Sunday, July 8, 2012

Seafaring Sunday: An Infamous Name

July 8, 1787: The Royal Navy renames the full-rigged ship Bethia, built in 1783.  She is commissioned as HMS Bounty.  Two years later, while cruising in the Great South Sea, she will witness one of the most infamous mutinies in naval history.

Header: Replica ship HMS Bounty II; photograph via Sailing in Art
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4 comments:

  1. Charles L. WallaceJuly 8, 2012 at 3:51 PM

    Changing a ship's name.... that's bad juju, no?

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  2. Timmy!July 8, 2012 at 3:54 PM

    Why is the Replica ship HMS Bounty II flying an American flag, Pauline?

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  3. PaulineJuly 8, 2012 at 5:48 PM

    Wally: Yes! Unless you're a privateer ;)

    Timmy! Because she was built over here, silly...

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  4. DaleBurrJuly 9, 2012 at 3:40 PM

    She was actually built in Nova Scotia, Canada, for the 1962 M.G.M. Movie. After the film she was displayed at the New York Worlds fair. This is when most of the period interior was built. For many years after that she was a tourist attraction in Saint Petersburg, Fl. My wife and I were married on her spar deck in 1981. At that time she carried the red duster (British Red Ensign) at her gaff and U.S. courtesy flag at her main truck. When Ted Turner bought MGM, he sold off all the assets except for the rights to all the old films, which he began to colorize, and the Bounty that he used as a yacht after putting her back into sailing trim. The last time I checked she was sailing for the city of Fall River, Massachusetts. The US flag at the gaff indicates she is sailing under US ownership and command. As a ship in use this is necessary so the officials of each port she visits understand what rights of passage she claims.

    Dale

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