When mutiny on a ship is mentioned, there is only one that comes to the public’s mind. Helped by countless books, TV documentaries and films, the popular view of naval mutiny is synonymous with the events that overtook the Bounty in the lonely South Pacific. Naval historians point out, in vain, how unusual this mutiny was, not least because it was led by an officer. Some indication of its continuing fascination can be judged by the £17K paid at auction in June 2017 for a rusty lump of iron reputed to be a cannon from the wreck of the Bounty. The story of the mutiny began with an expedition organised in 1787 to collect bread fruit plants from Tahiti and take them to the West Indies. The bread
HMS Bellerophon was affectionately known by the sailors who served on her as the “Billy Ruffian.” She was a 74-gun ship of the line launched in 1786, one of a class of forty third-rates built in the 1770s and 80s to modernise the Royal Navy. These ships would go on to form the backbone of the battle fleet throughout the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and few ships would see more action than Bellerophon. She was commissioned at the very start of the war and joined the Channel Fleet, where she gained a reputation for being unusually fast for a ship of the line. This resulted in her use as a scout ahead of the main fleet, and as a result it was Bellerophon that led the fleet into action for
