The mutineers allowed Capt. Bligh to take a sextant and charts, but they kept the chronometer for themselves. The British admiralty retrieved the chronometer many years later --- in the 1840s --- from the mutineers' settlement on Pitcairn Island. That chronometer, which had also been used by Capt. Cook on an earlier voyage to the Pacific Ocean, is part of the collection from the British National Maritime Museum on display at the Folger Library in Washington, DC, until August 23.
From: NoReply_LuAbel@fer3.com
To: jacksonmcdonald@hotmail.com
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2015 10:11:47 -0700
Subject: [NavList] Re: Does "Lifeboat Navigation" exist today?
Sorry, Gary, but it is my recollection that Captain Bligh was allowed to bring navigation instruments from the Bounty aboard the longboat before being set adrift by the mutineers. This is supported by the fact that ship's boats were routinely used for travel from the ship to other ships or the shore and not as just lifeboats and so the presence of an "emergency navigation kit" would be highly unlikely.
