Airfix 09259 HMS Bounty

HMS Bounty was originally named Bathia, and received its famous name after it was purchased by the admiralty in May 1787. The ship was then thoroughly rebuilt at the Deptford Shipyard. The wooden plating below the waterline was replaced with a copper one and the lower deck was rebuilt for the transport of bread trees. The deck, on the other hand, was covered with lead, which was supposed to protect the reserves of fresh water used to nurture the plants. For defense purposes, the ship was equipped with four 4-pounder and ten half-pound guns. The crew consisted of 45 people for whom 3 lifeboats were allocated if it was necessary to leave the ship. The rebellion on the Bounty, which made the inconspicuous transport ship famous, is one of the most famous maritime stories. At the end of 1787, Lieutenant William Bligh, an esteemed and experienced sailor, was commissioned to take sole command of HMS Bounty, which was transporting bread trees from Tahiti to the West Indies. On April 28, 1789, the ship's crew rebelled against Bligh's stringent regime. Led by Fletcher Christian's elder mate, the rebels took control of the Bounty, and the commander and seventeen faithful crew members dispatched to sea on one of the lifeboats. The crew, without the hated lieutenant, made a solo cruise to Tahiti, and from there to the island of Pitcain, where they settled. The descendants of the settlers from Bounty live there to this day, although not all rebels lived to see their old age in peace. Some of them were captured under various circumstances and returned to Great Britain. Sam Blight, after traveling 4,000 miles, happily landed with other companions in the East Indies, from where he returned to England in 1790. Technical data: Displacement: 215 t, length: 27.7 m, width: 7.4 m, draft: 32 m, crew: 45 people