Who was Fletcher Christian?
Naval mutineer on H.M.S. Bounty.
Date and Place of Birth:
1764, Moorland Close, Near Cockermouth, Cumbria,
England. (Now owned by Queen's College, Oxford).
Family Background:
Christened in Brigham Church. Mother Ann was
widowed when he was four and bankrupted when he was sixteen. His
father's family were the well off Christians of Milntown on the
Isle of Man and Ewanrigg Mansion near Maryport, Cumbria.
Education:
Eller Cottage. Cockermouth Free Grammar School
at the same time as Wordsworth who was six years his junior. St.
Bees School, near Whitehaven, Cumbria.
Chronology/Biography of Fletcher Christian:
1782: Joined the
Royal Navy at the age of eighteen.
1787: Selected by
William Bligh to be a midshipman on the ship the "H.M.S. Britannia"
sailing to the West Indies.
1789:
Selected by Bligh as first Mate on "H.M.S. Bounty"
on a voyage to Tahiti to collect bread fruit palnts for the West
Indies. April. Became leader of the
mutiny on against Captain William Bligh whom they decaled a cruel
tyrant. After the mutiny he and eight other mutineers including
John Adams took refuge on Pitcairn Island and there founded a colony
with some Tahitian men and women.
Marriage:
To Mauatua, a Tahtian woman whom he took on H.M.S.
Bounty to Pitcairn Island.
Places of Interest:
CUMBRIA:
Mayport Maritime Museum, Maryport, holds his
sea chest.
Fletcher Christian Tavern, Cockermouth, has story
of the "Bounty" on boards outside.
Date and Place of Death:
Probably shot and clubbed to death by natives
in October 1793, Pitcairn Island on the day that his third child
Mary was born. (Rumours he returned to England are unlikely)
Age at Death:
29.
Site of Grave:
Unknown location on Pitcairn Island.
