“Furthermore, the Bounty will serve the community through partnering with various charitable organizations. The Bounty’s first mission will be to raise fund for the Children’s Cancer Foundation when she is opened to the public in December; when the proceeds from admission will be donated to the Foundation.”
Promoting History, Culture, and Nautical Education - Zheng He Foundation
Despite the glorious nautical history of Europe, China has also had its share in creating nautical history particularly through their ocean explorer Zheng He who over 600 years ago, commanded remarkably large fleets of ships, undertook seven expeditions through the Indian Ocean to the west, created an unprecedented achievement at the time. Mr. Cha hopes that the Bounty will increase public interest in ancient ships and hence the knowledge of Chinese nautical history and its heritage.
“I want to encourage our younger generation to learn more about Chinese nautical history, culture and values.” Mr. Cha concluded in the luncheon, “Through the inspiration of introducing the Bounty in Hong Kong, I have decided to take the lead in setting up a non-profit ‘Zheng He Treasure Ships & Chinese Nautical History Research Foundation’ – to raise sufficient funds to build a replica of Zheng He’s flagship and contribute to the relevant research and educational activities. HKRI will fully support the foundation’s activities and I hope to lobby the support from all walks of Hong Kong life as well.”
A BRIEF HISTORY OF H.M.A.V. BOUNTY
The original Bounty was built in 1784 as a trading vessel. Under the order of King George III to the British Admiralty in 1787, she was refitted to create a greenhouse for shipping breadfruit plants, and was renamed “Her Majesty’s Armed Vessel Bounty”. On 5th August 1787, Captain William Bligh was appointed Commander of the Bounty by the British Admiralty, who then sailed into history when the most famous mutiny event in British naval history occurred two years later. The mutiny of the crew of the Bounty was a remarkable event in that its repercussions were far-reaching. It led to the mutineers’ establishment of Pitcairn Island and their later resettlement on Norfolk Island; and for Bligh, to his 6700-kilometre voyage with 18 crew members in a small open boat in 41 days with the loss of only one life.
The expedition of the Bounty left on 23rd December 1787 with 46 officers and crew. Captain William Bligh’s orders were to sail to Tahiti where he was to collect young breadfruit trees. Once growing well in pots aboard Bounty he was to take them to the West Indies to be planted. They were to be a source of food for the native labour who worked in the canefields. Because of the very bad weather, it took ten months to sail from England to Tahiti.
Bligh, as a captain, was not cruel to his crew, yet he could be quite thoughtless sometimes. His short temper led him to criticise his officers in front of the crew... not the way to help maintain order. Compounded with tough sailing conditions on their way to Tahiti, there was a great deal of bad-feeling amongst the crew. To overcome some of these problems, Bligh promoted Fletcher Christian, one of the main mutineers later on, from Master's Mate to acting Lieutenant. Bligh and Christian had sailed together before and were therefore aware of each other's character.
They reached Tahiti on the 26th October 1788 and six months passed before the breadfruit plants were acclimatised and weather conditions good enough to commence the voyage to the West Indies. In this time the crew naturally became lazy. Polynesians liked visits by white men and they treated the Bounty's crew very well.
When it was nearing time to leave, Captain Bligh found that the crew had let some of the sails rot and there were many items missing from the ship. By the time the Bounty left Tahiti on 4th April 1789, Bligh was in a bad mood and it became obvious to everyone that he and Fletcher Christian were arguing. Only three weeks after setting sail for the West Indies, Captain Bligh was mutinied against and cast adrift in Bounty's 7-metre (23-feet) longboat with 18 loyal crew members. The Bounty was taken by Fletcher Christian and the other mutineers.
Through Bligh’s great skills as a navigator, he was able to sail this little boat to Timor, a trip of 6705 kilometres (4000 miles) in 41 days with the loss of only one life, that of a crew member killed by natives on the island of Tofoa. This was one of the most amazing sailing achievements ever completed. He later purchased another ship, delivered the breadfruit to the West Indies, discovered Fiji and became the Governor of New South Wales.
Most of the mutineers were dropped off back in Tahiti and the others, led by Christian, took a number of natives on board and sailed off to find a more remote island where would be less chance of being discovered. This led to their settlement on Pitcairn Islands and later Norfolk Islands.
SOME FACTS ABOUT THE BOUNTY REPLICA
Throughout the years, films and television productions have dramatised the events that happened on HMAV Bounty, starring a bevy of celebrities such as Clark Gable, Charles Laughton and Marlon Brando.
1935: Mutiny on the Bounty starring Clark Gable and Charles Laughton
1962: Mutiny on the Bounty starring Marlon Brando
The Bounty replica was built in 1978 for the Dino de Laurentis film "The Bounty" released in 1983, the seventh film and television version of this famous event. It starred Mel Gibson as Fletcher Christian and Anthony Hopkins as Captain William Bligh.
The replica is a full scale model of the 18th Century original H.M.A.V. Bounty, the measurements are as follows:
RIG - 3 MASTED FULLY RIGGED TALL SHIP
MASTS - 3 MASTS FROM 15.7-METRE TO 33 METRES IN HEIGHT FROM DECK
SAILS - UP TO 19 SAILS. THE LARGEST IS 12 METRES WIDE, 8.8 METRES HIGH, WEIGHS 100KG. TOTAL 900 SQ. METRES OF SAIL AND 18 KM OF RIGGING.
LENGTH OVERALL - 42 METERES
LENGTH OF DECK - 30 METRES
WIDTH OF DECK - 7 METRES
DISPLACEMENT - 387 TONNES
CONSTRUCTION - STEEL HULL, STEEL & WOOD DECK AND TOPSIDES, WOOD MASTS AND SPARS
Bounty sailed the world, visiting Vancouver for their World Expo and then to Tahiti to star as "HMS Endeavour" in the ABC mini series, "Captain James Cook".
For ocean-going voyages, Bounty's crew comprises its Master, Chief Engineer, 3 Watch Officers, the Chef and 10 deck-crew.