William Bligh

William Bligh (1754-1817) was an officer of the British Royal Navy and a colonial administrator eventually rising in rank to vice admiral. During his command of the Bounty in 1789, a notorious mutiny occurred. Captain Blih and eighteen of his loyal seamen were expelled from the Bounty onto a small boat and began the greatest open-boat voyage in history, sailing some 4,000 miles to protection in Timor. He returned to Britain and reported the mutiny to the Admiralty two years and two and a half months after leaving England.