R Y B A N Z: Men Against The Sea

Only two days ago, I reported having started to read The Bounty Trilogy on the previous day. Yesterday I completed the 291 page first portion of the trilogy...Mutiny on the Bounty. Most folks are probably familiar with the story because of the several movies made of the incident. My favorite movie is the 1935 black and white version starring Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian and Charles Laughton as Cation Bligh which won an Oscar for best movie of that year.

The second part of the trilogy is entitled Men Against The Sea is a less familiar story. Here's what Wikipedia says about this event...
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In all, 18 of the loyal crew were in the launch with Bligh; the other four were forced to stay and man the ship with the mutineers. The mutiny took place about 30 nautical miles (56 km) from Tofua (Bligh spelled it Tofoa). Bligh and his loyalists attempted to land here (in a cove that they subsequently called "Murderers' Cove") in order to augment their meager provisions. [3] The only casualty during this voyage was a crewman, John Norton, who was stoned to death by some natives of Tofua.

Bligh navigated the 23 foot (7 m) open launch on a 47-day voyage first to Tofua and then to Timor in the Dutch East Indies, equipped with a sextant and a pocket watch, and with no charts or compass. He recorded the distance as 3,618 nautical miles (6710 km). He was chased by cannibals in what is now known as Bligh Water, Fiji, and passed through Torres Strait along the way, and landed in Kupang, Timor on June 14.[4] Shortly after the launch reached Timor, the cook and botanist died. Three other crewmen died in the coming months.

Lieutenant Bligh returned to Britain and reported the mutiny to the Admiralty on 15 March 1790.