BLIGH, William, English navigator: b. Plymouth, England, 9 Sept. 1754; d. 7 Dec. 1817. He acquired considerable celebrity from having been the commander of the ship Bounty when the crew mutinied in the South Seas and carried her off. She had been fitted out for the purpose of procuring plants of the bread-fruit trees and introducing these into the West Indies. Bligh, who had sailed with Captain Cook on his second voyage round the world, and served with Lord Howe before Gibraltar in 1783, obtained the command, and in December 1787, left Spithead for Otaheite, where he arrived, and remained till April 1789. Having loaded his vessel with plants he set sail and was proceeding on his voyage for Jamaica when he was seized in bed, bound and brought on deck. The launch was lowered, and Bligh, with 18 men supposed to he well disposed to him, were forced into it, with no other pro vision than 150 pounds of bread, 32 pounds of pork, a little rum and wine, and 28 gallons of water. Thus scantily provided they found themselves in the open sea, not far from the island of Tofoa, in lat. 19° S. and long. 184°
E., and managed by admirable skill and per severance, though not without enduring fear ful hardships, to reach the island of Timor in 41 days, after running 3,618 miles without the loss of a single man. Ultimately 12 of the number reached England. Bligh in a second voyage accomplished the object of the first by giving the bread-fruit tree to the West India Islands. When several of the mutineers were afterward tried at Portsmouth, sufficient evidence was obtained to show that Bligh him self was not free from blame, and had on many occasions been too much inclined to play the tyrant. This feature in his character was afterward manifested on a larger scale. In 1805 he was appointed governor of New South Wales, and acted so harshly that the other authorities interfered and put him in confine ment. After his return he became a rear admiral. See PITCAIRN ISLAND.