Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian: The Men and the Mutiny

Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian: The Men and the Mutiny, by Richard Hough (Dutton, 320 pp., illus., $10). It was bound to happen in the age of “camp”—a reexamination of the mutiny on H.M.S. Bounty crediting the conflict between Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian to faggotry afloat. The whole thing may have sprung from a tawdry lovers’ quarrel, if we are to believe Richard Hough, who sets forth this dubious proposition in an otherwise excellent recreation of one of the most dramatic naval incidents in history. Shaky though it is, Mr. Hough’s theory does open up all sorts of grotesque possibilities for the scenario and casting of a third film version of the mutiny, perhaps directed by Andy Warhol. In reality, the reasons for the mutiny were much simpler. Christian was a popular but temperamentally unstable young man with an inability to stomach strong criticism. Bligh, a highly conscientious but neurotic commander, was given to severely tongue-lashing his officers, and physically lashing his crew. He was widely loathed. Christian became a rallying point for dissidents in the crew and the floating “silent majority” remained passive. The inevitable result was mutiny. Ignore Mr. Hough’s analysis of the underlying causes, follow his fast-paced, wellresearched narrative of the mutiny and the extraordinary events that followed it, and you should find Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian an enjoyable, adventurous piece of historical journalism.

AB

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Aram Bakshian Jr.

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Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian: The Men and the Mutiny, by Richard Hough (Dutton, 320 pp., illus., $10). It was bound to happen in the age of “camp”—a reexamination of the mutiny on H.M.S. Bounty crediting the conflict between Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian to faggotry afloat. The whole thing may have sprung from a tawdry lovers’ quarrel, if we are to believe Richard Hough, who sets forth this dubious proposition in an otherwise excellent recreation of one of the most dramatic naval incidents in history. Shaky though it is, Mr. Hough’s theory does open up all sorts of grotesque possibilities for the scenario and casting of a third film version of the mutiny, perhaps directed by Andy Warhol. In reality, the reasons for the mutiny were much simpler. Christian was a popular but temperamentally unstable young man with an inability to stomach strong criticism. Bligh, a highly conscientious but neurotic commander, was given to severely tongue-lashing his officers, and physically lashing his crew. He was widely loathed. Christian became a rallying point for dissidents in the crew and the floating “silent majority” remained passive. The inevitable result was mutiny. Ignore Mr. Hough’s analysis of the underlying causes, follow his fast-paced, wellresearched narrative of the mutiny and the extraordinary events that followed it, and you should find Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian an enjoyable, adventurous piece of historical journalism.