PAPERS 



OF THE 



ROYAL SOCIETY OF TASMANIA 



1922 



NOTES ON CAPTAIN BLIGH'S VISITS TO TASMANIA 

 IN 1788 AND 1792. 



By Clive Lord, F.L.S. 

 (Curator of the Tasmanian Museum.) 



(Read 20th March, 1922.) 



INTRODUCTION. 



Amonjr the annals of Tasmanian discovery the record of 

 William Bligh has scarcely had the attention paid to it which 

 his work merits. 



The fact is often lost sijrht of that the famous Bounty 

 anchored for a period in Adventure Bay before proceeding to 

 Tahiti, where the charms of the Eves of the Friendly Islands 

 proved too great a temptation to the crew. The resultant 

 mutiny, and Bligh's famous voyage of 3,600 miles in an open 

 boat to Timor, afford material for those pages of history that 

 are known, in the language of Macaulay, "to every school- 

 boy." 



Bligh's visits to Tasmania are not recorded in the lists 

 of the early navigators given by J. B. Walker (1890 and 1902) 

 or J. Moore Robinson (1921, p. 159), yet Bligh made dis- 

 coveries and added to the early knowledge of Tasmania, and 

 if it had not been for the rough weather experienced during 

 his second visit, he would almost certainly have forestalled 

 many of the discoveries of D'Entrecasteaux. 



Before proceeding to examine in detail the chief events 

 of Bligh's visits to Tasmania in 1788 and 1792, it may be a-s 

 well to recall the outstanding chapters in his own life's his- 

 tory. 



