The 1789 Mutiny on HMAV Bounty
GLYNN CHRISTIAN is the only biographer of his great-great-great-great grandfather, Fletcher Christian, leader of the 1789 mutiny on HMAV BOUNTY, and of Mauatua, his Tahitian consort.
Among an estimated 3000+ books and major articles associated with the mutiny, his FRAGILE PARADISE (1982) and subsequent editions forever changed the understanding of the mutiny and of Fletcher Christian and William Bligh.
Over 40 years of continued world-wide research on primary sources, includes Glynn’s 10-week sailing expedition to Pitcairn aboard TAIYO. Continued writing and interpretation means his books have been constantly updated: see FLETCHER CHRISTIAN – BOUNTY MUTINEER. A shorter definitive version was published in 2021: The Truth About the Mutiny on HMAV BOUNTY – and the Fate of Fletcher Christian (Pen and Sword).
Glynn has made major, enlightening discoveries about his ancestor’s extraordinary family, as well as about Fletcher Christian’s first settlement in Tubuai and about his brothers.
Brother Charles was also a mutineer and brother Edward was a Professor of Law and head of Gray’s Inn of Court, who collected many luminaries to help explain the cause of the mutiny in The Appendix.
Glynn’s international research includes a 10-week sailing expedition on brigantine-rigged Taiyo from Tahiti to Tubuai and Pitcairn Island, after visiting Huahine, home of another of his great-great-great-great grandmothers. No other writer on the mutiny has travelled so extensively for first-hand experience and discovery.
Ground-breaking research into Fletcher Christian’s mental state on April 28, 1789, plus direct investigation of private archives, libraries and museums internationally, means Glynn is also able to caste new light on William Bligh. He also more fully explores and answers that perennial BOUNTY question: What happened to Fletcher Christian?
One of Glynn’s proudest achievements is to promote the revolutionary Polynesian women of BOUNTY, who were led by his gt-gt-gt-gt grandmother Mauatua, to become first women in the world permanently to have the vote and to guarantee education for girls –
in 1838: see MRS CHRISTIAN BOUNTY MUTINEER.
HMAV BOUNTY MUTINY BOOKS
The Truth About the Mutiny on HMAV BOUNTY – and the Fate of Fletcher Christian (Pen & Sword 2021)
ADMIRAL LORD WEST GCB DSC, Former First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff says:
“The book is a must for anyone interested in gaining a balanced view of the mutiny and its aftermath.
Glynn Christian’s painstaking research into his notorious ancestor has resulted in a fascinating new insight into the mutiny on Her Majesty’s Armed Vessel BOUNTY 28 April 1789, and in particular events thereafter. He describes in a detail that I have never come across before all the characters, which makes the account truly compelling.
But what I found most intriguing was the depth of research into the women who played such a key role in events and particularly the settlement on Pitcairn and its subsequent development. His anthropological research about the Pacific islanders and their lives is riveting and I had not realised how key their traditions and women were to the drama. . .”
FLETCHER CHRISTIAN BOUNTY MUTINEER
A revised and expanded up-to-date biography of Fletcher Christian, the mutiny on BOUNTY and the founding of Pitcairn Island.
With many new illustrations, it is available from Amazon Books internationally in full colour, b&w or as an e-book. Hendon Books, 2019
FRAGILE PARADISE – The Discovery of Fletcher Christian, BOUNTY Mutineer (Hamish Hamilton UK; Atlantic, Little Brown, US, 1982) is the first biography of Glynn’s ancestor among over 3000 books and major articles on the subject and his many discoveries continues to make the book seminal reference for all serious BOUNTY authors and dramatists. Each later edition adds new information.
Editions:
Long Riders Guild Press 2005
Doubleday, Sydney, 1999: revised with psychological analysis of Fletcher Christian, and specially well illustrated.
Book Club Associates, London, 1983
Atlantic, Little Brown, Boston, 1982
Hamish Hamilton, London, 1982
MRS CHRISTIAN BOUNTY MUTINEER
Mauatua, Tahitian lover and consort of Fletcher Christian, directed bloody revolution on Pitcairn Island and in 1838 led the island’s women to be first in the world to vote and to make education compulsory for girls.
Based firmly on fact and deeply researched understanding of 18th century Polynesian life, particularly the shocking abuse of women, the book gives the only full account of the Ma’ohi women of BOUNTY, the Foremothers of Pitcairn and without whom we may have known little or nothing about the mutiny on BOUNTY.
Soft cover or e-book from Amazon Books internationally. Hendon Books 2019
