- For other uses, see William.
- See Bligh for other articles with titles that contain, either by relationship or by coincidence, this character's surname.
William Bligh (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817) was a 18th century Human, a naval commanding officer and politician.
Biography[]
He was famous for his habit to berate crewmembers of lower station and rank for minor infractions. On a cutter vessel, the HMS Bounty, where he was the only officer, the enlisted crew rose up in mutiny, led by Fletcher Christian, and put him off the ship.
Legacy[]
With his name commonly used to refer to any officer who would viciously scold those of lower rank, Captain Bligh is remembered as an elitist disciplinarian. In the 23rd century, it was noted that Engineer E. Gates considered Captain Ian Vellacora to be "a strutting Captain Bligh" in terms of Vellacora's tendency aboard the Federation starship USS Arkadelphia to somewhat randomly apply discipline to his Starfleet enlisted crew. (FASA RPG module: Decision at Midnight)
A novel trilogy was written about Bligh and the mutiny. The first volume was Mutiny on the Bounty. (VOY novel: The Black Shore). The second, Men Against the Sea, was about Bligh in the aftermath of the mutiny, and the three volumes were collected in The Bounty Trilogy. (VOY novel: Pathways)
23rd century artist Gilla Dupree expected that a Starfleet CO would have Bligh's taskmaster qualities. (TOS novel: Devil World)
In 2367, Cadet Harry Kim first met his future wife Libby Webber in a San Francisco book archive reading about Bligh. (VOY novel: Pathways)
In 2373, as Kathryn Janeway and Chakotay discussed the potential for a crew mutiny sparking from the crew's enjoyable shore leave on Ryolanov, she recalled the historic events. Janeway hoped she wouldn't be cast in the role of Bligh. (TOS novel: The Black Shore)
In 2374, Tom Paris assessed that Annorax was regarded like Bligh. He told Chakotay that the crew of the Krenim temporal weapon ship was ready to mutiny after 200 years of futile work. (VOY episode: "Year of Hell, Part II")
Appendices[]
Appearances and references[]
References[]
- TOS novel: Devil World
- FASA RPG module: Decision at Midnight
- VOY episode: "Year of Hell, Part II"
- VOY novel: The Black Shore
- VOY novel: Pathways
External links[]
- William Bligh article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- William Bligh article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.