdom
    Officer of the British Royal Navy
    Commanded HMS Bounty when the ship was commandeered by Fletcher Christian and a third of the crewmen returning home from Tahiti (April 28, 1789)
    Incident described in several book and movies
    Actors portraying Bligh in 'Mutiny on the Bounty' movies include Charles Laughton (1935), Trevor Howard (1962) and Anthony Hopkins (1984)
    Captain of HMS Director during the French Revolutionary War's Battle of Camperdown (October 11, 1797), sustaining only seven wounded while inflicting major casualties on superior numbered enemies
    Achieved the rank of Vice Admiral (June 4, 1814)
    Died in London at age 63

Why he might be annoying:

    He was a captain's servant at age six.
    He was a sailing master with Capt. James Cook when they pissed off Hawaiian natives and Cook was murdered.
    He had a sharp tongue and routinely ridiculed shipmates.
    Though only a lieutenant at the time of the mutiny, he's portrayed as a captain.
    The Bounty's quest was to obtain breadfruit trees as a cheap food source for British slaves.
    In 1806 he was named Governor of New South Wales until the Rum Rebellion of 1808 ousted him and he was sentenced to house arrest for two years.

Why he might not be annoying:

    Several crewmen stated he did nothing to provoke the mutiny and was a fair leader slow to use punishment.
    When set adrift with 18 loyalists in a rowboat he amazingly made a 3,600 nautical mile journey to Timor using a sextant and pocket watch (no compass or charts).
    He personally testified four crewman who stayed with the Bounty did so because there was no room left in the rowboat and they were acquitted.
    He was honorably acquitted for loss of the Bounty and given 11 more ships to command during his remaining tenure with the British Navy.
    He outlived the chief mutineer by 24 years as Christian was killed during a skirmish with Tahitians in 1893.
    He helped transplant breadfruit trees from Tahiti to the entire West Indies and the ackee (a breadfruit) goes by the scientific name Blighia sapida in his honor.

Credit: Scar Tactics


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 6 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 11 Votes: 45.45% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 24 Votes: 54.17% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 18 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 21 Votes: 52.38% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 33 Votes: 63.64% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 26 Votes: 65.38% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 97 Votes: 75.26% Annoying