Reason, Wrath and Rebellion on the High Seas
Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
Pushkin Industries
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 27 September 2024
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Early morning, April 1789. Captain Bligh is abruptly dragged from his cabin. Wrists bound, bayonet pressed to his chest, he and a few loyal sailors are forced into a tiny launch and set adrift on the vast Pacific Ocean. This far from land, no-one is likely to survive for long.
History remembers Captain Bligh as a cruel, petty tyrant. The reality is more complicated. Bligh championed rational thought and showed his men great kindness on that famous voyage on the Bounty - yet it ended in mutiny. So what went wrong?
This is the third episode in a four-part series about fairness. It's based on David Bodanis' excellent book The Art of Fairness: The Power of Decency In A World Turned Mean.
For a full list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Pushkin. |
| 0:07.0 | Hey it's J. |
| 0:10.0 | We have a new limited series of my podcast Deep Cover out now all about George |
| 0:16.2 | Santos that's like you know Mr Ripley meets catch me if you can I mean the guy who'd winked everyone. How did George Santos convince |
| 0:26.1 | everyone that he was someone else and how deep do his lies go? Listen to |
| 0:31.8 | deep cover George Santos on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to |
| 0:38.1 | podcasts. |
| 0:39.3 | April 1789, early morning. A British ship and crew have been sailing home from Tahiti for three weeks. It's quiet on board, just wind and slapping light waves. But if someone |
| 0:58.8 | had been listening closely that have heard whispers, likely hurrying footsteps, and then about an hour before dawn, an |
| 1:06.8 | explosion of noise. |
| 1:10.4 | This is HMS Bounty and one of the most famous mutinies in history is underway. |
| 1:18.0 | Lieutenant Fletcher Christian has organized most of the crew who detest their captain 34 year old William Bly. |
| 1:26.9 | They drag Bly from his cabin, tying his wrists behind his back. On deck he struggles to get free. Fletcher Christian blocks him |
| 1:35.6 | pressing a bayonet to his chest. In England they've been friends. Now glaring at each other that's over. Pistols are at hand and the |
| 1:47.8 | crew calls for Christian to blow Bly's brains out. |
| 1:53.0 | Bly yells back at Christian, telling him he must stop, that in England didn't he remember. |
| 1:58.8 | Christian had held Bly's own children on his knee. After what's happened on this voyage however Christian |
| 2:05.8 | doesn't care. He forces Bly into a tiny overloaded launch. Out on the vast Pacific, this far from land, no one is likely to survive for long. |
| 2:19.0 | I'm Tim Harford and you're listening to cautionary tales. Oh, well, I'm going to be. This episode is the third in a series exploring the famous idea that nice guys finish last |
| 2:56.0 | inspired by David Badanas's book The Art of Fairness and we'll hear a bit from |
| 3:02.4 | David Badanus himself later. |
| 3:05.2 | But first, the mutiny on the bounty. |
... |
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