192 Presidentship of Sir Joseph Banks 179 



at the dinner-table Captain Bligh, the hero of the " Mutiny 

 of the ' Bounty/ ' Sir Joseph, always glad to bring a 

 social " lion " to the dinners, deserved the warm congratula- 

 tions of his fellow members on the rapidity and energy of 

 his movements that enabled him to catch this celebrity 

 only four days after he returned from his memorable voyage. 

 William Bligh was a Cornish seaman who had served under 

 Captain Cook in his second voyage round the world. He 

 was known as " Breadfruit Bligh " from the fruit discovered 

 in Otaheite in the course of that voyage. He became 

 lieutenant and showed such skill in cartography and navigc.- 

 tion that in the autumn of 1787 he was sent out in the 

 Bounty to bring home plants of the bread-fruit tree, 

 for the purpose of acclimatising them in the West Indies, 

 as an additional source of food. The plants having been 

 obtained and successfully packed in his vessel, he left 

 Otaheite on 4th April 1789, and had made some way on 

 his homeward voyage when on the 27th, without any 

 warning, a majority of the crew -mutinied. He with eighteen 

 of the officers and crew who remained loyal were put into 

 an open boat, with a scanty supply of food. Turning back 

 to the Friendly Islands to obtain more provisions he was 

 there, after two days, driven off by the natives, who killed 

 one man and wounded several others. It was then resolved 

 to make for Timor which they estimated to be some 4000 

 miles away. Early in June they came in sight of the coast 

 of New Holland and collected a small supply of shell-fish. 

 Eventually after a voyage of 46 days in a crazy boat in squally 

 wet weather the party reached Timor. Here they remained 

 to recruit until 2Oth August, when they got a vessel to 

 take them to Batavia, which they reached on 2nd October. 

 Leaving the rest to follow, Bligh and two of the crew took 

 ship for the Cape, and thence obtained a passage to England, 

 where he arrived on the evening of the I3th March and 

 reached London next day. Next year he was appointed to the 

 Providence on another voyage to the Society Islands. 

 In later years he commanded ships of war on the North 

 Sea. At the Battle of Copenhagen he was in command of 



