Mutiny On The Bounty - Mission Details - Crew List

Crew List

In the 18th century Royal Navy, rank and position on board ship was defined by a mix of two hierarchies, an official hierarchy of ranks (commissioned officers, warrant officers, petty officers and seamen) and a conventionally recognized social divide between gentlemen and non-gentlemen. Royal Navy uniforms were often used to denote rank and position on board ships; however, due to the lengthy and isolated voyage of the Bounty, uniforms were not worn daily on board while the ship was underway.

At the top of the official rank hierarchy were the commissioned officers — on a larger warship, the commissioned officers included the captain, several lieutenants to command watches, and the officers commanding the Royal Marines on board the ship. The Bounty, however, carried no marines, and no commissioned officers other than Lieutenant Bligh himself, who served as master and commander of the ship. As he was effectively the captain, he occupied a private cabin.

Next below the commissioned officers came the warrant officers, such as the sailing master, surgeon, boatswain, purser and gunner, who were as likely to be considered skilled tradesmen as gentlemen. As the senior warrant officer, the sailing master and his mates were entitled to berth with the lieutenants in the wardroom (though in this case there were no lieutenants there); other warrant officers berthed in the gunroom. Like commissioned officers, warrant officers had the right of access to the quarterdeck and were immune from punishment by flogging. They held their warrants directly from the navy, and the captain could not alter their rank. Roman Catholics were allowed to serve as warrant officers, but not as commissioned officers.

Below the warrant officers came the petty officers. The petty officers included two separate groups: young gentlemen training to be future commissioned officers, often serving as midshipmen or master's mates, and tradesmen working as skilled assistants to the warrant officers. Although the young gentlemen technically were ratings, holding a rank below warrant officers at the mercy of the captain, as aspiring future commissioned officers they were considered socially superior and were often given a watch (with authority over some warrant officers) or a minor command.

Finally, at the bottom of the hierarchical tree, were the seamen, divided into able seamen and ordinary seamen. Aboard some vessels, an even lower grade existed called landsman, who were seamen-in-training with very little or no naval skill. On board the Bounty, due to the vessel's long and fairly important mission, the only seamen mustered into the crew were able seamen – the ship did not carry any ordinary seamen or landsmen.

Note, however, that the young gentlemen might also be rated as seamen rather than midshipmen on the ship's books; though they were still considered the social superiors of the seamen, petty officers (excluding other young gentlemen) and most warrant officers and could be given authority over them.

In the immediate wake of the mutiny, all but four of the loyal crew joined Captain Bligh in the long boat for the voyage to Timor, and eventually made it safely back to England unless otherwise noted in the table below. Four were detained against their will on the Bounty for their needed skills and for lack of space on the long boat. The mutineers first returned to Tahiti, where most of the survivors were later captured by the Pandora and taken to England for trial. Nine mutineers continued their flight from the law and eventually settled Pitcairn Island, where all but one died before their fate became known to the outside world.

Crew of the Bounty in 1788–89

Category	Name	Position	Mutiny Status	Notes
Commissioned Officers	Lieutenant William Bligh	Commanding Lieutenant		Acting Purser
Wardroom Officers	John Fryer	Sailing Master demoted mid-cruise to Master's Mate	loyal	died at Wells-next-the-Sea on 26 May 1817
	Fletcher Christian	Master's Mate promoted mid-cruise to Acting Lieutenant and Sailing Master	mutinied	to Pitcairn; killed 20 September 1793
	William Elphinstone	Master's Mate	loyal	died in Batavia October 1789
	Thomas Huggan	Surgeon		died in Tahiti 9 December 1788 before mutiny
Cockpit Officers	John Hallett	Midshipman	loyal	Died 1794 of illness
	Thomas Hayward	Midshipman	loyal	Died 1798 in shipwreck
	Thomas Ledward	Surgeon's Mate	loyal	promoted to Surgeon after death of Thomas Huggan; presumed lost at sea in sinking of Welfare 1789 but reported to have been ship surgeon on HMS Discovery in 1791 and died several years later
	John Samuel	Clerk	loyal
Warrant Officers	William Cole	Boatswain	loyal
	Charles Churchill	Master-at-Arms (Ship's Corporal)	mutinied	to Tahiti; murdered by Matthew Thompson in Tahiti April 1790 prior to trial
	William Peckover	Gunner	loyal
	Joseph Coleman	Armourer	loyal	detained on Bounty against his will; to Tahiti; tried and acquitted
	Peter Linkletter	Quartermaster	loyal	died in Batavia October 1789
	John Norton	Quartermaster	loyal	killed by natives in Tofua 2 May 1789
	Lawrence LeBogue	Sailmaker	loyal	went with Bligh; arrived safely in England – did join Bligh on the second breadfruit expedition
	Henry Hillbrandt	Cooper	mutinied	to Tahiti; drowned in irons during wreck of Pandora 29 August 1791
	William Purcell	Carpenter	loyal	reportedly died in Haslar hospital 10 March 1834 – last survivor of the Bounty crew
	David Nelson	Botanist (civilian)	loyal	died 20 July 1789 at Coupang
Midshipmen mustered as Able Seamen	Peter Heywood	Midshipman	(unknown)	detained against will(?) on Bounty; to Tahiti; sentenced to death, but pardoned; aka Roger Byam in novels by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall
	George Stewart	Midshipman	loyal	detained against will on Bounty; to Tahiti; killed after being hit by gangway at wreck of Pandora 29 August 1791
	Robert Tinkler	Midshipman	loyal
	Ned Young	Midshipman	mutinied	to Pitcairn; died 25 December 1800
Petty Officers	James Morrison	Boatswain's Mate	loyal	stayed on Bounty; to Tahiti; sentenced to death, but pardoned. Lost on HMS Blenheim 1807
	George Simpson	Quartermaster's Mate	loyal
	John Williams	Armourer's Mate	mutinied	to Pitcairn; killed 20 September 1793
	Thomas McIntosh	Carpenter's Mate	loyal	detained against will on Bounty; to Tahiti; tried and acquitted
	Charles Norman	Carpenter's Mate	loyal	detained against will on Bounty; to Tahiti; tried and acquitted
	John Mills	Gunner's Mate	mutinied	to Pitcairn; killed 20 September 1793
	William Muspratt	Tailor	mutinied	to Tahiti; sentenced to death, but released on appeal and pardoned. Died on HMS Bellerophon 1797
	John Smith	Steward	loyal	went with Bligh; arrived safely in England – did join Bligh on the second breadfruit expedition
	Thomas Hall	Cook	loyal	died from a tropical disease (probably malaria) in Batavia on 11 October 1789
	Richard Skinner	Barber	mutinied	to Tahiti; drowned in irons during wreck of Pandora 29 August 1791
	William Brown	Botanist's Assistant	mutinied	to Pitcairn; killed 20 September 1793
	Robert Lamb	Butcher	loyal	died at sea 11 October 1789 en route Batavia to Cape Town
Able Seamen	John Adams	Able Seaman	mutinied	to Pitcairn; pardoned 1825, died 1829; aka Alexander Smith
	Thomas Burkitt	Able Seaman	mutinied	to Tahiti; condemned and hanged 29 October 1792 at Spithead
	Michael Byrne	Able Seaman	loyal	detained against will on Bounty; to Tahiti; tried and acquitted
	Thomas Ellison	Able Seaman	mutinied	to Tahiti; condemned and hanged 29 October 1792 at Spithead
	Isaac Martin	Able Seaman	mutinied	to Pitcairn; killed 20 September 1793
	William McCoy	Able Seaman	mutinied	to Pitcairn; committed suicide 1797/98
	John Millward	Able Seaman	mutinied	condemned and hanged 29 October 1792 at Spithead
	Matthew Quintal	Able Seaman	mutinied	to Pitcairn; "executed" 1799 by Adams and Young
	John Sumner	Able Seaman	mutinied	to Tahiti; drowned in irons during wreck of Pandora 29 August 1791
	Matthew Thompson	Able Seaman	mutinied	to Tahiti; executed by Tahitians in April 1790 prior to trial after killing Charles Churchill
	James Valentine	Ordinary Seaman		died of scurvy at sea 9 October 1788 prior to mutiny

Crew members' biographical information may be found on the Bounty's Crew Encyclopedia page at the Pitcairn Islands Study Centre (PISC).