The Bounty

Seaman John Adams:
Any fool can steer a ship, sir. It's just knowing where to take it.

Bligh:
[in his log] I hope never to see Fletcher Christian again. Unless it is to see him hanged.

Bligh:
God damn you, man. Don't you bloody cross me.

Bligh:
The Royal Navy is not a humorous institution, sir, and insubordination is no laughing matter.

Christian:
William, about your decision to go around the Horn.

Bligh:
"William"? Not "Sir", not "Captain"; "William"?

Christian:
I don't think the men will have it.

Bligh:
Oh, the men won't have it. Are they in charge of the Bounty?

Christian:
They might be if you insist.

Bligh:
Again, would you repeat that please. "The men might be in charge." What are you threatening me with?

Christian:
It's not a threat, it's a warning.

Bligh:
[sarcastically] Oh, there are rumblings, are there?

Christian:
No, there is fear.

Bligh:
Around the Horn is the easiest way, the better way, and that is how we will go. Anything more?

Christian:
Don't put Adams under the lash.

Bligh:
He was insubordinate, cowardly and insubordinate, he frightened the men, I did not put that fear there, he did. So he will be lashed and we will go around the Horn. Are you frightened to go around the Horn, Mr. Christian? Are you a coward too, sir?

Bligh:
Well gentlemen, between ourselves and home lies 2300 sea miles, the Endeavor Straits and the Great Barrier Reef. Now the crew is deeply demoralized and I must accept, as every captain must, the inevitable and theoretical responsibility for that. The actual and immediate responsibility, however, I place on you, my fellow officers who met this crisis with lethargy, impudence and flagrant defiance, publicly uttered. And perhaps for that I am also to blame. I counted on a strength of character which you do not possess. However, the cure for our predicament is discipline and I shall apply it with an even hand of course, but most where it is most required.

Bligh:
So, you think I'm harsh with you, hey? I've been at sea many years Fletcher, since I was 12, and in that time I've seen many men, many good men fall for island women in these waters. I've never once seen it come out well. Of course I understand the excitement and the... but think to yourself, man. Could you bring a woman like that home to your friends and your family? No, of course you couldn't. They're not like us, Fletcher. You think I was harsh with you, but you needed someone to show you where your duty really lay, because you were at a loss, my friend. You may not thank me now but you will eventually. So, let's get the ship running again and get back to where we were before.

Bligh:
Three men jumped ship last night. Churchill was one of them. You don't seem surprised?

Christian:
Well no, now that it's happened I'm not, I'm not surprised.

Bligh:
Well, I must say I'm no longer surprised myself now that I see the example that's being set by my first officer. Just look at yourself, man, look at the way your dressed. Come on, you're no better than one of these natives.

Christian:
Well, at least I am no worse.

Bligh:
Mr. Christian, I think your brain has received too much sunlight and your body overindulged in sexual excess.

Christian:
I have done no more than any natural man would do.

Bligh:
No, you've done no more than any wild animal would do. It always makes me laugh that whenever men lose their self-restraint they always say they're "natural".

Christian:
They are more natural than men who have nothing to restrain.

Bligh:
Mr. Christian, you will report to the ship by sundown tonight.

Christian:
No.

Bligh:
What did you say? No? Is that what you said? Is that what you said? No? All right, you will report to the ship immediately and you will stay on the ship. There'll be no more fraternizing with the damned degenerate natives of these islands by any of my officers or any of my crew. You comprehend my meaning, sir?

[shouts]

Bligh:
Good!

Bligh:
You will clean up this ship and yourselves!

Bligh:
[shouting] Filth, sir! Filthy, Mr. Christian! Still filthy! Look!

Christian:
I see nothing, sir, but your finger.

Bligh:
[shouting] I'll not have your vile ways brought aboard my ship, sir! Do you understand? Now you'll call up the swabbing party yet again! And this time you will make bloody sure that the decks are clean, or by God you will answer for it, sir! I'll not have any of your foul, filthy, gutter ways on board my ship! Do you understand? Good God, pigs in a sty have more comprehension of cleanliness than you buggers have! Now you'll get these decks clean, or by God I'll make you lick them clean with your tongue if you don't mend your ways!

Bligh:
We are still faced with a long, hard voyage. I mean to make good use of every hour of sailing time, and to assist me in this, I am replacing Mr. Fryer with Mr. Christian, who will now act as executive second in command, with the rank of Acting Second Lieutenant...

[Fryer walks away]

Bligh:
Mr. Fryer, come back here.

[shouts after Mr. Fryer, who is continuing to walk away]

Bligh:
Mr. Fryer, sir! Come back here!

[Mr. Fryer returns; Bligh continues, quietly]

Bligh:
I will dismiss when I have done with you, sir. Do you hear me?

John Fryer:
This is an outrage!

Bligh:
Mr. Fryer!

John Fryer:
In all my years at sea...

Bligh:
Your "years at sea"? Good Lord, man! If I'd known your nature, I would not have accepted you as boatswain of a river barge.

John Fryer:
Must I suffer this before the men?

Bligh:
You will suffer my correction whenever you're at fault, sir!

John Fryer:
What fault?

Bligh:
[shouts] God damn your eyes, man! You turned your back on me!

John Fryer:
Well for that, I apologize.

Bligh:
Very well.

John Fryer:
But I protest.

Bligh:
You protest, do you?

John Fryer:
I am Master of the Bounty!

Bligh:
[shouts] And I, sir, am *Commander*! By law! I am the first! Do you understand? God damn your hide! And now you may dismiss, sir!

Bligh:
My dear God. I had hoped to avoid this.

Christian:
Avoid what, sir?

Bligh:
Damn it all, man. I'm expected to sleep with her. She's one of King Tynah's wives. A gift from one chief to another, as it were. Now look, five minutes after I go below you must call me up on some important business, all right?

Christian:
Yes, sir. What business?

Bligh:
Business, damn it; any bloody business.

Bligh:
[Bligh is nervously waiting for Christian to get him so he won't have to sleep with one of King Tynah's wives] Enter.

Christian:
Uh, excuse me, sir.

Bligh:
Mr. Christian.

Christian:
Sir.

Bligh:
What demands my immediate attention?

Christian:
Well it could wait until tomorrow, sir.

Bligh:
[quietly] What is it, damn you?

Christian:
The ship is sinking, sir.

Bligh:
Good.

John Fryer:
What are we going to do, sir?

Bligh:
Well, we shall have to try and reach Kupang.

John Fryer:
Without charts?

Bligh:
Well, I shall have to try and navigate from memory, Mr. Fryer. It will take us close to the most savage islands in these waters, the Fiji Islands, where cannibalism is perfected almost to a science, and from there, my friends, God willing, we shall proceed on to the Great Barrier Reef itself, then to New Holland, and from there across the Timor Sea to Kupang. And now it will take us at least two months, and we have provisions and water enough to last us one week. So that is the situation, gentlemen, plain and simple.

John Smith:
Well we'll just have to make the best of it, won't we, sir?

Bligh:
Make the best of it, Smith? Yes! But will you? That's what I'd ask myself. Will you make the best of it? You hear me? Are you prepared to make the best of it, all of you? Because all I can promise you, lads, is relentless pain and hardship. Now if you're prepared to make do, and make sacrifices, and furthermore are willing to swear by it, I promise you our chances of survival are fair. You hear me? You all say "Aye"?

All:
Aye.

Bligh:
Good!

Bligh:
Take no prisoners Mr. Christian!

Christian:
I am in hell, sir! I am in hell!

Bligh:
Do you really think you'll be able to command this rabble?

Christian:
I'll do my best.

Bligh:
Well I did my best, and I had the authority of the law. You're a dead man Fletcher.

[last lines]

Admiral Hood:
This court finds that the seizure of His Majesty's Armed Vessel Bounty was an act of mutiny by Fletcher Christian and others of her crew, and that her captain Lieutenant William Bligh is, in the opinion of this court, to be exonerated of all blame on this occasion. Indeed in the matter of his command of the Bounty's open launch we commend Lieutenant Bligh for his courage and exemplary seamanship. Will you please come forward, Lieutenant? [hands Bligh his saber]

Bligh:
[Bligh sheathes his saber] My lord, thank you.

Captain Greetham:
[after learning at the trial that Bligh told King Tynah that Captain Cook is still alive] You told that to this man Tynah?

Bligh:
King Tynah, sir.

Admiral Hood:
A savage king.

Bligh:
A king, milord, descended from many kings.

Admiral Hood:
As our King George is descended from many kings?

Bligh:
Yes, in a way, sir.

Captain Greetham:
Then why did you lie to him? Why did you not tell him Captain Cook was murdered in Hawaii ten years before?

Bligh:
Because they believe that Captain Cook is immortal.

Admiral Hood:
Literally?

Bligh:
Yes, I think so, sir. They seem to regard his likeness as a sacred image.

Admiral Hood:
Interesting.

Bligh:
They also believe that every British officer is more or less related to him.

Admiral Hood:
So you were more or less immortal too.

Bligh:
It would appear so, sir. And I also needed their assistance. Captain Cook was our guarantor.

Edward Young:
[after seeing Christian improvising a raft to escape the ship at night] That isn't a raft, it's a coffin. There's a five-knot current running between us and that island.

Christian:
I'll take my chance.

Edward Young:
You think a lot of us haven't thought of this? You're not the only one to have left a woman behind. Fletcher, the men are ready for anything.

Christian:
What are you saying, Ned? Are you inciting me to mutiny?

Edward Young:
If I were you, I'd take the ship. That's all.

Christian:
Why don't you, then?

Edward Young:
I said if I were you. I'm not.

Christian:
[in his log] I am committed to a desperate enterprise. I have said farewell to everything I've been accustomed to regard as indispensable. But I suppose I have found freedom.

David Nelson:
Mr. Bligh, when my spirit is gone there will be nothing but flesh remaining. I beg you, use that poor flesh to save the others.

Bligh:
No, no, Mr. Nelson. We're civilised men, not savages. And as civilised men we shall die. Have no fear.

Christian:
I am in hell! Hell, sir! Why are you being so damn reasonable now? Goddamn your blood to hell with mine, sir! Goddamn your blood!

Bligh:
Mr. Christian, get a hold of yourself!

Christian:
You will be quiet or I will run you through!

Seaman Matthew Quintal:
Do it, Christian! Kill him!

Christian:
Just shut your mouth! You shut your mouth! I will run you through and then I will kill myself after. You get him dressed now! Get him dressed!

John Fryer:
Captain Bligh is surprised that he hasn't had the pleasure of your company at supper for some weeks.

Christian:
Do you still do that?

John Fryer:
And the Captain said he'd expect you this evening.

Christian:
Well, today... today is not Friday.

John Fryer:
Six o'clock. Prompt, if you please.

Bligh:
[as the loyalists flee from Tofua] Row for your lives! We're chops and livers to them if they catch us!

Edward Young:
[after Heywood falls on his seat and bumps into Christian] Striking a superior officer.

Thomas Heywood:
No, I didn't.

Christian:
It's a hanging offence, sir.

Thomas Heywood:
[nervous] Sorry, sir.

Christian:
Can't be helped. We shall get to know each other pretty closely, I believe.

Edward Young:
I wonder we shall find out.

Christian:
Depends on how inquisitive are, Mr. Young.