The best-known sea story of all time is brought to vivid life in a completely fresh - and startling - account of the world's most famous mutiny. Written by the bestselling author of 'The Endurance', this is storytelling of immense power.
The mutiny on board His Majesty's Armed Vessel "Bounty" in April 1789 is amongst the most famous sea stories of all time. Fletcher Christian's uncharacteristic usurpation of power - which made him a lifelong fugitive - remains unexplained as history proves Captain Bligh to have been an enlightened commander and not the "flogging" captain of myth.
Dragged along with Christian, willingly or not, were ten men who were eventually pulled from their Tahitian hideaway to stand trial in England for their crimes. And it was in the dynamics and politics of their ensuing court martial (which riveted the nation) and its aftermath the story we now know (or think we know) as "the mutiny on the Bounty" was shaped.
Beginning before the "Bounty" sailed and ending with the death of the last participant, Alexander's extensive research and broad focus have both brought new information to the fore and cast a radical new light on the events. Using the salty, piratical language of the mutineers' own testimony to tell the story, she allows the men themselves to conjure the events and transport the reader back to the creaking deck of the "Bounty", to Tahiti and the South Pacific.
This book is also the story of the British Navy in the 18th century, and the tentacles of British justice, as well as a unique picture of London and Portsmouth at the time of revolution, terror and perpetual war.
