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William Bligh, commanding lieutenant of HMS Bounty and victim of the notorious mutiny, died 200 years ago today on December 7, 1817. 1. William Bligh was born in 1754 and served as cabin boy and captain’s servant on HMS Monmouth from 1761, when he was still only six. 2. His father worked as a customs officer. 3. In 1776, he was chosen by James Cook to be sailing master on the Resolution on Cook’s third and final voyage to the Pacific. 4. At the time of the mutiny in 1789, HMS Bounty was on a mission to find breadfruit plants...

Tom Christian, known as the Voice of Pitcairn for his half-century-long role in keeping his tiny South Pacific island, famed as the refuge of the Bounty mutineers, connected to the world, died at his home there on July 7. Mr. Christian, Pitcairn’s chief radio officer and a great-great-great-grandson of Fletcher Christian, the mutiny’s leader, was 77.

January 13, 2013 — A formal hearing is planned as part of the investigation of the sinking of tall ship HMS Bounty, in which two lives were lost. The United States Coast Guard has announced a formal hearing into the sinking of the tall ship HMS Bounty. The nine-day hearing is scheduled to begin February 12 in Portsmouth, Virginia. "The investigation will examine the facts and circumstances relating relating to the sinking of the vessel and will develop conclusions and recommendations to improve the safety and operations of similar vessels," the coast guard says. Strong winds and rain from Hurricane...

The Coast Guard rescued 14 people from life rafts in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 90 miles southeast of Hatteras, N.C., Monday, Oct. 29, and two people remain missing. The first MH-60 Jayhawk crew arrived on scene at approximately 6:30 a.m. and hoisted five people into the aircraft, and a second helicopter arrived and rescued nine people and all were taken to Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., with no life-threatening conditions. U.S. Coast Guard video by Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C.

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — The Coast Guard says a woman who was rescued in the Atlantic after abandoning ship in rough weather churned up by Hurricane Sandy has died. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class David Weydert says 42-year-old Claudene Christian was unresponsive when she was pulled from the water Monday evening and was later pronounced dead at a hospital. Fourteen other crew members were rescued from the HMS Bounty, a replica 18th-century sailing vessel that was originally built for the 1962 film "Mutiny on the Bounty" and was featured in several other films over the years. The Coast Guard...

Fourteen people were rescued this morning from a tall ship that was sunk by Hurricane Sandy, but a Coast Guard helicopter is scouring the churning seas for two crew members who are missing. The HMS Bounty, a three masted ship, was 90 miles southeast of Hatteras, N.C., when the owner called saying she'd lost contact with the crew Sunday night, The AP reported. The Bounty is a 180-foot replica of the ship featured in the film "Mutiny on the Bounty."

Residents of the remote island of Pitcairn have been asked to hand in their guns, amid fears of violence ahead of a forthcoming sex abuse trial. Seven men on the island face a total of 96 charges of sex abuse, some dating back more than 40 years. Their trial, which will take place under British law, is due to begin on 23 September and last about six weeks. The tiny South Pacific island has a population of 45 people, who have about 20 guns between them. Pitcairn's governor, the British High Commissioner to New Zealand, Richard Fell, has asked islanders...

Pitcairn Island, the tiny Pacific outpost colonised by the mutineers of HMS Bounty in the 18th century, has announced its first birth in 17 years.Emily Rose Christian, weighing 8lb 4oz (3.8kg), takes to 48 the population of the British administered island, which lies in the middle of the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and Peru.Emily, born on Sunday, is a ninth generation descendant of Fletcher Christian, the English seaman who led the infamous mutiny against Captain Bligh in 1789 and then settled on the fertile two square mile lump of rock, establishing a puritanical community in which dancing and drinking...