Abstract
Every generation gets its own retelling of one the most famous maritime tales of all time: the mutiny on HMS Bounty in 1789. While the mutiny was a relatively minor incident in British naval history, it continues to enthral historians, writers and the general public alike. The last major film on the subject was released almost 40 years ago, so maybe directors can get fresh inspiration from Donald A. Maxton's Chasing the Bounty. If the mutiny on the Bounty were adapted into a series by one of today's large streaming services, the events surrounding HMS Pandora would make a logical sequel. Among the general public, these events are relatively unknown. Maxton wants to change that with Chasing the Bounty. The book is a collection of several primary sources that recount the story of the Pandora, which was dispatched by the British Admiralty in 1791 to capture the mutineers of HMS Bounty.
One of the more interesting aspects of the Bounty saga is the trouble the Admiralty took to bring the mutineers to justice. When Captain William Bligh returned to England in 1790, after miraculously surviving a 3,500 nautical mile open-boat journey from the Pacific Ocean to Timor, Great Britain was on the verge of war. Nevertheless, the Admiralty decided to dispatch HMS Pandora to sail to the Pacific Ocean, capture the mutineers and bring them to court martial in England. Commanding the expedition was Captain Edward Edwards, a stern officer who himself had almost fallen victim to mutiny a decade earlier. This harrowing experience may have fuelled his devotion to the mission of finding and capturing the Bounty mutineers.
Maxton lets the story of the Pandora unfold through five primary sources. Three of these were written by officers on the Pandora: Edwards’ own official reports, a publication by surgeon George Hamilton and a narrative by midshipman David Renouard. The other two sources come from Bounty men: midshipman Peter Heywood's letters to his family and an account by boatswain's mate James Morrison. The juxtaposition of these sources in Chasing the Bounty works very well. The unadorned prose of Edwards’ official reports is complemented by Hamilton's lively style, and the descriptions of the captured Heywood and Morrison add an important layer to both of these accounts. Renouard tells the story of the Matavy, a tender that lost sight of the Pandora and had to navigate to the Dutch East Indies on its own.
The voyage of HMS Pandora was even deadlier than that of the Bounty. Captain Edwards arrived on Tahiti in March 1791 and managed to capture 14 of the mutineers. He had them confined to a makeshift hut on the ship's quarterdeck, which was aptly named ‘Pandora's box’. After six weeks, the Pandora left Tahiti in search of the other mutineers, who had left Tahiti to settle on an unknown island. The prime target was the ringleader, Fletcher Christian. A fruitless search in the Pacific ensued, but Edwards and his men found no sign of the fugitives. In fact, Edwards only lost men. The first time was when he lost a cutter with five men in a storm near Palmerston Island. A couple of weeks later, Edwards also lost sight of his tender, the Matavy. Interestingly, this tender was built by some of the mutineers while on Tahiti, and had been named the Resolution by them.
The biggest loss to Edwards came on 29 August, when the Pandora itself struck a reef in the Torres Strait. The disaster led to the death of 31 crew members and four of the prisoners. In an ironic twist of fate, Edwards was forced to navigate to the same settlement that Bligh had arrived at a little over two years earlier: Cupang on the island of Timor. The captain finally managed to bring the 10 surviving mutineers to England to face court-martial. Four of them were acquitted; the others were sentenced to death. Both Heywood and Morrison were found guilty and sentenced to hang, but they were pardoned.
Chasing the Bounty is primarily aimed at Bounty afficionados. Maxton, who has already authored several books on the mutiny, gives a relatively brief but interesting introduction to the events surrounding the Pandora's voyage. Being aimed at the general public, the book is not a scholarly edition of the primary sources. The transcriptions seem to closely follow these sources, but Maxton has not used official transcription guidelines. Moreover, he has cut the sources up to present the events they describe in chronological order. While this helps the story unfold in an interesting manner, it also artificially breaks up the original texts. Some of the sources are printed in a smaller font, but it is unclear why. The book contains a glossary of nautical terms and a small amount of annotation. For a scholarly edition, more annotation would have been welcome.
Despite the aforementioned organizational and formatting issues, Chasing the Bounty is a valuable resource for those interested in the Pandora's voyage and the broader context of the Bounty mutiny. Maritime historians seeking in-depth analysis of the events may need to look elsewhere.