1. William Bligh was born in 1754 and served as cabin boy and captain’s servant on HMS Monmouth from 1761, when he was still only six.
2. His father worked as a customs officer.
3. In 1776, he was chosen by James Cook to be sailing master on the Resolution on Cook’s third and final voyage to the Pacific.
4. At the time of the mutiny in 1789, HMS Bounty was on a mission to find breadfruit plants in Tahiti and transport them to the West Indies.
5. Bligh was cast adrift with 18 loyal crewmen with enough food and water for about a week.
6. They were also given four cutlasses, a compass, and a quadrant, but no maps.
7. Bligh made it to Timor, which was more than 4,000 miles away. The journey took 47 days.
8. From 1790 to 1805, Bligh resumed his naval career and was appointed Commander or Captain of a dozen further ships.
9. He served as Governor of New South Wales from 1806-1808.
10. The ackee fruit of Jamaica was named Blighia sapida after he introduced it to the Royal Society.