On 28 April 1789, a mutiny on HMS Bounty in the south Pacific was led by
Fletcher Christian. Bounty had left England in 1787 on a mission to
collect breadfruit plants from Tahiti. During a five-month layover
there, many of the men were in relationships with native Polynesians.
Lieutenant William Bligh handed out increasingly harsh punishments and
abuse, especially to Christian, and morale plummeted. After three weeks
back at sea, Bligh and 18 of his crew were forced into the ship's small
uncovered launch, and had to row and sail more than 4,000 miles
(6,400 km) to reach safety. In 1791, 14 of the Bounty crew were
arrested in Tahiti; four of these died when their ship ran aground on
the Great Barrier Reef, four were acquitted at a court martial, three
were pardoned and three were hanged. On Pitcairn Island, just one
surviving mutineer, John Adams, was discovered in 1808; Christian and
most of the rest had been killed, by each other and by the mistreated
Tahitians they brought with them. Their descendants would continue to
inhabit Pitcairn into the 21st century. The view of Bligh as an
overbearing monster has in recent years been challenged by historians.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny_on_the_Bounty>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1253:
Nichiren, a Japanese monk, expounded Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō
for the first time and declared it to be the essence of Buddhism, in
effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nichiren_Buddhism>
1887:
A week after being arrested by the Prussian Secret Police,
Alsatian police inspector Guillaume Schnaebelé was released on order of
German Emperor William I, defusing a possible war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Schnaebel%C3%A9>
1949:
Former First Lady of the Philippines Aurora Quezon, her
daughter, and ten others were assassinated by the military arm of the
Philippine Communist Party.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_Quezon>
1965:
Four days after the Dominican Civil War began, the United
States invaded the country, aiming to prevent the development of what
Lyndon Johnson saw as a possible second Cuban Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Civil_War>
2001:
Dennis Tito became the world's first fee-paying space tourist,
riding the Russian Soyuz TM-32 spacecraft to the International Space
Station.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Tito>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
Boreas:
1. (Greek mythology) The god of the North Wind.
2. (poetic) The north wind personified.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Boreas>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I have never disliked religion. I think it has some purpose in our
evolution. I don't have much truck with the "religion is the cause of
most of our wars" school of thought because that is manifestly done by
mad, manipulative and power-hungry men who cloak their ambition in God.
I number believers of all sorts among my friends. Some of them are
praying for me. I'm happy they wish to do this, I really am, but I think
science may be a better bet.
--Terry Pratchett
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett>