in its early years, the society offered prizes — which it called "premiums" — for people who could successfully achieve one of a number of published challenges. captain william bligh suffered the mutiny on the bounty while attempting to win a premium for shipping breadfruit from the east to the west indies. he tried again and this time succeeded, and the society awarded him the prize. the society offered premiums for a very wide range of challenges including inventing new forms of machinery and agricultural improvements (which included seeking ways to improve the cultivation of opium poppies).