Bligh's Bounty

Leaf 159 – Reflections

 

Robert Dodd - The Mutineers turning Lt. Bligh and Officers Adrift on 29 April 1789 (1790)

This is one of two maritime-themed poems which I wrote around the same time. The other one, titled: ‘The Returning Wave,’ won Oatleaf Magazine’s monthly poetry competition (July 2025). The historical theme of ‘Bligh’s Bounty’ is factual rather than fictional, although there is a large degree of fictional speculation infused within it, particularly with regard to Bligh’s thoughts and feelings (and, while he was in charge of the Bounty when the famous mutiny took place in 1789, Bligh was actually ‘Commanding lieutenant’ at that time, rather than Captain):

 

 

BLIGH’S BOUNTY

 

A small ship stuck in a smaller bottle,

brewing a tempest of dark cloud within;

rudely wrested from his sole command,

set adrift and abandoned all at sea;

Captain Bligh, muttering of misfortune

and mutiny, in an open boat nursed

across 3,500 nautical miles of dead

reckoning – by an unforgiving ego;

seething more with every swell survived,

outriding fate and rigging out for fame

as sure as the bountiful sea’s return;

Captain’s word is law, self-regarding,

he swore: “Ye shall reap as ye didst sow.”

 

 

 

John Webber - William Bligh (1775)

 This poem was originally written and posted on Bluesky in response to a #ws366 writing prompt: bounty.