You step into the vehicle and strap yourself in, before realising that you have no idea how to physically turn it on. With a frown, you examine the numerous buttons and dials on the dashboard in front of you. One of these must start up the machine – if it works at all, that is. After about a minute, you manage to narrow down the correct button to just two of them. They are all labelled, but naturally the words are written in Common Tongue.
> You push the button which says "Sflf-dfstrvct"
As soon as you push the button, the entire dashboard lights up. Alarmed, you freeze in your seat as the controls start to glow faintly. A few seconds later, the vehicle explodes in a great ball of fire, taking you with it! You have initiated the self-destruct sequence set into the craft, installed by the Auvahrs for use in dire emergencies, and your death is instantaneous. You perish here upon the airship, trying to escape.


Judging your chances of survival on board this ship to be diminishing by the second, you start to search the surrounding cabins for a way out of here. There has to be something that you can use. Airships are fitted with emergency safety measures for use in the worst-case scenario, such as equipment failure or a particularly vicious storm. You're not on the surface, after all. You’re not in one of those strange human ships which take people over water, able to throw yourself overboard and swim away from all the pandemonium…

Inside one of the cabins near the back, you find a disused aerial vehicle which is fitted with an engine of some kind. At least, you assume that it’s an engine. It looks quite similar to some of the devices you saw in the captain’s room. Buttons and dials cover the inside of the vehicle, and there is only space for one person to drive it.

The craft is covered with dust and cobwebs and looks as if it hasn’t been used in some time. You have no idea if it still works. If you’re really unlucky, it might even blow up in your face.

From far above, you can hear the sound of the storm growing louder and louder. You can no longer hear the voices of the crew members from before. A chill goes up your spine as you realise that the airship is being dragged deeper and deeper into the storm.
> You decide not to risk it and continue searching for another way out
You continue searching through the other cabins for any alternative methods of escape. The ship is shaking rather violently by now. Within minutes, cracks begin to appear in the walls and ceiling, until you realise that the damage to the vessel is more serious than you thought. Frantically, you dash into one of the last cabins to find an escape route as quickly as possible.

However, you are far too late. The opportunity has already passed. The ceiling of the cabin caves in from above, and your body is crushed under tons of falling rubble. You do not live to see what happens next, but the rest of the airship is destroyed minutes afterwards. You perish here on the airship, in the midst of a violent lightning storm.


The wind grows stronger as you follow the corridor around the corner, towards a set of stairs which lead to the upper level. You’re not quite sure where you are, exactly. You can only assume that you have been taken to somebody’s home, perhaps another faraway settlement, but you must surely be a long way from home. At least, where your home used to be. It doesn’t explain the presence of the mutant in your room, however, so you can only hope that your hosts are not unpleasant company.

You climb up the stairs to find yourself...staring out across open skies. Clouds can be seen on the horizon, clustered in a never-ending sea of blue which surrounds you for miles and miles as far as the eye can see…

This is no ordinary residence. This is no house. You’re not even on ground level. You are standing on the upper deck of a fully functioning airship! No wonder the wind was so strong up here: you must be hundreds of metres above sea level...

You’ve never been on an airship before, but you have seen plenty of them at the island where you lived all your life. Some sky races use these aerial vessels to transport goods and cargo between islands, others simply for transporting passengers. However, they can be slow and unwieldy to operate, and they are not especially durable; a fierce lightning storm can easily put an airship out of commission. For this reason, airships are usually designed for short voyages with a minimum of passengers.

It’s like something out of a dream. A real airship. You don’t know where this one is headed, but it has to be somewhere better than where you came from. Where do you want to go, after all? No, the bigger question is – what happened on the surface of the land far below? What prompted your island to fall in the first place?

As you gaze out thoughtfully across the open skies, there are footsteps behind you. You turn to see a young woman with long red hair cascading across her shoulders. There is a hint of recognition in her green eyes as she looks at you.

“Vnwprthy,” she says in a clear voice. “Ypv brf thf Vnwprthy.” She beckons to you with one finger. “Cpmf. Cpmf wjth mf. Thf Cbptbjn wbnts tp spfbk tp ypv.”

Without another word, she turns on her heel and walks across the deck into another section of the airship. You do not understand her words, but it seems that she wants you to follow her.
> You decide not to and go back downstairs
You decide not to trust the woman and retreat back down the stairs. She is already several steps ahead and does not notice that you are not following her until you are well out of sight. Quickly, you decide to return to the corridor below and head to the right, where you heard the voices before.
> You proceed
You follow the corridor for some time as the voices become more distinct. They sound rather jovial and cheerful in nature; foreign, too, because they are speaking in a language that you do not understand. It should not be surprising at that, since there are many different varieties of races which populate the skies, each of their own language and culture. Having never left the relative comfort of your own island before, you are unacquainted with the language of any other species.

At the end of the corridor is a large room filled with uniformed men and what you assume to be soldiers. Mercenaries, more likely, from their get-up. Large groups of them are gathered around each table, drinking from mugs and chattering to one another at great volume. Is this some kind of bar, perhaps? It seems a little rough and rowdy for your taste.

You look around and see that the place is not in good condition. Furthermore, none of the men in this room are human. Of course, neither are you, but you do not recognise their kind. Their skin colour varies from pearly-white to a pale purple, and many of them appear to sport partial reptilian features. Are these people really your rescuers? From the way they are looking at you now, you are inclined to doubt it…

“Vnwprthy!” one man shouts, as you step into the room. His gaze is fixed upon you steadily. “Jt’s thf Vnwprthy! Shf’s vp bt lbst.”

Self-conscious about the sudden attention, you automatically tense yourself, but the mercenaries here do not seem necessarily aggressive. All of them are armed to the teeth with various edged weapons and crossbows which are slung across their backs, but even so they appear to be regarding you with genuine curiosity. Perhaps they are just as fascinated by your unique appearance as you are by theirs. Low murmuring echoes through the room, with a few of the man shaking their heads at you. You do not understand the significance of such a gesture.

“Vnwprthy,” one of the men says, standing up and walking towards you. He smiles at you warmly and makes a gesture you do not recognise. “Brf ypv wfll? Ypv’vf bffn bslffp fpr b lpng tjmf. Hpw dp ypv fffl? Brf ypv rfstfd?”

The brief silence which follows his words suggests that he has asked you a question, and is expecting an answer from you. Unfortunately, you haven’t the faintest idea what he just said.
> You nod your head in answer
The mercenary seems satisfied with your answer, and you sense that you have given the correct response. “Thbt's gppd,” he says in a gracious tone of voice. “Npt mbny svrvjvfd thf fbll. Ypv wfrf pnf pf thf lvcky pnfs.” The man sits down on one of the chairs and calls over to one of his companions. “Hfy, thf Cbptbjn wjll wbnt tp sff hfr npw thbt shf's bwpkfn. Spmfpnf tbkf thf Vnwprthy tp sff hfr, vndfrstbnd?”

“Svrf thjng,” the other man ventures, getting up and moving towards you. “Cpmf pn,” he says to you, beckoning you over with one finger. “Thjs shpvldn't tbkf tpp ljng.”

You do not understand his words, but it seems that he wants you to follow him.
> You follow the mercenary
You follow the mercenary to the far end of the corridor, towards where a set of stairs lead to the upper level, feeling the wind grow stronger as you do so. Soon enough, you find yourself standing once more upon the upper deck of the airship. It still feels quite surreal, staring out into open skies at such a great height, and you don't think you'll ever get used to this.

Your guide watches you curiously as you gaze over the deck of the airship, before motioning you forward. Resignedly, you follow him into another part of the airship, through twists and turns in the corridors. As you walk, you pass several more uniformed men who watch you with interest. Only now do you realise that they must be part of the ship's crew.

After a few minutes, the mercenary leads you to a brass door which lies at the top of a final flight of stairs. There is a sign on top of the door, but you lack the knowledge to read the symbols and runes displayed there.

"Gp jn," he says, gesturing for you to enter. "Thf cbptbjn bwbjts ypv."

At his request, you push open the door and enter the room beyond.


You follow the corridor for some time as the voices become more distinct. They sound rather jovial and cheerful in nature; foreign, too, because they are speaking in a language that you do not understand. It should not be surprising at that, since there are many different varieties of races which populate the skies, each of their own language and culture. Having never left the relative comfort of your own island before, you are unacquainted with the language of any other species.

At the end of the corridor is a large room filled with uniformed men and what you assume to be soldiers. Mercenaries, more likely, from their get-up. Large groups of them are gathered around each table, drinking from mugs and chattering to one another at great volume. Is this some kind of bar, perhaps? It seems a little rough and rowdy for your taste.

You look around and see that the place is not in good condition. Furthermore, none of the men in this room are human. Of course, neither are you, but you do not recognise their kind. Their skin colour varies from pearly-white to a pale purple, and many of them appear to sport partial reptilian features. Are these people really your rescuers? From the way they are looking at you now, you are inclined to doubt it…

“Vnwprthy!” one man shouts, as you step into the room. His gaze is fixed upon you steadily. “Jt’s thf Vnwprthy! Shf’s vp bt lbst.”

Self-conscious about the sudden attention, you automatically tense yourself, but the mercenaries here do not seem necessarily aggressive. All of them are armed to the teeth with various edged weapons and crossbows which are slung across their backs, but even so they appear to be regarding you with genuine curiosity. Perhaps they are just as fascinated by your unique appearance as you are by theirs. Low murmuring echoes through the room, with a few of the man shaking their heads at you. You do not understand the significance of such a gesture.

“Vnwprthy,” one of the men says, standing up and walking towards you. He smiles at you warmly and makes a gesture you do not recognise. “Brf ypv wfll? Ypv’vf bffn bslffp fpr b lpng tjmf. Hpw dp ypv fffl? Brf ypv rfstfd?”

The brief silence which follows his words suggests that he has asked you a question, and is expecting an answer from you. Unfortunately, you haven’t the faintest idea what he just said.
> You shake your head
“Ypv'rf npt?” The man seems to be confused by your answer. “Np. Np, ypv're...” He scratches his head and gives you a funny look. “Pf cpvrsf! Vnwprthy. Lvngvbgf...laaa….lan...” For some reason, the mercenary seems to be having a hard time speaking, as if he can't pronounce the word right. “Lan...lang-goo...”

“Lan-goo-rah?” another one tries.

He shakes his head, gesturing to you. “Lan...lan-grah. Lan-gredge. Language. Lan-gruage bah...bah-wee-uh...barrier...” The man steps forward in your direction, an inquisitive look in his eyes. “We...we do not...we do not speak your...” He winces again. “Your lan-grah...”

“Language,” you say helpfully, getting the gist. You try nodding.

He smiles and nods too. “Yfs.”

“Yes,” you say.

“Yfs,” he says, nodding more enthusiastically. Then he shakes his head emphatically. “Np.”

“No,” you say.

“Fxbctly.” A nod of the head. “Yfs.” Shake of the head. “Np.” He sighs. “Js hbrd...is hard.”

“Hard,” you agree.

He sits down on one of the chairs and calls over to one of his companions. “Hfy, thf Cbptbjn wjll wbnt tp sff hfr npw thbt shf's bwpkfn. Spmfpnf tbkf thf Vnwprthy tp sff hfr, vndfrstbnd?”

“Svrf thjng,” one of the other men ventures, getting up and moving towards you. “Cpmf pn,” he says to you, beckoning you over with one finger. “Thjs shpvldn't tbkf tpp ljng.”

You have a very limiting understanding of his words, but it seems that he wants you to follow him.


You crouch against the inside of the wall, covering your head as the deafening noise continues all around you. Earlier on, you could hear the cries of the other people as they sought shelter within their fragile little huts, but now there is nothing to be heard but the endless howling of the wind. A chill seeps into your bones, but that is the least of your worries right now. This wall will not hold for long. You may as well be stranded in the middle of the ocean, clinging to a broken piece of driftwood as the storm rages on.

As if eager to give you confirmation of this, small cracks begin to spread out across the wall where you are hiding. The entire island is shaking, causing the cracks to widen.
> You try to move to a different location
It would be foolishness to remain here. As quickly as you can, you crawl out of cover into the open. Almost immediately, you are buffeted by the force of the wind on your back. You dig your fingernails into the ground at your feet, refusing to let go. You will not die here, not so easily, like a candle sputtering out in the midst of total darkness. You are determined to survive.

Behind you, the wall of your house collapses and crumbles apart. There’s no going back now. The wind is now fiercer than ever.
> You call out to your neighbours for aid
You raise your voice and let out a desperate cry for help, but your voice is drowned out by the sound of the wind. Your plea goes unheard. In any case, your neighbours and friends have their own problems to deal with. During a crisis of this nature, the act of helping another soul would compromise the safety of another. Nobody is going to help you. This is the reality that you're faced with.

The wind suddenly picks up speed, and you are thrown off your feet, clumps of grass falling uselessly from your bleeding fingers. You scream as you are flung from the surface of the island, spiralling towards certain death far below…


It would be foolishness to remain here. As quickly as you can, you crawl out of cover into the open. Almost immediately, you are buffeted by the force of the wind on your back. You dig your fingernails into the ground at your feet, refusing to let go. You will not die here, not so easily, like a candle sputtering out in the midst of total darkness. You are determined to survive.

Behind you, the wall of your house collapses and crumbles apart. There’s no going back now. The wind is now fiercer than ever.
> You inch your way towards one of the few houses still standing
Gritting your teeth, you pull yourself along the ground at a painfully slow pace towards one of the more sturdy-looking houses. You can already see several faces huddled inside the walls, frightened and helpless at what is going on outside. As you draw nearer to them, you see panic rise in their eyes, as if your mere presence is compromising their chances of survival. Perhaps they are simply too scared to move.

The door, miraculously, appears to be secure. You duck your head down as the wind buffets against your back, and succeed in making it to the threshold. It is then that you discover that the door has been locked and bolted from the inside. The people inside remain huddled together, staring out at you with empty expressions.

“Let me in,” you cry out to them in desperation, banging on the door with your fists. Your fingers are bleeding from clutching the ground, and you dare not raise your head too far up. “Please. Let me inside!”

Nobody unlocks the door. Nobody dares to move.

You are still frantically banging on the door when the wind picks up and throws you off your feet. The people's stares burn into you as you are flung from the surface of the island, screaming as you spiral towards certain death far below…


It would be foolishness to remain here. As quickly as you can, you crawl out of cover into the open. Almost immediately, you are buffeted by the force of the wind on your back. You dig your fingernails into the ground at your feet, refusing to let go. You will not die here, not so easily, like a candle sputtering out in the midst of total darkness. You are determined to survive.

Behind you, the wall of your house collapses and crumbles apart. There’s no going back now. The wind is now fiercer than ever.
> You maintain your current position and hold on for dear life
You feel that there is no use in moving from here. The slightest motion might give the wind enough leeway to knock you off balance. You grit your teeth and hold on tight, aware that you are exposed and vulnerable, but hopeful that you will be able to get through this. You may be alone, but your strength of will has seen you through many trials in life. You can do this...

The wind suddenly picks up speed, and you are thrown off your feet, clumps of grass falling uselessly from your bleeding fingers. You scream as you are flung from the surface of the island, spiralling towards certain death far below…


You claw your way towards what used to be your personal residence. The roof has been torn off, the front door is hanging on by mere threads, and the interior has been devastated beyond recovery. Only pieces of shattered wood remain here now. The wind picks up, and for a second you almost lose your grip, but you somehow manage to make it inside. What remains of the wall here serves as a temporary shelter.

Even so, the feeling in your gut tells you that the entire island is picking up more speed than before. The chains will not be repaired: it is not going to stop. Your chances of survival are slim at best.
> You pick up some of the fragments of wood
You scramble across the floor to where your bed used to be. It is now nothing but rubble, broken into multiple pieces by the pressure of the fall. Most of the fragments are too small to be of any use, but you do find a few sturdy pieces which could be used as a weapon. A weapon? Why on earth are you thinking of weapons now? The realisation comes in an instant: the world really has gone wrong. The crumbling of your island may not be the only danger which awaits you. You need to get your hands on everything you can get.

The wind is now powerful enough to shred this little piece of wood into pieces, so you hastily tuck it inside your thin tunic for safekeeping. Perhaps it will come in useful later, assuming you have a future to look forward to...

At your back, small cracks start to spread out across the walls of your house. The entire island is shaking, causing the cracks to widen.


The HMS Bounty set sail on a gloomy winter’s day a few days before Christmas.
You like the little ship, which is just ninety feet long and fairly small at just over 200 tons for the 46 men she carries. She has three masts and sails extremely well however and you are quite content aboard her, despite the gloomy weather. She carries four small cannons for defense and a compliment of muskets and cutlasses as well as enough provisions for the voyage. The purpose of the voyage is to sail to Tahiti to pick up breadfruit and transport them to Jamaica to feed the slaves who work the plantations there. It should be an easy enough voyage.

If you are soon familiar with the ship but the crew are more difficult. You have joined them as an Able Seaman for what should be an easy voyage but there are far too many of men on the ship to remember all of their names. The one name you do remember is Lieutenant William Bligh, the ship’s commander. He is a chubby, little man with very white skin, wispy fair hair and blue eyes looking for all the world like a little girl’s porcelain doll. Bligh is supposed to be a superb navigator, having sailed under the famous Captain Cook, discoverer of Australia, on his last voyage, but he seems a bit excitable and a little difficult to take seriously.

Almost from the beginning the ship seems to hit bad luck. The weather in the Channel is awful and barely have you sailed out of port than you lose your grip while climbing the rigging. You are plunging towards the deck and almost certain doom when you manage to grab a rope tied between two sails, halting your fall with a heart-stopping judder. Days later a storm breaks the windows of Bligh’s cabin, quickly flooding it with water.

As the year of 1788 and the voyage of the Bounty begins you hope that things will get better…

NOTE: PICK UP THE CREW LIST TO HELP YOU KEEP TRACK OF WHO IS WHO IN THIS STORY.
> The Atlantic
After leaving the English Channel the weather does indeed improve and you stop off at the Canary Islands for a week. Spirits are high as you sail onto the southwest bound for Tahiti, an island which you have heard of but have no idea where it is. You gather Bligh intends to sail around Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of South America, to get there. The ship is sailing so well Bligh decides to promote a protégé of his called Fletcher Christian from Master’s Mate to Acting Lieutenant, effectively making him Bligh’s deputy.

Like everyone else on board the ship you like Christian. He is a cheerful and very likable young man, though a slightly sensitive soul who takes a solicitous interest in everyone’s welfare. His promotion comes at the expense of the Sailing Master John Fryer, a professional man, whose strong, independent opinions seem to irritate Bligh. He takes Christian’s promotion without a word but some of the crew are not so subtle.

Matthew Quintal is one of your fellow seamen, a young Cornishman and a natural-born trouble-maker, always looking for an opportunity to make a little mischief. One morning he is scrubbing the deck close to where Fryer is sighting the sun with a sextant and begins to mock Fryer about Christian’s promotion, lightly at first and then more harshly when Fryer shows no response. Some of the other sailors standing nearby are exchanging glances and grinning.
> You join Quintal in mocking Fryer
You join Quintal in ribbing Fryer about Christian being replaced over him. He takes it all with ill-tempered terse sentences but suddenly there is a bizarrely high-pitched cry from further up the deck, you glance up to see Bligh striding towards you.

“You infernal scoundrels!” he roars. “How dare you cowardly rascals show such insolence and contempt for Mr Fryer! Mr Fryer, how came you to permit such a thing to happen sir? Twenty-four lashes each to remind you men of the proper way of addressing your superiors! Master-at-Arms, fetch the lash! Quartermasters, prepare these men!”

Hardly before you know what is happening strong hands have seized you and Quintal, stripped the shirts from your backs and your are being roped to the mast. The Quartermasters stand behind you and on Bligh’s orders begin to whip you mercilessly with the lash, which burns like a fire. Soon it is stripping flesh from your back and just as the agony is becoming unbearable the punishment is over.

“May that be a lesson to you all!” Bligh declares.
> The Horn
After the lashing of Quintal you and the rest of your crew go about your duties quietly and you soon come upon Cape Horn in atrocious weather. For over four weeks Bligh tries to sail the Bounty into the face of a terrible wind, tacking into the face of a gale. You and several other sailors come down with fevers, brought on by constant exertion in freezing rain and tiredness, and finally Bligh admits defeat and turns the ship east.

You will sail to Tahiti east, around the southern tip of Africa instead. Despite the storm damage the Bounty makes good speed and arrives off Cape Town on the tip of South Africa after a month of sailing. Bligh steers the Bounty carefully into the busy harbor and you and another sailor called John Williams are sent to sound the depths with a lead line. You are both feeding the rope out when the lead snags on some rocks far below. Because the Bounty is still going pretty fast the rope starts sliding rapidly through your hands cutting them badly.
> You hold on
You grimace and grasp the rope tight. Williams releases the rope and it drags you across the deck, slamming you painfully into the railing and you are nearly lost overboard but suddenly the lead comes free and you haul it up on the line. Williams, blowing on his burnt hands, only watches you when suddenly you hear a familiar high-pitched cry and look up to see Bligh striding towards you both.

“You incompetent mongrel!” he spits at Williams. “Why did you not help that man? Six lashes for neglect and dereliction of duty!”

The lash is fetched again, Williams is tied to the mast and the Quartermaster once more lays into him, drawing blood. Bligh doesn’t even look at you, merely watches the punishment coldly until it is over and he returns to his cabin.
> The Pacific
After making it safely into Cape Town the Bounty spends nearly a month resupplying and repairing storm damage, allowing you plenty of time to enjoy the delights of that port. You set sail again on the first day of July and the following month you arrive at Adventure Bay on the island of Tasmania to the south of Australia. You pause there again to re-supply and sail on again in September bound for Tahiti. Spirits are high on board as you near your destination.

Unfortunately, you and another sailor called James Valentine begin to develop a breathing problem, sometimes after exertion you find you have difficulty catching your breath. You and Valentine decide to see the Ship’s Surgeon, a heavy-drinking red-faced fat man called Thomas Huggan, who seems rather surprised to be consulted on something medical. Huggan examines you both, wheezing the whole time, and when he has finished he wipes the sweat off his face and gulps down a glass of rum.

“Internal disorder of some kind,” he tells you both. “Probably too much blood in your spleens. If you would let me open a vein I will bleed you both about a pint and this will relieve the pressure on your organs, you’ll be up and down the rigging free as birds then."

You and Valentine exchange glances.
> You agree to let the Surgeon bleed you
The Surgeon fetches a grimy scalpel, spits on it and rubs it with a dirty cloth to clean it and slices open veins in your arms. Blood immediately pours out like a high-power hose and Huggan looks rather alarmed. With difficulty he manages to secure bandages to both your arms and pronounces you good as new. You are both doubtful, particularly as the bleeding doesn’t really stop but continues to ooze out of your cuts. Within days you have lost all feeling in your arm.

When you peel the bandage away you find the area around the wound has turned green and black. You and Valentine are soon both feeling faint and feverish, forced to remain in your hammocks as almost your entire arms turn black. It doesn’t take you long to realize you are dying but there is nothing Huggan can do. Bligh learns of the situation, visits you both and rages at Huggan but your days are numbered.

You die two weeks before the Bounty reaches Tahiti, the first of that ill-fated crew to perish.
> You are Dead
You have died too early in the story to even experience the Mutiny on the Bounty. Your only option is to return to the beginning of the story and try to live longer by making different choices. After the Mutiny on the Bounty if you die you may end the game and leave a comment.
Better Luck this time!
> Back to the Beginning...
The HMS Bounty set sail on a gloomy winter’s day a few days before Christmas.
You like the little ship, which is just ninety feet long and fairly small at just over 200 tons for the 46 men she carries. She has three masts and sails extremely well however and you are quite content aboard her, despite the gloomy weather. She carries four small cannons for defense and a compliment of muskets and cutlasses as well as enough provisions for the voyage. The purpose of the voyage is to sail to Tahiti to pick up breadfruit and transport them to Jamaica to feed the slaves who work the plantations there. It should be an easy enough voyage.

If you are soon familiar with the ship but the crew are more difficult. You have joined them as an Able Seaman for what should be an easy voyage but there are far too many of men on the ship to remember all of their names. The one name you do remember is Lieutenant William Bligh, the ship’s commander. He is a chubby, little man with very white skin, wispy fair hair and blue eyes looking for all the world like a little girl’s porcelain doll. Bligh is supposed to be a superb navigator, having sailed under the famous Captain Cook, discoverer of Australia, on his last voyage, but he seems a bit excitable and a little difficult to take seriously.

Almost from the beginning the ship seems to hit bad luck. The weather in the Channel is awful and barely have you sailed out of port than you lose your grip while climbing the rigging. You are plunging towards the deck and almost certain doom when you manage to grab a rope tied between two sails, halting your fall with a heart-stopping judder. Days later a storm breaks the windows of Bligh’s cabin, quickly flooding it with water.

As the year of 1788 and the voyage of the Bounty begins you hope that things will get better…

NOTE: PICK UP THE CREW LIST TO HELP YOU KEEP TRACK OF WHO IS WHO IN THIS STORY.


After making it safely into Cape Town the Bounty spends nearly a month resupplying and repairing storm damage, allowing you plenty of time to enjoy the delights of that port. You set sail again on the first day of July and the following month you arrive at Adventure Bay on the island of Tasmania to the south of Australia. You pause there again to re-supply and sail on again in September bound for Tahiti. Spirits are high on board as you near your destination.

Unfortunately, you and another sailor called James Valentine begin to develop a breathing problem, sometimes after exertion you find you have difficulty catching your breath. You and Valentine decide to see the Ship’s Surgeon, a heavy-drinking red-faced fat man called Thomas Huggan, who seems rather surprised to be consulted on something medical. Huggan examines you both, wheezing the whole time, and when he has finished he wipes the sweat off his face and gulps down a glass of rum.

“Internal disorder of some kind,” he tells you both. “Probably too much blood in your spleens. If you would let me open a vein I will bleed you both about a pint and this will relieve the pressure on your organs, you’ll be up and down the rigging free as birds then."

You and Valentine exchange glances.
> You politely decline
You politely refuse and Huggan shrugs, fetches a dirty scalpel and slices Valentine’s arm open. Blood sprays out over the walls and a startled Huggan desperately staunches the bleeding with a stained rag. He bandages Valentine’s arm but the damage is done. Over the following days the wound continues first to bleed, then to ooze and Valentine becomes increasingly faint and weak. Soon his entire arm is black and green.

Within days Valentine is consigned to his bunk, feverish and fading. Huggan is powerless to do anything, when Bligh learns of the situation he rages at the Surgeon in the most violent language possible. Valentine continues to weaken and dies late one night. A somber mood descends over the whole crew as he is sewn into his hammock and the following morning it is cast into the sea. You sit next to his body on the first night thinking grimly how that could have been you.
> You sinking spirits
Valentine’s death sends the crew’s spirits plunging low and Bligh decides to raise morale by instructing the crew to dance a jig to the tunes of a half-blind fiddler he has brought on board. The last thing the crew feel like doing is dancing but the sailors obligingly force themselves to their feet and dance wearily to the tunes the fiddler plays. You are dancing when you notice two men are remaining seated.

William Brown, a mild scientific man who Bligh brought on board as a botanist to take care of the breadfruit plants is talking quietly to John Mills the Gunner’s Mate, a tough and unfriendly older man. You see Fletcher Christian go over and encourage them to dance but Mills shakes his head emphatically and Brown lowers his head. Christian shrugs and walks away.
> You join the two men in their refusal
You walk over and sit next to Mills but you have been spotted.

Bligh yells for the music to stop and strides towards you three.

“Why are you not dancing like the others?” he demands.

“It does not seem like an appropriate time for that,” Brown says quietly.

“Damn you for contemptible rascals,” Bligh cries. “All three of you will have your grog stopped from now until we reach Tahiti.”

Mills glares back at him with a half-smile on his face as Bligh turns, returns to his former position near the helm and orders the fiddler to keep playing. The punishment is a harsh one but not as bad as it could have been: a week later you reach Tahiti.
> You tahiti
You are all relieved when the beautiful tree-lined round island of Tahiti is spotted. Bligh has been getting on everyone’s nerves: he is no longer on speaking terms with Sailing Master Fryer, Surgeon Huggan or the Carpenter William Purcell and he has been grating the nerves of most of the rest of the crew. It is with relief that Tahiti is sighted and within hours hundreds upon hundreds of canoes packed with scantily clad but cheering Tahitian men and women surround the Bounty. The women are a particularly lovely sight.

After a week anchored offshore Bligh sends Christian to lead a party of nine ashore in the ship’s cutter to begin setting up tents and making a camp for the crew to use while they gather the breadfruit. You are part of this group and are left with another sailor called John Adams to guard the boats. Adams is a clever young fellow and the two of you are chatting when you notice a pair of young ladies eying you from behind some nearby huts. When they see you looking they glance at each other and giggle.

Like all Tahitians they are dark skinned and wear nothing above the waist, their full breasts and brown nipples peep out shyly between the strands of their long black hair. They seem to have more than a casual interest in you and Adams nudges you in the side and points at the women grinning. He suggests you go over, introduce yourselves and keep the young ladies company for a while.
> You go and get acquainted with the young ladies
With a shrug you go over with Adams to meet the two young ladies. With many smiles they lead you into an empty hut where they offer you some fruit and nut snacks and begin examining your skin and clothes. They don’t mind your touching them and when you kiss them they seem to like it and kiss you back. Before things can get too interesting you hear Christian calling your name outside and with a curse you and Adams give your new friends a goodbye kiss and hurry outside.

Christian is all smiles and thanks you both for doing your bit to improve England’s relationship with the Tahitian people, with embarrassed smiles and to the, slightly jealous, quips of your companions you row back to the Bounty for the evening. Bligh talks to Christian after you arrive and as you and Adams are clearing the boat after swinging it in he suddenly gives a high-pitched yelp.

“A gudgeon is missing!” he exclaims. “You damned fools, where is the aft gudgeon?”
You and Adams both look for the little metal tube that fixes to part of the rudder but it is indeed missing. Inevitably Bligh fetches Christian, who reluctantly confirms that you both left the boats unattended for a short time. Bligh yells at Christian before inevitably sentencing you both to twelve lashes each for the disappearance of the little metal tube.

Later as you lie down in your hammock, your back burning, you reflect that you are really beginning to hate that man.
> You discontent
The Bounty remains anchored in Matavai Bay for the next month while every day Bligh, Christian or Fryer lead a party of men ashore to gather breadfruit trees. You get the impression that the men are working deliberately slowly to prolong their stay on Tahiti, as often as they are able the men contrive to spend time with the Tahitians in their villages. All of the Natives are extremely friendly and the women remarkably so. Christian and, surprisingly, Bligh are fairly relaxed about these interactions between the crew and the women but after a year at sea it would have been very unwise to try to restrain the men.

Bligh inevitably tries however. One day you are a part of a party that is working even more slowly than usual and Bligh is becoming irritable and orders you all to work faster. Repeatedly a sailor called Matthew Thompson, an older and extremely tough man keeps demanding, increasingly more insistently that he be allowed to go into the village. Bligh continues to refuse him. Finally, Thompson has had enough.

“Damn you sir,” he growls. “If you were any sort of officer you would know better than to deny your men what they want.”

There is stunned silence following this outburst.
> You join Thompson in criticising Bligh
You speak up, agreeing with Thompson that is the way the whole crew feels. Bligh has gone very pale.

“Damn you for mutinous dogs,” he growls. “Quartermaster, twelve lashes each!”

The lash is fetched, the blows are landed and your back is transformed into agony. Sullen and muttering the crew return once more to the Bounty.
> You defiance
Work continues on gathering the breadfruit plants while the crew members continue to enjoy the hospitality and affections of the local people. As well as the company of the women they now have strong locally-brewed alcohol to enjoy, though such gatherings have to be kept secret when Bligh is ashore. The lure of strong alcohol succeeds in drawing the overweight surgeon Huggan from his cabin (which he has rarely left for the last year) and he comes ashore.

The Tahitians find the fat, red-faced man great fun and the men insist on plying him with more and more alcohol. Finally, it is getting late and Christian, who is part of the party though not drinking himself, informs everyone it is time to return to the ship or risk the wrath of Bligh. Most of the men stumble to their feet and stagger towards the boat but Huggan is too far gone. Making a rude comment about Bligh he tells Christian to leave him there.

Christian licks his lips nervously. Huggan as a Surgeon is a fellow officer and Christian has no authority to order him back to the ship, on the other hand Bligh is sure to notice his absence and punish Huggan in some way. When Christian points this out Huggan laughs and again voices uncomplimentary views about your Commander. Christian shrugs, turns to you and suggests you come back.
> You join Huggan on an all-night bender
You refuse and Christian reluctantly leads his party back to the ship. All that night you and Huggan down cup after cup of the burningly strong local spirits. The Tahitian men may be used to the strong alcohol but you not so much. Some time before dawn you lie down on your back and pass out. When the inevitable vomit comes your mouth is closed and it remains in your mouth and throat.

You suffocate and choke to death as the morning sun rises over this tropical paradise.


Work continues on gathering the breadfruit plants while the crew members continue to enjoy the hospitality and affections of the local people. As well as the company of the women they now have strong locally-brewed alcohol to enjoy, though such gatherings have to be kept secret when Bligh is ashore. The lure of strong alcohol succeeds in drawing the overweight surgeon Huggan from his cabin (which he has rarely left for the last year) and he comes ashore.

The Tahitians find the fat, red-faced man great fun and the men insist on plying him with more and more alcohol. Finally, it is getting late and Christian, who is part of the party though not drinking himself, informs everyone it is time to return to the ship or risk the wrath of Bligh. Most of the men stumble to their feet and stagger towards the boat but Huggan is too far gone. Making a rude comment about Bligh he tells Christian to leave him there.

Christian licks his lips nervously. Huggan as a Surgeon is a fellow officer and Christian has no authority to order him back to the ship, on the other hand Bligh is sure to notice his absence and punish Huggan in some way. When Christian points this out Huggan laughs and again voices uncomplimentary views about your Commander. Christian shrugs, turns to you and suggests you come back.
> You return to the Bounty
You join the rest of Christian’s group in returning to the Bounty. The following morning you again go ashore and find a group of Tahitian men gathered silently round the motionless figure of your ship’s surgeon. Vomit covers his face and hands and he lies unmoving on his back, his eyes shut. Christian calls out to him and when he doesn’t respond he examines him. At first you think he is dead drunk. You soon realize he is just dead.
> You paradise
After the death of Surgeon Huggan Bligh orders the Bounty sailed from Matavai Bay to Toaroa, a small bay and village further round the island. The reason Bligh gives is that there are more breadfruit trees there but the crew suspect it is to move them further from the scene of Huggan’s death and the temptations of alcohol and women. If that is the intention it is unsuccessful, there are even more of both at Toaroa.

The women are, if possible, even more free with their affections and breath-takingly beautiful, here and one of your fellow sailors, a friendly, bearded man called William Muspratt, comes up to you one day with an excited whisper as you are moving breadfruit trees as part of a party under Bligh. He tells you he has found some exceptionally affectionate Native women who will apparently trade sex in exchange for odd trinkets such as coins, utensils like cutlery or other odds and ends. He tells you he is going to sneak away now and offers to show you where they may be found.
> You accept his offer
You and Muspratt sneak away from the work party and go to the huts Muspratt found before. He goes in one and you go in the other. You are a little nervous and uncertain this is wise as you step into the darkened interior of the hut. Inside, as your eyes adjust you see a pretty young lady lying under a blanket on the floor, she props herself in one elbow and smiles at you. Nervously you put a spare belt buckle on the floor and she folds back the blanket to reveal she is naked underneath, dark and soft in the darkness.

Fifteen minutes later you are really starting to enjoy yourself when a small figure strides into the hut.

“What do you think you are doing you infernal rat?” Bligh barks at you. “Climb off that person, get dressed and come outside at once.”

He storms from the hut and you sheepishly emerge minutes later, your clothes reassembled and reapplied to you. Muspratt is looking similarly crestfallen and of course Bligh has his quartermasters standing by. You and Muspratt both get twelve lashes each, your backs burn like they are on fire and so it goes on.
> The temptations of Tahiti
Word soon spreads among the crew that Muspratt has found what amounts to a brothel in Toaroa, though actually many of the Native women seem happy to perform sexual services in exchange for gifts. One of your fellow seamen Robert Lamb, who often cuts the meat for the cook, decides to sneak off the next time he is in one of Christian’s work parties and give away his cleaver in the hope of getting two women at the same time. You have a knife and wonder if that would be worth the same.
> You sneak into the village with Lamb
You and Lamb walk off from Christian’s work group to the huts in the village. You make your offerings to the women and hold up two fingers to indicate your desires. To your amazement it works, two women lead Lamb away while two women guide you into one hut where you all hastily disrobe. Both women assume a position some might refer to as riding double and by the time you and Lamb stagger back to the ship that evening you are both feeling exhausted but rather at peace with the whole world.

This feeling lasts right up until you see Bligh’s mad face.

“Impertinent dogs!” he screams in your faces. “You think a cleaver and a knife are not as valuable as your disgusting perversions? Quartermasters, twelve each!”

This whipping feels exceptionally agonizing on your already exhausted body.
> You rebellion
By the beginning of 1789 the crew have had enough of Bligh and his ways.

Charles Churchill, a middle-aged Manchurian and the Master-at-Arms (the man nominally in charge of discipline on the ship) gathers you, the recently flogged Muspratt and another sailor called John Millward, a young and reasonably well-educated fellow, into a secret meeting a short way from the shore party.

“I will tell you plainly boys I don’t care a damn for our Commander,” he whispers. “He deserves nothing better than to be shark bait for all I care. But this place is the closest thing to heaven on each I have ever clapped eyes on in all my years of sailing. I say tonight we take a boat and sneak away, Haywood has the watch with us tonight, he is ever sleeping on duty and besides was up most of last night at cards in the wardroom. I will get us a brace of guns each, we can take the cutter and sail round to Matavai Bay and from there light out to one of the smaller islands. After our shipmates have left on the Bounty we can return and live here forever.”

It is a bold but extremely dangerous plan, desertion can be punished with hanging. Millward and Muspratt quickly agree to it and all three turn their gazes on you. You know if you refuse you must promise to keep silent about the plan.
> You join the three men in deserting
To begin with your plan goes smoothly.

Midshipman Thomas Haywood is a lazy and indifferent officer who usually sleeps on the nights he has the watches. You, Churchill, Millward and Muspratt climb aboard the cutter and row it away from the ship, by hard rowing all through the night you reach Matavai Bay by dawn and exchange one of your muskets for a sailing canoe. By noon you are paddling north for a small island called Tetiroa, which you have heard of from the Tahitians.

You make it to the island safely a few days later, though your boat capsizes as you reach the shore soaking your gunpowder and rendering your muskets useless. Notwithstanding this setback you take the boat ashore and set to work gathering edible fruits and nuts, coconuts and preparing nets and spears for fishing. The weather soon turns bad and for two weeks rainstorms lash the island. Soaked to the skin and huddled in what feeble shelters you can build from branches and leaves the four of you are beginning to reflect this might not have been a wise idea…

Eventually the weather clears and to your dismay you catch sight of the Bounty and dozens of native canoes sailing towards your little island. The Tahitians must have told Bligh where you have gone. Hiding would be pointless so when a party from the Bounty lands on the beach you all go to the edge of the tree line to meet them, muskets in hand. Bligh walks alone up to you, cutlass in hand, and halts a short way from you.

“Men, if you come back with me without trouble this is what I will do,” he tells you angrily. “I will whip the three of you forty-eight times and you Mr Churchill twenty-four but then that will be the end of it. There will be no hangings, no further punishment, no more word of this will be spoken of. I will write a note to the Admiralty, that I will include when I submit my account of the voyage, stating that I have dealt with this matter accordingly.”

It seems to be the best you are going to get and the four of you surrender. You are taken back to Toaroa and flogged alongside an American sailor called Isaac Martin who punched a native man in the face for trying to steal an iron hoop from him. By the time the second flogging is over your back is mess of gristle, flesh and blood and you feel completely and utterly exhausted.
> You farewell Tahiti
Discontent continues to seethe in the crew as the last of the breadfruit trees are gathered. Two days after the last floggings someone cuts the Bounty’s anchor cable, apparently hoping the ship would drift away and that you would all be stranded in the paradise of Tahiti, it is only because there is no wind that night that the ship is not lost. Bligh is apoplectic, roundly cursing you all for a pack of traitors and has the spare anchor cable run down.

The following month a Tahitian man is caught trying to steal Gunner William Peckover’s bedding, Bligh has him flogged a back-breaking one hundred times and hung in irons for a week but the next day he either escapes or is released. So it goes on until by the end of March the gathering of the breadfruit is complete and over 1,000 healthy plants have been safely brought on board until the Bounty resembles a floating garden.

On the fourth day of April Bligh orders the anchor raised and the Bounty sails away from Tahiti to the great sadness and sorrow of both of the crew, most of which have at least one girlfriend and several male friends ashore by now, and the hospitable Tahitians who seem to have enjoyed spending time with their new visitors. The mood on board the ship is grim and tense, like an explosive ready to blow at any spark.

Bligh, as usual, provides such sparks.

The first comes three weeks after leaving Tahiti when the Bounty stops at Nomuka in the Friendly Islands to take on fresh water. Fletcher Christian is sent ashore with a party but Bligh orders him to leave his musket's ammunition behind for fear of harming the Natives and making them anti-English. Despite this order you and some of the other sailors in the party disobey the order and carry knives or dirks ashore. You take a small adze or hand-axe.

No sooner have you landed than dozens of Tongan Natives armed with spears, clubs and rocks come out and surround you all. Christian yells at them to clear away but the only response is what sounds like shouted threats and a few thrown stones. One warrior, a great big naked man in war-paint snatches your adze out of your hand. Unable to make any headway you are forced to return to the Bounty.

“You cowardly rascals!” Bligh yells at you all. “You, Mr Christian, are you afraid to go through a set of naked savages when you have arms.”

For the first time you see Christian lose his temper.

“The arms are of no use when your orders prevent them being used!” he cries.

“You sir, are a coward!” Bligh declares and turns away in disgust.

You and your fellow sailors glance at each other. In England one gentleman calling another a coward would be considered grounds for a duel. Every single one of you feels sympathy for Christian who stands on the deck looking completely paralyzed by indecision.

The next day you put the Friendly Islands behind you and sail on west towards Australia.
> You bligh breaks Christian
The next afternoon Bligh is on at Christian again.

You are scrubbing the deck when you see Bligh suspiciously inspecting a pile of coconuts piled between two cannons.

“Those coconuts look fewer than they did yesterday... why you damned hounds have been stealing my coconuts! You could not have done it unless your officers had known!”

Inevitably the ship’s officers, including Christian are called out and hear Bligh’s accusations.

“No one has been stealing your coconuts sir,” Fryer says wearily.

“Damn you, you must have taken them yourselves! Mr Christian, how many coconuts did you bring with you?”

“I don’t know sir,” Christian replies. “I hope you don’t think me guilty of stealing your things.”

“Yes you damned hound I do!” Bligh barks back. “You must have stolen them from me or you could give a better account of them, god damn you for a scoundrel, you are all thieves alike and combined with the men to rob me, I suppose you’ll steal my yams next but I’ll sweat you for it you rascals! I’ll make half of you jump overboard before we get through the Endeavour Straights!”

Bligh turns to the scowling Master-at-Arms Charles Churchill.

“Stop these villains’ grog and give them nothing but half a pound of yams tomorrow to eat and if they steal any more I’ll reduce them to a quarter.”

Christian steps forward and clears his throat.

“Sir, this treatment is intolerable.” He says, his voice breaking. “My family have been gentlemen for twenty-five generations and not once have any of them been accused of being cowards or thieves without responding.”

“God damn you, what does that mean!” Bligh explodes. “You sir are the worst of the lot, a contemptible thief, an infernal scoundrel, a cowardly rascal and an incompetent mongrel and that is what my opinion of you is sir.”

Bligh turns on his heel and storms back down to his cabin. The rest of the officers, avoiding Chistian’s eyes disband and wander down to their cabins or about the deck. Fletcher just stands there, his jaws grinding over and over. Finally, he goes below decks.

For the rest of the afternoon and evening there is one topic of conversation among the crew, a discussion about Christian and a feeling of great sympathy for him and great hatred towards Bligh. The rumors about Christian are wild: that he has been seen tearing up his personal papers, that he has given away many of his most valuable possessions to his fellow officers, that he has got some spare wood from the carpenter and is trying to build a raft out of it. You go out to the Officer’s Wardroom on an errand and find Christian lying listlessly in his hammock, eyes staring at the ceiling, an almost empty bottle of rum at his side.

Despite your fears about Christian neither you nor any of the crew are ready for what happens next.
> You mutiny on the Bounty
Early the next morning you are woken from your sleep by wild and confused shouting that seems to come from all around the ship. You and the other sailors spring from your hammocks and rush out on deck to see a bizarre sight. Christian and several other men armed variously with bayonets, cutlasses and muskets are herding a loudly protesting and threatening Bligh out onto deck. His hands are tightly bound behind his back.

Christian seems half-crazy, he is alternately yelling at Bligh and talking to his fellow mutineers and has a heavy sounding plummet hanging from his neck (you later learn it was so he could jump overboard and drown if the mutiny failed).

“Knock Christian down men,” Bligh is shouting. “Knock Christian down!”

“Hold your tongue or you are a dead man!” Christian screams in his face.

John Fryer emerges on deck at cutlass point.

“Fletcher, you must stop this,” he calls out.

“I have been in hell for weeks past!” Christian shouts at him. “Commander Bligh has brought this on himself!”

You are not sure what is going on but Christian and at least a dozen of the crew seem to have taken control of the ship and no one is really opposing him, the only person arguing against him is the vitriolic Bligh. Christian has decided to cast Bligh and his loyal companions adrift and orders the jolly boat lowered but it found to have several leaks so he orders the cutter lowered instead. It soon becomes apparent that the cutter is too small for all the loyal crew who want to leave with Bligh.

“You are all pirates!” Bligh shouts at Christian. “Any man who stays on this ship is a pirate and will be hunted down and hanged by the Royal Navy!”

“Get him away!” men shout loudly.

The launch, a twenty-three-foot-long boat designed for fifteen men is soon in the water and Bligh is roughly thrown in. Several other crew members starting with Fryer join him, not so much because they like him but because they don’t want to stay on the ship and be labelled as pirates, a crime which carries the death penalty. Soon there are more people in the boat than there is room for and still others want to get in, the ship seems almost equally divided between Bligh Loyalists and Mutineers.

You stand by the rail looking down at the crowded boat. The island of Tofua is visible nearby and as Christian is throwing a sextant, compass, charts, tools and even four cutlasses (!) down into the boat it seems the nineteen, loyal people in the boat have a good chance of reaching it in safety. It seems that the twenty-five mutineers or pirates remaining on the Bounty (including at least four people who want to go with Bligh but who there is no room for) are planning to return to Tahiti.

You must choose whether to go with Bligh or remain aboard the Bounty, a decision that will affect the rest of your life.
> You go in the boat with the Loyalists and Bligh
You make your decision and with a deep breath you jump off the Bounty to become the twentieth man in the Loyalist boat. Seconds after you jump in the Mutineers cast the rope off connecting the launch to the Bounty and your boat steers away. There is barely room to move but you row clear of the Bounty to the sound of the pirates’ jeers and last insults and Bligh watches silently as hundreds of his precious breadfruit plants are thrown over the sides of the ship.

The last you see of the Bounty is her turning away and sailing east, presumably back to Tahiti. Her sails get smaller and smaller before she is just a speck on the horizon and eventually, like a ghost ship or the memories of a dream, she vanishes from sight. You all stare at Bligh with hostility while he clears his throat and doesn’t even have the good grace to look ashamed at the predicament he has landed you all in.

“Men, the Dutch settlement of Coupang in Timor is about 4,000 miles west of here. With careful navigation and rationing I can get us there. From there we can take ships back to England and report the Mutiny on the Bounty to the Admiralty who will send ships out to Tahiti to hunt down those pirates and bring them back to England for justice. We can do it men.”

No one answers but you all just go on staring angrily at him in silence.

Tofua is little more than an active volcano jutting from the sea and the plume of smoke rising from it is clearly visible. With hard rowing you reach the island the day after the mutiny and spread out to search for supplies. There are Natives on the island and unlike the Tahitians they do not appear to be friendly. Within a few days it appears that your return to England will not be as easy as Bligh claims...
> You attack！
After four days ashore with the Natives gathering in increasing numbers and hardly any supplies to be found Bligh gives the order for you all to return to the boat and resume sailing westwards. As soon as the Natives see you are leaving they attack, they race to the shore and run through the water towards you armed with spears and axes. You are pushing off as fast as you can but one fast moving Native manages to grab a rope attached to the stern. You all quickly realize you can’t escape as long as he is holding that rope.
> You jump off the boat and run out to fight the Native
You grab a cutlass and clamber out of the boat, splashing through waist-deep water towards the warrior. He lets go of the rope and jabs at you with a spear but you side-step it and drive your cutlass through his chest. As you turn back towards the boat you find it is indeed escaping, rowing quickly out to sea. You start to stagger after it but a Native comes up behind you and hits you on the head with a rock. You fall down into the foaming waves and more natives beat and stab you to death, your sacrifice enabling your comrades to escape to safety.
> You are Dead
So you are dead, in fact in the immortal words of John Cleese you are no more, you have ceased to be, bereft of life you rest in peace and are, in fact, an ex-sailor. The great thing about this story (and possibly life in general if the Buddhists are right) is that you don't have to stay this way. You can return to the story either from the beginning or from the Mutiny on the Bounty, if you feel like exploring different story branches.

Alternatively if, like a glutton at a delicious feast, you really feel like you couldn't take anymore of this wonderful writing, you can End the Game and Leave Comments.

If that is the case thank you for taking the time to read my story.


After four days ashore with the Natives gathering in increasing numbers and hardly any supplies to be found Bligh gives the order for you all to return to the boat and resume sailing westwards. As soon as the Natives see you are leaving they attack, they race to the shore and run through the water towards you armed with spears and axes. You are pushing off as fast as you can but one fast moving Native manages to grab a rope attached to the stern. You all quickly realize you can’t escape as long as he is holding that rope.
> You let someone else get off the boat
You remain on the boat and watch as stout Quartermaster John Norton jumps overboard, crosses to the Native holding the rope, dodges his spear and cuts him down with his cutlass. The dying Native releases the rope releasing your boat and enabling the oarsmen to row rapidly away from the shore. Norton turns to follow you but is knocked down by a Native with a rock and as he tries to rise he is beaten and stabbed to death. The rest of you escape by throwing spare garments of clothes into the sea, which pursuing Natives stop to pick up.

The month following your escape from Tofua is a difficult one for you. The weather is constantly cold, there are frequent storms and practically all of your time is spent either rowing or bailing out the boat. Sleep for more than a few hours at a time is impossible. You have nothing but tiny amounts of bread and water, your stomach shrinks massively and you are constantly thirsty. Life becomes blurred.

By the time you arrive at Restoration Island you can barely drag yourselves ashore. The island receives its name from Bligh after you all find fresh fruit and oysters which go a little way to restoring your strength. You find deserted Native campsites and after your previous experience you are not keen to make contact with them. After two days resting you sail on, reaching an island Bligh calls Sunday Island the next day where tensions again erupt.
> Another Argument
On Sunday Island on the last day of May Bligh nearly faces another mutiny.

You and the Carpenter William Purcell spend the morning clam hunting and return to the boat that evening with your findings. Bligh orders you to hand the clams over and, considering them personal property, you both refuse.

“You ungrateful scoundrels!” Bligh exclaims. “If I had not brought you here you would all have perished!

“If it had not been for you we should not have been here,” you reply angrily.

“You are scoundrels!” Bligh exclaims.

“I am not a scoundrel,” Purcell replies coldly. “I am as good a man as you.”

Bligh grabs a cutlass from the boat and Purcell does likewise.

“Mr Cole, arrest both of those men,” Fryer calls out to the Boatswain.

“You will do no such thing,” Bligh snaps.

“There are other methods in making people do as they are ordered without fighting them sir,” you tell Bligh stepping between him and Purcell.

Bligh glares at you for a moment, apparently too angry to speak, and then abruptly throws his cutlass into the boat. Purcell does likewise and the next day you sail on to Coupang. Hardly anyone talks to Bligh more than is absolutely necessary, no one can stand him any longer. All of you are too sick, weak and tired and the monotonous waves roll you onwards steadily until finally, gloriously, you arrive at Coupang.

The little Dutch town huddled against the waves looks the sweetest place on earth as you all sail in, dock and disembark, feeling like kissing the ground. Bligh coldly orders Fryer and you to stay and guard the boat while he leads the rest ashore. You ignore him and join the others in receiving food and medical attention from the kind inhabitants of the colony.

Your troubles are a long way from over yet however.
> You getting home
Coupang is a small settlement with no large vessels so Bligh arranges the purchase of a derelict 34-foot schooner he names HMS Resource and orders you all to work hard in making it seaworthy enough to sail on to the larger port of Batavia on the island of Java where you should be able to find a ship going back to England. Tensions remain with Bligh bickering frequently with Fryer, Purcell and now also Acting Surgeon Thomas Ledward, who accuses Bligh of eating more than his fair share of supplies.

Bligh responds by insisting that you all work hard so that you may get back to England sooner, despite your still generally weak state.
> You work hard
You push yourself hard but it turns out to be a mistake, you soon contract a serious inflammatory fever, as does David Nelson the gentle but weak Botanist Bligh also brought with him on the Bounty. Both of you worsen, despite the best efforts of the Doctor and even Bligh’s comments that “your generally good conduct and manly fortitude deserve special tribute to your memory” fail to raise your spirits.

You succumb to the sickness a short time before your companions sail to Batavia and safety.


Coupang is a small settlement with no large vessels so Bligh arranges the purchase of a derelict 34-foot schooner he names HMS Resource and orders you all to work hard in making it seaworthy enough to sail on to the larger port of Batavia on the island of Java where you should be able to find a ship going back to England. Tensions remain with Bligh bickering frequently with Fryer, Purcell and now also Acting Surgeon Thomas Ledward, who accuses Bligh of eating more than his fair share of supplies.

Bligh responds by insisting that you all work hard so that you may get back to England sooner, despite your still generally weak state.
> You work at your own speed
You continue to work steadily but Bligh’s relentless hectoring drives the gentle but weak Botanist David Nelson into a tropical disease which claims his life the month after you arrived in Coupang. By August the HMS Resource is ready and the remaining eighteen Loyalists under Bligh make a short voyage to the busy Indonesian port of Batavia, another Dutch port, arriving on the first day of October. The constant bickering between Bligh and the rest of you continue during this
voyage.

At one point Fryer declares to Bligh “You do not only use me ill but every man in the vessel will say the same.”

“Yes by God, we are used damn ill and you do not have any right to do so,” Purcell declares.

Bligh grabs a cutlass and has the two men clapped in irons, releasing Fryer after an apology but keeping Purcell imprisoned for the last ten days of the trip. Bligh quickly begins making arrangements to sell the HMS Resource and the boat you left the Bounty on in order to finance the return home of all of you.

The boat has been mislaid and officials in Batavia have mistakenly moored it in a mosquito-infested inland bit of water. Bligh orders Seaman Thomas Hall to go and retrieve it despite the risk from the mosquitoes.
> You help Hall retrieve the boat
You and Hall have to venture through thick clouds of mosquitoes to move the boat and by the time you have rowed it back to where it should be both of you have been badly bitten many times. Malaria sets in almost immediately and within days you both succumb to the illness. An indifferent Bligh sails home soon after leaving most of his loyal crew behind in Batavia.


You continue to work steadily but Bligh’s relentless hectoring drives the gentle but weak Botanist David Nelson into a tropical disease which claims his life the month after you arrived in Coupang. By August the HMS Resource is ready and the remaining eighteen Loyalists under Bligh make a short voyage to the busy Indonesian port of Batavia, another Dutch port, arriving on the first day of October. The constant bickering between Bligh and the rest of you continue during this
voyage.

At one point Fryer declares to Bligh “You do not only use me ill but every man in the vessel will say the same.”

“Yes by God, we are used damn ill and you do not have any right to do so,” Purcell declares.

Bligh grabs a cutlass and has the two men clapped in irons, releasing Fryer after an apology but keeping Purcell imprisoned for the last ten days of the trip. Bligh quickly begins making arrangements to sell the HMS Resource and the boat you left the Bounty on in order to finance the return home of all of you.

The boat has been mislaid and officials in Batavia have mistakenly moored it in a mosquito-infested inland bit of water. Bligh orders Seaman Thomas Hall to go and retrieve it despite the risk from the mosquitoes.
> You let him do it on his own
You avoid helping Hall and predictably he becomes sick with malaria from mosquito bites while retrieving the boat and quickly dies. Bligh has also become sick with malaria and just five days after Hall’s death he books passage aboard the Dutch ship Vlydte bound for Portsmouth. By this point hostility against him is so widespread that only two men, his clerk John Samuel and his servant John Smith are willing to travel with him, the remaining thirteen prefer to wait under Fryer's command for another ship.
> You return to England with Bligh
The voyage back to England is thankfully smooth sailing. It takes two months to reach Cape Town in South Africa, which the Vlydte departs in the first days of 1790. Three months later you are back in England after over two years away and never have you been so relieved to return to your native country. While Bligh goes to London to report the Mutiny on the Bounty to the Admiralty you remain in Portsmouth to rest and wait for your comrades to rejoin you in the safety of England.
> You hunting for the Bounty Mutineers
Just thirteen of the twenty loyal crew members cast adrift with Bligh survive to return to England in the spring and summer of 1790, yourself among them. Bligh quickly reports the Mutiny on the Bounty and publishes a book about it, snappily titled A Narrative Of The Mutiny On Board His Majesty’s Ship Bounty And The Subsequent Voyage Of Part Of The Crew In The Ship’s Boat, which you never both to read.

In October Bligh is court martialed for the loss of the Bounty, acquitted and subsequently promoted from Lieutenant to Post Captain. The Admiralty begins making plans to deal with the twenty-five Bounty pirates and decides to send the 24-gun frigate HMS Pandora with 134 men under Captain Edward England to Tahiti to capture all the pirates they can find and bring them back to England for trial. The Admiralty puts out a request for former crew of the Bounty to join the voyage to help identify the pirates and Midshipman Thomas Haywood volunteers for the voyage in exchange for a promotion to Third Lieutenant.

You consider whether to go or not.
> You sail with the Pandora to Tahiti to hunt down your former companions
It is with considerable trepidation that you agree to a second voyage to Tahiti but to your relief this one goes smoothly. The Pandora leaves Spithead and sails directly to Tahiti, travelling successfully around Cape Horn. After a swift four month voyage, which last time took you nearly a year, you arrive off the familiar tropical paradise of Tahiti and sail into Toaroa Bay.

You and Lieutenant Haywood, a lazy and arrogant character whom you despise, remain on board the HMS Pandora while parties of heavily armed sailors go ashore. They swiftly return with three men (Armourer Joseph Coleman and Midshipmen Peter Heywood and George Stewart) who surrender themselves and the following day they capture another man. The remaining Mutineers flee into the mountains prompting sailors to scour the island in order to capture them all.

Within two weeks three more men are captured and a fourth has surrendered. By the middle of April six more men have been captured bringing the total up to fourteen of the twenty-five who remained on the Bounty, including all four of the men who wanted to join Bligh in the boat but had no space to do so. They claim two of the remaining men were killed in fights on the island while the other nine Mutineers sailed away aboard the Bounty with several Tahitians in September of 1789 and they haven’t been seen since. The Natives confirm these stories.

With nine Mutineers and the Bounty still missing Captain England hoists anchor on 8 May and sets sail to find them. The fourteen prisoners are kept in a specially designed prison on the Pandora's deck.
> You disaster!
The Pandora spends three fruitless months scouring the Pacific for signs of the remaining pirates and the Bounty while the fourteen Mutineers they have captured are kept imprisoned in a makeshift prison cell on the quarterdeck inevitably dubbed “Pandora’s Box”. The voyage is hopeless: with hundreds, if not thousands, of islands to hide on the chances of finding the Bounty and the Mutineers is small.

Disaster strikes you once more one summer’s day when the Pandora runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef. She immediately begins sinking and all efforts to either free her or patch up the damage is hopeless. By the next day she is listing worse than ever and you and Haywood are among the first into the boats. The Mutineers are not released in time and four of them drown, only ten swim to the safety of the boats.

The survivors of the Pandora, about one hundred of you including the prisoners re-assemble on a small sand cay. Once more you are sailing to Coupang in four open boats and from there onto Batavia and thence to England, this time with your ten prisoners in tow. The prospect of repeating the same arduous trip you took before fills you with dismay but there is nothing else you can do.
> Another remarkable voyage
This time your return back to England is much easier than last time.

You reach Coupang after a voyage of twenty days and from there arrange transport on to Batavia. In Batavia you are lucky enough to find the HMS Gorgon at anchor and board it to return to England. You reach England one summer’s day and disembark at Spithead with your ten prisoners in tow. Altogether fifty-six of the one hundred and thirty-four-man crew of the Pandora died during the sinking or of disease as well as four of the prisoners. Captain Edwards is court martialed and acquitted of the loss of the Pandora and the Admiralty prepares for the trial of the surviving Bounty Mutineers.
> You trials
Following your safe return to England a Court Martial is quickly arranged to try the ten captured mutineers you and Haywood managed to help the crew of the Pandora get back. Bligh and another of your former comrades, a sailor called Lawrence LeBogue, have gone sailing on a second voyage to try and do what Bligh failed to do on his first voyage and deliver breadfruit from Tahiti to the slave plantations in Jamaica.

The Admiralty requests that as many of the eleven remaining loyal members of the Bounty crew that can be found (not counting Bligh and LeBogue) should testify against the ten captured mutineers and you read in newspapers that seven, including Fryer, Cole, Peckover, Purcell and Haywood, have volunteered their services. You wonder whether you should go or not.
> You testify against your former companions
You decide to attend the court martial proceedings aboard the HMS Duke overseen by Admiral Hood. Of the ten prisoners Carpenter’s Mates Thomas McIntosh and Charles Norman, Armourer Joseph Coleman and Seaman Michael Byrne have letters from Bligh allowing that they wanted to join him in his boat but had to remain aboard the Bounty due to lack of room. They are quickly acquitted.

Sailing Master John Fryer, Boatswain William Cole, Gunner William Peckover, Carpenter William Purcell, Lieutenants Thomas Hayward and John Hallet, Seaman John Smith and yourself all testify against the six remainder: Midshipman Peter Heywood, Boatswain’s Mate James Morrison and Seamen Thomas Burkett, Thomas Ellison, John Millward and William Muspratt. With eighteen former crew members of the Bounty present it is the closest you get to a reunion.

Heywood fights a strong case, pointing out he was just sixteen at the time, that he slept through most of what was going on and arrived on deck too late to help and wanted to join Bligh in the boat but there was no room. Witnesses agree they never saw him helping the mutineers but also that he never did much to help the Loyalists either. Ultimately the Judges decided to pardon him.

Morrison is another man who wins a pardon, arguing a tenacious defense that successfully convinced the Judge’s he had also taken no part either for or against the Mutineers. Muspratt has a harder time as he was seen at the time of the mutiny standing by with a musket in his hands. He wins a pardon largely based on a technicality: his request to call Byrn and Norman as witnesses was refused and a mistrial was later ruled.

Burkett, Ellison and Millward had no chance. Burkett was among those who forced Bligh from his cabin at gunpoint. Ellison and Millward both had cutlasses in their hands and took an active part in forcing people into the boat. All three are sentenced to be hung and two months after the court martial all three are executed upon the HMS Brunswick in Spithead and their bodies left hanging for all to see.

The following summer Bligh returned from his breadfruit expedition, doubtless disappointed to have missed the trials of the Bounty mutineers. This voyage had been a success but on bringing the breadfruit to Jamaica the slaves refused to eat it, not liking the taste. It seems that the reason behind the voyage of the Bounty, and everything that arose from it, was fundamentally pointless.
> The Future
By the end of 1793 there are just thirteen men who survived the boat journey to Coupang in England, including you. Of these you have lost contact with Gunner William Peckover, Clerk John Samuel and Captain’s Servant John Smith. You know some of your former companions have had enough and want to retire from the sea but most are happy to keep serving. You must make your choice.
> You retire from the sea
The years go by and as you age you read in newspapers about what befalls your former comrades. Lieutenant John Hallett dies in 1794 of lingering malaria from your voyages. Lieutenant Thomas Haywood drowns when the HMS Swift sinks in 1798, Sailmaker Lawrence LeBogue dies of a fall the same year. Quartermaster’s Mate George Simpson dies on land in 1801. Others go on to long and distinguished careers.

William Bligh and John Fryer both enjoy success and promotion in the Navy, both die in 1817. Midshipman Robert Tinkler dies in 1820. Boatswain William Cole dies ashore in 1833 and the last of your companions, opinionated Carpenter William Purcell dies in 1834. You live on, well into your sixties and in your later years you finally learn what happened to the Bounty and its missing nine Mutineers, including Fletcher Christian.

In 1808 an American ship, the Topaz, happens upon isolated Pitcairn Island. There the sailors are astonished to discover a thriving Tahitian Community ruled over by one man: John Adams. He is the sole survivor of the nine Mutineers and six Natives who landed on that island and variously killed each other or died of illness leaving Adams patriarch of a thriving community of forty-six people, except for him all women or children. The Admiralty decides against taking any action.

John Adams, the King of Pitcairn Island, dies in 1829.
> You conclusion
By the end of 1835 you have outlived every single one of the forty-six men who sailed from England aboard the Bounty in the winter of 1787 and go to your grave peacefully.

From 1787-1793 twenty-four, over half, of the Bounty's crew died of disease, drowned, were killed by Natives or each other or were killed in England. Over the next fourteen years seven more met similar fates. Of the entire Crew only nine are known to have definitely suffered natural deaths. You are one of the few lucky ones who experienced disease, piracy, Native attacks, shipwrecks, fighting and all the other hazards that befell you and survived. Ultimately hundreds of deaths including seventy-eight Natives killed on Tubai, and the fifty-eight who died from the HMS Pandora’s crew, are connected with the Mutiny on the Bounty.

Even the 2012 death of Claudene Christian, Fletcher Christian’s descendent, who drowned when the Bounty, a replica of the HMS Bounty, sank during Hurricane Sandy, can be connected to the Mutiny.

Singularly each of these events, the Mutiny, the wrecking of the Pandora, the Trials of the Mutineers in Spithead, Massacre Day on Pitcairn, the loss of the replica Bounty were fairly common place events, especially in the 1700’s and 1800’s in England but taken altogether they form a remarkable story. The greatest legacy of this remarkable legacy is the still-populated island of Pitcairn, with approximately fifty people descended from Pirates it remains the smallest country in the world.

So who was ultimately to blame for the Mutiny, Bligh or Christian?

Carpenter William Purcell, who hated Bligh, had no doubt.

“Christian was a gentleman,” he told Christian’s brother after his return to England. “A brave man and every officer and seaman on board the ship would have gone through fire and water to serve him. As much as I have lost and suffered by him if he could be restored to his country I should be the first to go without wages in search of him.”

It was Christian’s fate, in a moment of madness, to set off a chain of events that would end with him being shot in the back while carrying wood across his garden on Pitcairn four years later. There is a tale oft-told on Pitcairn of a certain cave that Christian had stocked with muskets in case he needed to make a last stand if the island were ever found by the Royal Navy. Often he sat alone up there at night, mournfully reflecting on all that he had lost and the nineteen men he had cast adrift at sea for the sins of one of them.

The story of the Mutiny on the Bounty can be seen as much as a Tragedy as an Adventure.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story.
> You sources
I will end this story game with a few notes about my Sources.

The story of the Mutiny on the Bounty has been made into movies five times, in 1916, in 1933 (with Errol Flynn), in 1935 (with Clark Gable), in 1962 (with Marlon Brando and Richard Harris) and in 1984 (with Laurence Olivier, Anthony Hopkins, Mel Gibson, Daniel Day-Lewis and Liam Neeson). The most recent version is also the most accurate and all are worth watching, if only for entertainment value.

Wikipedia gave me a good start on sources about the Bounty, the Pitcairn Islands Study Centre proved an invaluable resource and the Famous Trials page on the Mutiny on the Bounty by Doug Linder provided me with detailed accounts of the 1792 trial of the surviving mutineers. Firsthand accounts by William Bligh and a rather good later 1831 book by Sir John Barrow, accessed through Project Gutenberg, also helped immerse myself in the period including Bligh’s bizarre vocabulary of insults.

As the replica of the HMS Bounty used in the 1984 movie in anchored off Lantau Island in Hong Kong I took the opportunity to pop over from Shenzhen and see it (from a distance as it is a privately-owned ship) on one of my rest days. This replica was made in 1979 and helped drive home the small size of the Bounty, as already noted a second vessel made in 1962 sank during Hurricane Sandy fifty years later resulting in the death of two people including Fletcher Christian’s descendent Claudene Christian. The Christian Science Monitor called her death “an almost inexplicable twist in that family’s legacy”.

One of my biggest hopes for the future is to one day visit Pitcairn Island.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story.

NOTE: IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT THE VARIOUS FATES OF THE BOUNTY CREW USE THIS ITEM.


By the end of 1793 there are just thirteen men who survived the boat journey to Coupang in England, including you. Of these you have lost contact with Gunner William Peckover, Clerk John Samuel and Captain’s Servant John Smith. You know some of your former companions have had enough and want to retire from the sea but most are happy to keep serving. You must make your choice.
> You find another ship
You decide to resume service at sea and look about for whom to serve. William Bligh is now Captain of the HMS Calcutta, you could serve with him. Sailing Master John Fryer is now serving with the HMS Britannia. Lieutenant John Hallett is with the HMS Penelope. Lieutenant Thomas Haywood is the Lieutenant Commanding of the sloop HMS Swift. Lieutenant Robert Tinkler is aboard the HMS Isis. Sailmaker Lawrence LeBogue is serving aboard the HMS Jason. You can choose who to follow.
> You captain William Bligh
You join William Bligh and serve with him for the next twenty years. You are with him at the Battle of Camperdown in 1797 and fight for him under Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. In 1805 you accompany him to Australia to rule as Governor and stick with him when he is deposed in yet another mutiny, a Rum Rebellion in 1808 in which he is imprisoned for two years before returning to England. He is cleared of blame once more, serves at sea for three more years before retiring, a Vice Admiral. He dies in 1817 at the age of 63.

You live on, well into your sixties and in your later years you finally learn what happened to the Bounty and its missing nine Mutineers, including Fletcher Christian. In 1808 an American ship, the Topaz, happens upon isolated Pitcairn Island. There the sailors are astonished to discover a thriving Tahitian Community ruled over by one man: John Adams. He is the sole survivor of the nine Mutineers and six Natives who landed on that island and variously killed each other or died of illness leaving Adams patriarch of a thriving community of forty-six people. The Admiralty decides against taking any action.

John Adams, the King of Pitcairn Island, dies in 1829.


You decide to resume service at sea and look about for whom to serve. William Bligh is now Captain of the HMS Calcutta, you could serve with him. Sailing Master John Fryer is now serving with the HMS Britannia. Lieutenant John Hallett is with the HMS Penelope. Lieutenant Thomas Haywood is the Lieutenant Commanding of the sloop HMS Swift. Lieutenant Robert Tinkler is aboard the HMS Isis. Sailmaker Lawrence LeBogue is serving aboard the HMS Jason. You can choose who to follow.
> You sailing Master John Fryer
You join John Fryer and serve with him for the next eighteen years. You are with him under Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. He rises to become one of the foremost Sailing Masters in the Royal Navy before retiring in 1812 and dying five years later at the age of 63. You retire from the sea soon after.

You live on, well into your sixties and in your later years you finally learn what happened to the Bounty and its missing nine Mutineers, including Fletcher Christian. In 1808 an American ship, the Topaz, happens upon isolated Pitcairn Island. There the sailors are astonished to discover a thriving Tahitian Community ruled over by one man: John Adams. He is the sole survivor of the nine Mutineers and six Natives who landed on that island and variously killed each other or died of illness leaving Adams patriarch of a thriving community of forty-six people. The Admiralty decides against taking any action.

John Adams, the King of Pitcairn Island, dies in 1829.


You decide to resume service at sea and look about for whom to serve. William Bligh is now Captain of the HMS Calcutta, you could serve with him. Sailing Master John Fryer is now serving with the HMS Britannia. Lieutenant John Hallett is with the HMS Penelope. Lieutenant Thomas Haywood is the Lieutenant Commanding of the sloop HMS Swift. Lieutenant Robert Tinkler is aboard the HMS Isis. Sailmaker Lawrence LeBogue is serving aboard the HMS Jason. You can choose who to follow.
> You lieutenant John Hallett
You join Lieutenant John Hallett aboard the HMS Penelope but unfortunately neither of you are destined for a long career. You continue to suffer from malaria you became infected with during your voyage and your health worsens. Despite the fact you are both in your early twenties it quickly becomes apparent it is fatal. The two of you journey to Hallett’s home in Bedford where you succumb to your illness.


You decide to resume service at sea and look about for whom to serve. William Bligh is now Captain of the HMS Calcutta, you could serve with him. Sailing Master John Fryer is now serving with the HMS Britannia. Lieutenant John Hallett is with the HMS Penelope. Lieutenant Thomas Haywood is the Lieutenant Commanding of the sloop HMS Swift. Lieutenant Robert Tinkler is aboard the HMS Isis. Sailmaker Lawrence LeBogue is serving aboard the HMS Jason. You can choose who to follow.
> You lieutenant Thomas Haywood
You join Lieutenant Thomas Haywood aboard his sloop the HMS Swift and spend four happy years running letters for the Royal Navy in Asian waters. Your careers come to an end one terrible night when your ship is sunk with all hands in the South China Sea. The sea is an unforgiving mystery.


You decide to resume service at sea and look about for whom to serve. William Bligh is now Captain of the HMS Calcutta, you could serve with him. Sailing Master John Fryer is now serving with the HMS Britannia. Lieutenant John Hallett is with the HMS Penelope. Lieutenant Thomas Haywood is the Lieutenant Commanding of the sloop HMS Swift. Lieutenant Robert Tinkler is aboard the HMS Isis. Sailmaker Lawrence LeBogue is serving aboard the HMS Jason. You can choose who to follow.
> You sailmaker Lawrence LeBogue
You join Sailmaker Lawrence LeBogue and enjoy his steadfast and resolute companionship during three years of voyages around the world aboard the HMS Jason. Your voyages come to an end one terrible day when a poorly tied rope gives way beneath your hands. Both of you plummet to the deck, killed instantly by the fall. Your bodies are tied in hammocks and thrown overboard: just two more dead sailors.


Following your safe return to England a Court Martial is quickly arranged to try the ten captured mutineers you and Haywood managed to help the crew of the Pandora get back. Bligh and another of your former comrades, a sailor called Lawrence LeBogue, have gone sailing on a second voyage to try and do what Bligh failed to do on his first voyage and deliver breadfruit from Tahiti to the slave plantations in Jamaica.

The Admiralty requests that as many of the eleven remaining loyal members of the Bounty crew that can be found (not counting Bligh and LeBogue) should testify against the ten captured mutineers and you read in newspapers that seven, including Fryer, Cole, Peckover, Purcell and Haywood, have volunteered their services. You wonder whether you should go or not.
> You remain in Portsmouth
You stay away from the trial of your shipmates and read about the proceedings in the newspapers. The detained Loyalists Carpenter’s Mates Thomas McIntosh and Charles Norman, Armourer Joseph Coleman and Seaman Michael Byrne were quickly pardoned. Midshipman Peter Heywood, Boatswain’s Mate James Morrison and Seaman William Muspratt manage to persuade the Judges they took no active part in the mutiny and win a pardon. Seamen Thomas Burkett, Thomas Ellison and John Millward are found guilty and executed.

The following summer Bligh returned from his breadfruit expedition, doubtless disappointed to have missed the trials of the Bounty mutineers. This voyage had been a success but on bringing the breadfruit to Jamaica the slaves refused to eat it, not liking the taste. It seems that the reason behind the voyage of the Bounty, and everything that arose from it, was fundamentally pointless.


Just thirteen of the twenty loyal crew members cast adrift with Bligh survive to return to England in the spring and summer of 1790, yourself among them. Bligh quickly reports the Mutiny on the Bounty and publishes a book about it, snappily titled A Narrative Of The Mutiny On Board His Majesty’s Ship Bounty And The Subsequent Voyage Of Part Of The Crew In The Ship’s Boat, which you never both to read.

In October Bligh is court martialed for the loss of the Bounty, acquitted and subsequently promoted from Lieutenant to Post Captain. The Admiralty begins making plans to deal with the twenty-five Bounty pirates and decides to send the 24-gun frigate HMS Pandora with 134 men under Captain Edward England to Tahiti to capture all the pirates they can find and bring them back to England for trial. The Admiralty puts out a request for former crew of the Bounty to join the voyage to help identify the pirates and Midshipman Thomas Haywood volunteers for the voyage in exchange for a promotion to Third Lieutenant.

You consider whether to go or not.
> You remain in England
You remain in England while the HMS Pandora sets sail and continue to rest for another year. To your amazement you soon get word that William Bligh is setting sail to Tahiti again to fulfil the mission he failed at last time: gather breadfruit and transport them to Jamaica. This time he is traveling aboard the HMS Providence, a much larger and powerful 10-gun sloop-of-war with a crew of one hundred. Among this crew is Lawrence LeBogue, a sailor who survived the open boat voyage to Coupang and Batavia with you and Bligh.

Bligh sends a letter to you asking if you would like to join him on this voyage.
> You accept
Against your better judgement you agree to sail with Bligh again. To your surprise this voyage goes absolutely smoothly. After leaving England in August of 1791 you reach Tahiti the following April. There you learn that the previous summer the HMS Pandora arrived in Tahiti and captured fourteen of the Bounty mutineers (two having previously been killed in violent altercations). Nine of the mutineers had sailed off aboard the Bounty in the autumn of 1789 but the Pandora left in search of them and Bligh is confident all the Pirates will be tracked down and captured.

You stay in Tahiti only three months, leaving that July and sailing onto Jamaica. You reach Jamaica in January of 1793 with the breadfruit for the plantation slaves where you discover something that makes you laugh. The slaves can’t stand the taste of breadfruit and refuse to eat it. The whole breadfruit expeditions and everything that arose from them were, fundamentally, pointless.

You stay in Jamaica for five months, enjoying the Caribbean and all it has to offer, before sailing onto England, arriving that September. There you learn more news of the Pandora: at the same time you set sail she was wrecked on a reef and many of the crew, including four of the captured pirates, drowned. The remainder struggled back to England last year and after trials three of the mutineers were hanged, of the others four had been the detained loyalists while the last three escaped execution due to extenuating circumstances.

The Admiralty now feels that enough justice has been done. The whereabouts of the Bounty and the nine mutineers who sailed from Tahiti in the autumn of 1789 must, it appears, remain a mystery of the sea.


You remain in England while the HMS Pandora sets sail and continue to rest for another year. To your amazement you soon get word that William Bligh is setting sail to Tahiti again to fulfil the mission he failed at last time: gather breadfruit and transport them to Jamaica. This time he is traveling aboard the HMS Providence, a much larger and powerful 10-gun sloop-of-war with a crew of one hundred. Among this crew is Lawrence LeBogue, a sailor who survived the open boat voyage to Coupang and Batavia with you and Bligh.

Bligh sends a letter to you asking if you would like to join him on this voyage.
> You refuse
You decline Bligh’s unattractive offer to sail with him again and remain in England for another year. The time passes quietly until, quite unexpectedly, the crew of the HMS Pandora return to Portsmouth aboard another ship. It seems that on arrival in Tahiti the previous year the Pandora found and captured fourteen of the mutineers, two having been killed in fights and another nine having sailed off aboard the Bounty previously. While searching for the Bounty and the remaining pirates the Pandora sank off the Great Reef with the loss of many lives, including four of the mutineers. The surviving crew, including the remaining ten mutineers, sailed to Coupang in open boats, much as you did, then to Batavia and from there returned to England.

The Admiralty requests that as many of the eleven remaining loyal members of the Bounty crew that can be found (Bligh and LeBogue are still off on Bligh’s second breadfruit voyage) should testify against the ten captured mutineers and you read in newspapers that seven, including Fryer, Cole, Peckover, Purcell and Haywood, have volunteered their services. You wonder whether you should go or not.