Mutiny on the Bounty

Spotlight: Mutiny on the Bounty: On this date in 1789, most of the crew of the British ship Bounty — led by Fletcher Christian — mutinied, setting the ship's captain William Bligh and 18 loyal sailors adrift in an open launch in the South Pacific. It took 47 days for the boat to travel the 3,618 nautical miles (6,710 km) to Timor in the Dutch East Indies; the crew had no navigational instruments other than a sextant and a pocket watch. Bligh and his crew returned to Britain in March 1790, and reported the mutiny. Three of the mutineers were later tried, convicted and hanged. Bligh went to trial for losing his ship, and was acquitted.

Quote: "So you'll face me with a court of inquiry, eh, in England. Well, Mr. Christian, we're a long way from England and what can happen on this ship before we get there may surprise even you." — Captain Bligh to Fletcher Christian in the 1935 film, Mutiny on the Bounty