BLIGH, WILLIAM (1754-1817), English admiral, accom panied Captain Cook (q.v.) in his second expedition (1772-74), as sailing master of the "Resolution." He was nicknamed "bread fruit Bligh" because of the discovery of the fruit on the voyage, and was sent in 1787 in H.M.S. "Bounty" to the Pacific, to fetch bread-fruit for introduction to the West Indies. On his return from Otaheite a mutiny broke out (1789) on the "Bounty," and Bligh, with 18 others, was set adrift. The mutineers settled on Pitcairn Island. Bligh eventually landed at Timor in the East Indies, having made a voyage of about 4,000 miles in an open boat. He returned to England, and ultimately introduced the bread-fruit tree into the West Indies. Bligh fought at Copen hagen (i8oi), and from 18o5–o8 was governor of New South Wales. There his soldiers mutinied against him, and he was a prisoner until 181o. He died in London in 1817. The mutiny on the "Bounty" inspired Lord Byron's "The Island." (See