Bligh

William, the commander of the English ship “ Bounty” when the crew mutinied in the South Seas and carried her off, was born at Plymouth in 1753. The “ Bounty ” had been fitted out for the purpose of procuring plants of the bread fruit tree, and introducing these into the West Indies. Bligh left Tahiti in 1789, and was proceeding on his voyage for Jamaica when he was seized, and, with 18 men supposed to be well affected to him, forced into the launch, sparingly provisioned, and cast adrift; but Bligh, with 12 of his companions, arrived in England in 1790, while the mutineers settled on Pitcairn Island, where their descendants still exist. Bligh became Governor of New South Wales in 1806, but his harsh and despotic conduct caused him to be deposed and sent back to England. He afterward rose to the rank of Admiral, and died in London in 1817.