THE CAPE HORN ROAD, PART XV
Britain Keeps the Sea and Contains European Militarism for the 100 Years of the Pax Britannica by Peter Stanford he littl e ship, just 90 fee t long on deck, was tackling in the tumult of the raging sea. But, when she coul d, she Cape Horn at the wrong time of year. Starting in late res umed her adv ance. Progress was slow . More than three March 1788-early autumn in the southern hemi - weeks after coming past Tierra de l Fuego and into Cape Horn sphere- she was assaulted by a series of Cape Horn snorters. waters, she had fou ght her way onl y a little to the west of the U nder short canvas she battl ed her way to windward aga in st Horn and far to the south , the course the Admi ralty recomhorrendous dri vi ng snowstorm s and towering seas. The cap- mended, based on what they knew-but it was not a good one, tain was a seaman of long experience, who had sailed as as the Captain reali zed, since hi s meticulou s navi gation made nav igator with Captain Cook through the Roaring Forti es and him full y aware of the ship 's stalemated positi on. One James Morri son, boatswa in 's mate, and thereby a the gales of the Southern Ocean a decade earlier, earning good marks from hi s fa mous mentor, but he noted in hi s journal that leader and spokesman for the crew, maintained a j ournal he had never encountered a "Sea so very hi gh, and the Weather th rough these chaoti c scenes and all that followed. He was a side of it like a wall. " yeoman, as it were, standing on hi s own feet between the It was biting cold , but the Captain kept the men on the foredeck hands and the gentry aft. He noted that far to the south, three-watch system he had learned from Cook, ass uring them where they were supposed to go to master the Horn , and where of e ight hours off for every four on deck-except for neces- they had fin all y arri ved, they continued to lose ground . And sary call s for all hands on deck. With fires in the ship 's stoves " tho the ship was an excellent Sea Boat," he observed, it was much as she could do to li ve in "thi s the men could dry their clothes in the ir off watches. T he crew were in tremendous sea where the E lements robu st health go ing into the ordea l, seem to wage Continual War. " thanks to the healthy diet Cook had He furth er observed that despite the loss of some hands to sickness dev ised to prevent scurv y, which the Captain insisted the men fo lor injury, "the behavi our of the Sealow , and a regimen that included men in thi s trying Situati on, was mu sic, dancing and singing. He al so such as Merited the entire Approbainsisted on a fiddler to pipe a stave tion of the Officers, and Mr. Blighs in the evenings and had final! y fo und thanks in a Publi ck speech." a good one just before sailing. He Before serious damage was inwas signed on, des pite the fact that flicted on the ship, and further inthe man , Abl e Seaman Mi chae l jury on the crew, Lieutenant WillByrne, was more than half blind. iam Bligh of Hi s Majesty's Ship But there was no dancing or singBounty turned back and ran before ing as the small wooden ship fou ght the icy gales to reach hi s South her way to windward against the Pac ific destination. "B 1igh had been icy, avalanching seas that continudefeated by the Horn ," notes Sam ously buried the ship in rushing McKinney in hi s outstand ing study water. Men came down from aloft Captain William Bligh (1754-1817) was a superb Bligh. He has thi s further to say: staggering and sometimes, the Cap- navigator and shipmaster, but flawed in his dealing He and his skills had been pushed to tain te ll s us in hi s account, unable to wirh the vital element in any ship , the ship's people. the outer limits o{human ability. By speak, their faces numbed by lanc- (Watercolor by J. Smart, 1803) leadership and command he had ing sleet and snow. And the ship? held a ship and its company together The ship kept cras hing her way into the oncoming walls of where others before him had failed, losing neither a man nor hurtling water, which wracked her frame so that the seams a spar in the month-long battle with the winds of Cape Horn. 1 opened up here and there, and water sprayed into the men 's Bligh? B li gh of the Bounty, and that mutiny peopl e have quarters fo rward . The Captain , remarkably, gave up his own talked about so much? The ship 's name, and her captain 's, cabin aft to " those poor fellow s" who had been washed out of automaticall y evoke for most people the image of crew ri sing their berths in the forecastle. in arms against a cruelly unjust captain . Let 's take a look at One may pi cture these men staggering aft in the dusk of the what actuall y happened. Let's see what the Bounty mutiny has slanted tween decks of the little ship, bent over, dragg ing their to te ll us about the ships and people of Bri tain 's Royal Navy clothing and hammocks with them, and bedding down again in the era of its shaping influence in world history. in unfamiliar territory aft- " officers' country ," as it has been From Hell to Paradise-and Back call ed from time immemorial. They were, as the nations had "I have been in hell ," snarled Fletcher Chri sti an as he fo rced begun to learn , the best seamen in the world , and they were Bligh into the Bounty' s longboat at sword 's po int, soon after sailing with a skipper who knew their worth , though at a the ship had left Tahiti . The mi ss ion of the voyage had been to criti cal moment he was to lose his ability to lead them, and be gather breadfruit trees fo r transpl anting to the Caribbean forever remembered fo r that. islands to grow homegro wn food for the slave labor fo rces of The unremitting struggle continued as the ship and her the great sugar plantations which generated incredible wealth people continued to battle screaming winds and overwhelming seas, sometimes unable to set any sa il at all as the wind 'Sam McKinney,Bligh: ATrueAccountofMutinyAboard His Maj esty's blew sail s out of the ir bolt-ropes, leaving the ship powerless Ship Bounty (Internati onal Marine, Camden ME, 1992), p. 43.
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SEA HISTORY 85 , SUMMER 1998