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contact George Huxtable, at  george@hux.me.uk
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Fogg" 
To: 
Sent: Saturday, May 29, 2010 1:28 AM
Subject: [NavList] Re: Recreating Bligh's voyage to Timor


| George writes:
|
| >
| > The article refers to Bligh's  "desperate 3600-nautical-mile escape
from
| > Tonga to Timor", which is a fiction. Bligh was never closer to Timor
than
| > 100 miles or so, passing well to its North. The reference to Timor
relates
| > to the point from which the modern expedition intended to depart, and
is
| > unrelated to Bligh's voyage.
| >
|
|
| Are we talking about the same Timor, George? (not that I know of any
| other).  It has always been my understanding that Bligh's ship's boat
trip
| ended at Timor.  They all went on to Batavia, and subsequently very few;
| only Bligh and a couple of favourites, reached England via other craft.
| Most of Bligh's crew, after having loyally stuck by Bligh during the
mutiny,
| and after having been safely brought across a wide swathe of the Pacific
in
| that tiny boat, thanks in no small measure to Bligh's leadership, were
then
| callously abandoned by Bligh in Batavia,  where nearly all expired due to
| various fevers which were endemic there at the time.  Bligh always was,
if
| nothing else, an eccentric leader with a fortunately rare ability to so
| infuriate those he was supposed to be leading that he twice goaded his
men
| to mutiny, at a time when this was considered as the most heinous of
crimes.
|
| "To lose one [command, Mr. Bligh], may be regarded as a misfortune; to
lose
| both looks like carelessness." as Oscar Wilde so neatly, or nearly, put
it.
|
| Getting back to Timor, the Dutch governor there at the time, Bligh's
host,
| was himself dying of fever while entertaining Bligh, who paid for his
supper
| by recounting tales of the Pacific, which the governor had never visited
and
| had only the sketchiest notions about.  Very few Europeans had ever
visited
| the South Pacific at that time, and it was still a place of fancy rather
| than fact.
|
| Went looking online for some support for this apparently widespread
notion
| that Bligh did reach Timor as the terminus of that trip, and share just a
| few links quickly found: (if I am wrong then no doubt you will set me
right,
| George, although if I am right I expect nothing more, based on previous
vast
| experience, than your silence):
|
| "After *Bligh* and his crew of 18 made an epic and eventful journey in
the
| small boat to *Timor* in the Dutch East Indies, he returned to the United
| Kingdom and..."
| en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny_on_the_Bounty
|
| "...Royal Navy Commanding Lieutenant William *Bligh* and 17 other
| crewmembers from the HMS Bounty reached the island of *Timor* after ..."
| mattstodayinhistory.blogspot.com/.../*bligh*-arrives-at-*timor*
| -mutiny-on-bounty.html
|
| "After an epic 6 weeks' voyage, *Bligh* reached *Timor* in the East
Indies,
| having traveled 3618 miles in an open longboat."
| www.answers.com/topic/william-*bligh* -
|
| "*Bligh's* Open Boat Voyage to *Timor*: a marvellous feat of
seamanship..."
| www.eoas.info/bib/HASB02142.htm
|
| "William *Bligh* dated Coupang in *Timor* August 18th 1789 addressed to
| Philip Stephens Esq., Secretary of the Admiralty was read as follows viz:
*
| ...*"
| www.fatefulvoyage.com/trial/trial00*Bligh*Letter.html
|
| This last apparently refers to a letter written by Bligh while in Timor,
at
| the now Indonesian town spelled these days Kupang, at the Dutch end of
the
| island of Timor.  The eastern part was the Portuguese colony of East
Timor,
| and is now the independent nation of the same name (in English, at any
| rate).
|
| If I am wrong then no doubt you will set me right, George, although if I
am
| right I expect nothing more, based on previous vast experience, than your
| silence.  Is it not so?
|

   

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