HMS Bounty PDF

aritime buffs can
A number of artifacts from the
enjoy an
Bounty are showcased in the
Trade and Empire gallery,
including a coconut shell, a
horn cup and a small weight
used to measure out portions
of food. Presumably these
instruments were used by
William Bligh and his loyalists
on their lengthy longboat
voyage. A worm-eaten piece
of wood from the Bounty's
rudder is displayed as are a
corkscrew and a pipe said to
have belonged to Bligh. A
braided grey lock of mutineer
John Adams' hair several
inches long is also exhibited.
Adjacent to that is John
Adams' original grave marker
from Pitcairn lsland. John
Adams was the last of the
mutineers to die on Pitcairn
lsland in the South Pacific.
interesting day trip
from London to the
Maritime Greenwich World
Heritage Site, which offers a
number of attractions.
Greenwich, literally the
"green village," contains
crooked lanes, bric-a-brac
shops and bustling antique
and flea markets. HMAV
(Her Majesty's Armed
Vessel) Bounty and Pitcairn
lsland enthusiasts will be
drawn in particular to the
National Maritime Museum
(NMM) and the Royal
Observatory, Greenwich
(ROG).
The NMM - http:\\www.nmm.
ac.uk is a state-of-the-art
facility with fascinating
displays on Britain's maritime
past, present and future.
Founded in 1934, this is the
world's largest nautical
museum, with a collection of
TRAVETOGUE WITH TED COOK'ON
Although one of the
museum's most fascinating
Bounty-related items is not on
display, it can be viewed
TRAVELOGUE......
H.M.S. BOUNTY and her
Artifacts...
Hello folks it's me..at the prime meridian (0 degrees longitude) at the
Royal Observatory, Greenwich, England
over two million items. lts 20
galleries display some of the
finest objects, covering many
aspects of ships, seafaring
and marine affairs. The
museum is housed in historic
buildings which were formerly
a school for the sons of
seamen.
easily upon application to the
NMM's Caird Library.
This library contains a copy of
"The Log of HMS Bounty
1787-1789" by William Bligh.
The volume in the museum is
number 236 of a limited
edition of 500 copies
published in 1975 by Genesis
Publications of Surrey,
England. The book is a
photographic reproduction of
the original handwritten
document which is held at the
Public Records Office in Kew,
England. Upon opening
L to
R:
A smallweight
(mounted on a plastic
stand fordisplay purposes)
used to measure out
portions of food,
a coconut shell and a
hom cup, all used by
William Bligh and his
loyalisb during their
lengthy longboat voyage,
are exhibited at lhe
National Maritime Museum
in Greenwich, England.
22
the Bounty log to page 248,
visitors can read Bligh's own
longhand account of the
events of the mutiny on 28
April 1989.
Just across the park and up a
small hill is the ROG - hftp:\
\www.nmm.ac.uUsite/
navld/005000002002 which
was founded in '1675 by King
Charles ll and designed by Sir
Christopher Wren.
The original purpose of the
ROG was to provide accurate
charts of the stars in
order to improve navigation.
Today this institution is the
home of Greenwich Mean
Time (GMT) and the prime
meridian (longitude 0
degrees).
GMT, of course, is the basis
of standard time throughout
the world. The Shepherd gate
clock at the ROG, installed in
1852 and still functioning, was
the first public clock to display
GMT. The ROG's red rooftop
ball has dropped daily at
precisely 1 p.m. since 1833.
This used to assist mariners
on the Thames to set their
chronometers. The prime
meridian is the zero point
which has been used in the
calculation of terrestrial
Theinnerworkings(L) in London. Even Henry
Vlll arrived in
of
second Greenwich by boat on
one of his hunting
timekeeper are on
display at the Royal
expeditions.
and the case (R)
Larcum Kendall's
ObservatoryGreenwich. Today visitors ride by
chronometer,
built
in 1771 and used by
William Bligh on the
Bounty's voyage to Tahiti.
This
known as K2, was
longitudes since 1884.
Visitors may have their
photographs taken at the
meridian line while straddling
two hemispheres.
On exhibit at the ROG are the
four well-known marine
timekeepers completed by
John Harrison between 1735
and 1759. ln addition, Larcum
Kendall's second timekeeper
is on display. This
chronometer, known as K2,
was built in 1771. A simplified
and cheaper version of
Harrison's H4 timekeeper,
which itself dates to 1759, K2
was used by Captain Phipps
on his Arctic voyage of
discovery in 1773 and was
later issued to William Bligh
for use on the Bounty.
The Maritime Greenwich
World Heritage Site also
includes some other places of
general interest. The
seventeenth-century
Palladian Queen's House was
England's first purely classical
building. Designed by lnigo
Jones in 1616 as a retreat for
Anne of Denmark, queen to
James l, the building was
refurbished in 2001 and now
provides well-lit galleries. The
Queen's House contains the
Tulip Stairs which date to
1635. This was Britain's first
centrally unsupported spiral
stairway.
hall
Old
College,
Sir
to
The outstanding painted
and chapel of the nearby
Royal Naval
originally designed by
Christopher Wren in 1695
house naval pensioners, are
also open to the public.
buildings, which became
Royal Naval College in
are said to be a
The
the
1873,
Baroque
masterpiece.
The hauntingly beautiful and
much-visited Cutty Sark,
launched in 1869 and the last
of the China tea clipper ships,
has been in dry dock at
Greenwich Pier since 1954.
Nearby, also in dry dock, is
Gipsy Moth lV, in which Sir
Francis Chichester
circumnavigated the world in
119 days in 1967.
Those who collect maritime
history books will appreciate
the existence of a
nautical bookstore in
Greenwich. Those not
tempted by nautical books
may enjoy browsing instead in
one of Greenwich's four
interesting bargain bookstores
where every title is marked
down to only Sterling 2.
Greenwich can be reached
easity by riverboat in aoout
hou r f rom E m oan rment p
Tower Millennium Pier,
waterloo Millennium pier
an
iei
the TOwer Of L6ndon,
Tower Bridge and the
recently-developed
Docklands area. Three
miles downstream the
Thames erupts into
one of the most sublime
sights of English architecture.
Minutes later the masts and
rigging of the Cutty Sark
finally come into view.
And yet a day trip from
London to Greenwich can be
quite inexpensive' A round
trip boat ticket is about
Sterling 6 00 ($10'25)' Or' for
only Sterling 4.10
($7.00), visitors to London
may purchase a Day
Travelcard valid for unlimited
travel on the underground,
buses and the modern
Docklands Light Railway
(DLR) in zones one and two.
This pass may be purchased
at certain main underground
stations only after 9:30 a.m.,
and it is valid until4:30 a.m.
the following day. More
expensive versions of the Day
Travelcard exist for those
requiring travel in additional
zones and/or travel on
multiple days. The Travelcard
is also sold at Heathrow
Airport's tube stations after
9:30 a.m. lncidentally, holders
of a Travelcard are entitled to
one{hird off the price of most
riverboat services.
y]t]Pj::'1.1f
i1""j:iir""tl"#J[?#lj::,^"
or
westminster ruiilennium pier,
al
in cenrrar London
rhis
been called the best boat
it convenient
#
DLR at canary wharf where
only,a short walk is required'
ride [l-xtffilt:,il:lit!"#Jl1
M;;i#;r;wich,,station.
One of the
Marilime
National
Museum's
million
collection of two
this
braided grey lock
of Bounty mutineer
items,
Signs are Posted to
the various
attraCtiOns in
Greenwich.
Admission is free to
both the NMM and
the ROG.
John Adams' hair
measuresseveral
lenglh.
Adams was lhe lael
mutineer to survive on
p1caim tstand.
inches in
23
Restaurants and
sandwich shops in
the COmpaCt area of
maritime Greenwich
enable visitors to
spend an entire daY
there, including a lovely
indoor lunch or a picnic
outdoors in the park or near
the pier.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
For nearly 40 years I have
been fascinated by the Mutiny
on the Bounty saga and by
Pitcairn lsland in the South
Pacific where the mutineers
fled. ln the early 1960's as a
young teenager I read the
Nordhoff and Hall Bounty
Trilogy and then began
collecting Pitcairn lsland
postage stamps. Recently I
realized that it would be very
easy for me to view some of
the original artifacts relating to
the Bounty saga. After visiting
Greenwich, England in JulY
2003 I wrote the short article
above.
I realize that most other
people will not have the
same level of interest as I
have in the Bounty and in
Pitcairn lsland. Nevertheless
I hope that this
article may stimulate others
to realize that, similarlY, it
might not be so
difficult for them to visit
locations or museums which
may hold original
artifacts relating to a topic
which may be of interest to
them.
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