In 1789, the English ship H.M.S. Bounty begins a two-year mission. The ship travels to Tahiti to obtain breadfruit plants that will provide cheap food for slaves in the West Indies, the Bounty's final destination. The captain is William Bligh, a vicious taskmaster who doesn't flinch at giving two dozen lashes to any malcontent on board, for the most minor of infractions. The first mate is Lt. Fletcher Christian, who despises Bligh but has somehow...

"Celebrated historian Diana Preston presents betrayals, escapes, and survival at sea in her account of the mutiny of the Bounty and the flight of convicts from the Australian penal colony. The story of the mutiny of the Bounty and William Bligh and his men's survival on the open ocean for 48 days and 3,618 miles has become the stuff of legend. But few realize that Bligh's escape across the seas was not the only open-boat journey in that era of British...