Fun with Maps ISSUE 2025-075

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (April 28, 2025) – In today’s edition of Fun with Maps we head into trouble on the high seas.     

Mutiny

Mutinies on ships are not common, but when they occur, they make the record books.

One such mutiny took place on April 28, 1789 – the Mutiny on the Bounty.

The British Admiralty sent HMS Bounty to collect and transport breadfruit plants from Tahiti to the West Indies / Caribbean.

After a five-month layover in Tahiti, the Bounty set sail again and for reasons not fully known, part of the crew revolted against Captain Bligh.  The good captain and a handful of his loyalists were put on the open launch, or boat.  By some miracle the captain and loyalists managed to make landfall and make their way back to England.

The Bounty under the mutineers made it back to Tahiti where some have departed and then the ship set sail to in essence to hide at Pitcairn Island about 1200 miles away.  Somehow, they were eventually located by HMS Pandora, which was sent to find them years later.  But alas, only one of the mutineers survived; however, their descendants still live on that remote Pacific island.

A fellow Englishman, Tallis, created this map of Polynesia, the islands of the south Pacific from 1851.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.