Claudene Christian was grx5 granddaughter of Fletcher Christian, who commanded the Bounty in 1789

[Tsiyu]

Wow:

http://gcaptain.com/bounty-victim-claudene-christian-related-to-fletcher-christian/

As the search continues off the coast of Hatteras, N.C. for the missing captain of the sunken Bounty, the reality of the devastation left by Hurricane Sandy begins to sink in. So far, the storm has claimed a number of lives–ABC last reported 33–up and down the Eastern Seaboard and in the appropriately named Atlantic Graveyard with the Bounty and an even more “perfect storm”.




Yesterday, we were all saddened to hear that US Coast Guard crews recovered the body of Claudene Christian, 42, a crew member on the Bounty and 1 of 16 people on board when the ship went down. Tragic by any means, but a quick look at her Facebook profile reveals something even more devastating. She was a USC grad who was excited to work on the HMS Bounty and eager to share its rich history with people, especially children. But there was a greater connection. She was also great-great-great-great-great granddaughter of Fletcher Christian, the master’s mate who took command of the original HMS Bounty from William Bligh in the infamous mutiny in 1789.

“I live, work & Travel the Sea aboard the HMS Tall Ship Bounty” She says on her Facebook page. “A Sailing Museum traveling from port to port sharing our ship and our history, we are a replica Ship of the infamous story of “Mutiny on the Bounty” on Pitcairn Island.”

more at link


So sad all around, and very spooky

[SubgeniusHasSlack]

1. Heartbreaking loss

of a special lady.

RIP, sailor!

[Tsiyu]

2. Yes

She seemed to be a beautiful person inside and out, trying to make a difference and carry on a legacy

[HooptieWagon]

3. Not exactly.

Fletcher Christian was a mate aboard the Bounty. William Bligh was the captain. Fletcher Christian led the mutiny, and after setting Bligh and his supporters adrift in a small boat, Christian assumed command of the Bounty. Bligh guided the small boat west some 1800 miles through coral reefs and cannibal inhabited islands to safety, Java? can't remember.
Meanwhile, Christian sailed the Bounty back to Tahiti, where he and the mutineers picked up their tahitian girlfriends and others, then sailed to Pitcairn Island. There they stripped the ship of usefull items and burned the hulk. Pitcairn was selected because it was remote, and off the established sailing routes. They hoped to remain undiscovered there.

[Tsiyu]

5. I defer to your superior knowledge of the event

It's still rather crazy that she was a descendant of one of the guys who was there....

[HooptieWagon]

7. Yes, it is crazy.

The mutiny I recall b/c its the most famous maritime mutiny, and has captivated sailors for centuries. The movie is just an Hollywood overview, much better is the trilogy of books... Mutiny on the Bounty, Men Against the Sea, and Pitcairn Island. I read them as a child, almost 50 years ago. There also were some good stories in National Geographic about 50 years or so ago... Captain Irving Johnson and his crew of students aboard the brigantine Yankee discovered the remains of the original Bounty, even managed to find and retrieve one of the anchors.

[Tsiyu]

8. Thank you for adding more info to our knowledge about the Bounty

I will have to read about it further in honor of Ms. Christian.

[roguevalley]

23. read the story of Bligh and his small group making their way back. It is epic beyond epic

[HooptieWagon]

25. Yes, I've read it.

It is an epic story. They could not have made it without Capt Bligh's leadership, seamanship, and yes, discipline. Unfair to judge Bligh by today's standards. He should be judged by the standards of his era. By that measure, he was a remarkable naval officer.

[roguevalley]

29. I could be wrong but he was relieved of every command he ever had not just this one.

he did make them get back through these qualities but he was a really brutal man and the admiralty relieved him of all his commands.

[HooptieWagon]

30. I'll have to look that up.

By today's stadards Bligh was brutal. By the standards of the late 18th century he was probably typical. British captains in particular were very harsh, necessary to a certain extent b/c crews were often recruited from prisons or by press gangs.

Although Bligh's treatment of his crew is often cited as the reason for the mutiny, the real reason is during the several months in Tahiti collecting breadfruit several of the crew and officers had made wives and girlfriends of Tahitian women, and desired to stay in idyllic south pacific lifestyle.

As a sidebar... The purpose of the Bounty's voyage was to bring breadfruit trees back to Jamaica, where it was thought they would provide a cheap food-staple for slaves in the sugar cane plantations. A second ship was sent in place of the Bounty, and brought the breadfruit trees to Jamaica. IIRC, some of those trees still exist there. Perhaps malaise can confirm this?

[HooptieWagon]

34. Correct - you were wrong.

He captained the ship sent to Tahiti in place of the Bounty. Had several other naval commands, then several years as a merchant ship captain. Back in the Royal Navy, he had several more commands, getting a promotion from Captain to Commodore. Then, he was appointed Governor of New South Wales in Australia, where he was successful in stopping a persistant rum-smuggling trade. Afterwards, he commanded several more ships, getting another promotion from Commodore to Vice Admiral, a position he held until his death. Thats quite a career.

[TorchTheWitch]

39. actually he wasn't successful stopping the Rum Rebellion

They had the marines on their side since they were the same ones that went over with the first set of convicts and became steeped in corruption and the rum trade as well. Bligh ended up getting held prisoner in the governor's house with his daughter for a year or more before the rummers packed him on a ship back to England to get rid of him appointing their own patsy administration. Bligh was then held for two years aboard the Porpoise in which he was sent from New South Wales in Hobart before he was given leave to go back to New South Wales to retrieve the documents he would need at trial to clear his name. At trial, he once again prevailed though he was never sent back to New South Wales and was relieved of his governorship though he was backdated a promotion to Rear Admiral.

In his place a Scotsman was sent as governor who brought with him an entire new regiment of Scottish military and the original marines that were part of the corruption were finally sent packing. That's how the Rum Rebellion was brought to heal though none of the instigators ever faced any real punishment. Only Major George Johnston, the senior officer that sided with the wealthy settler, John Macarther (who was the instigator of the rebellion) only got what amounted to a dishonorable discharge but it also made him a free man to go back as a settler to New South Wales and enjoy his ill-gotten gains.

It's a really interesting story.

[HooptieWagon]

40. Thanks for the correction.

I didn't know the full story. Sounds interesting, I'll have to read up on it.

[roguevalley]

42. you fail to mention that he provoked two muntinies one on the ship and one in new south wales.

Given his bitchy micromanaging, it happened. He got off because he made money for the man and he was an officer. look at what happens now to understand that sailors didn't offer complaints then. He was a dick but he had some skills. None of them applied to underlings.

[HooptieWagon]

43. Do a little research.

Life was shitty aboard 18th century ships, particularly British Navy ships Crews were mostly from prisons or press gangs... thugs in every sense of the word. Captains were trained to use harsh methods to maintain discipline... beatings, floggings, confinement in the brig, etc. Gross infractions could result in hanging from a yardarm. At sea, police, courts, lawyers were thousands of miles and many months away. A Captain was allowed by law to be prosecuter, judge, and jury. Bligh was merely a product of his era... no better, no worse.

[roguevalley]

44. I did. Two mutinies under his command. Tell me one time a person without power

was ever allowed to tell their side. They were 'given the chance to complain' and didn't. Do I need to say why?

Its the record.

[TorchTheWitch]

32. It really is epic

He also didn't have any more luck as governor of New South Wales (what was to become Australia). That's another good story that he also got hammered undeservedly for. He was appointed to clean up the corrupt rum trade and once again there was a mutiny only this time on land by the corrupt rum traders still known as the Rum Rebellion. It always bothered me that his reputation even today suffered undeservedly for two reasons.

[TorchTheWitch]

31. Luis Marden discovered the remains of the Bounty

and retrieved several items in January, 1957. Johnson's crew spotted the anchor the following month once it was known where the remains of the Bounty lay. Marden wrote for National Geographic and had cufflinks made from some of the nails of the Bounty that he brought up. He also consulted with Marlon Brando for his role of Fletcher Christian for the first Bounty movie. Parker Christian spotted the rudder in 1933, but it was Marden who dived and found the actual spot where the Bounty lay.


Thomas Christian, great-great-great-grandson of Fletcher Christian, holding the 15-pound pintle.

Since the Bounty replica sinking I'd been reading a lot about the original. I had always thought that the remains were never discovered. I'd always been rather fascinated by Captain Bligh since first I'd heard of him was his time as the third governor of the New South Wales, the convict colony that in time became Australia something like a decade after the Bounty incident. He had no more luck as governor than he did as Bounty Captain.

[HooptieWagon]

35. Cool!

[TorchTheWitch]

37. I love undersea photos!

Especially those of old wrecks. There's a really good one also of the anchor that Johnson's crew discovered all barnicle encrusted and creepily poking up out of the sand.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/1957/12/pitcairn-island/marden-photography
(the undersea photos start in the next set of photos)

[Michigan Alum]

45. Great and unforgettable book.

[lumpy]

10. I read the Bounty Trilogy when I was a kid and have read it since. Fascinating.

I am still fascinated by the account. Captain Bligh was an excellent, though hard taskmaster, and outstanding seaman. Amazing that he and his men managed to survive and eventually made it home to England. The Bounty Trilogy and Endurance (re. Shacketon survival) are two of the most fascinating books to have ever been written.

[HooptieWagon]

18. Yes, they are classics.

Some other fascinating stories of the sea:

Two Years Before the Mast, by Richard Dana. Its about life aboard a whaling ship in the 1800s.

Sailing Alone Around the World, by Joshua Slocum. Its about a retired ship captain who's bored with life ashore, so rebuilds a derelict fishing smack and becomes the first person to sail around the world with no crew about 1900.

The Venturesome Voyages of Captain Voss, by Capt J C Voss. A real character and self-promoter, Capt Voss rebuilds an indian dugout canoe into an ocean-crossing sailboat and sails it most of the way around the world, with different crew.

10,000 Leagues Over the Sea, by William Robinson. Right after graduation from college, Robinson scrapes together the money to buy and outfit a 30' ketch which he sails around the world during the Great Depression. He is particularly studious on the way of life of South Pacific islanders, and comments on it greatly. The knowledge of the peoples, tribes, customs, and geography of the South Pacific was crucial to the US's Pacific campaign of WW2. He also wrote several other fascinating books.

The Saga of Cimba, by Richard Maury. Also a young man, he bought a small Canadian fishing schooner, converted it to a yacht, and sailed it to the South Pacific where he ended up shipwrecked on a coral reef. Exquisite writing in a romantic style.

Trekka Round the World, by John Guzzwell. Born on the island of Jersey, occupied by germans during WW2, he emmigrates to Vancouver, Canada as a young adult. There he builds a tiny 20' yawl to go adventuring in. After sailing to New Zealand, he eventually decides to keep going around the world. Smallest boat to ever do so, he also demonstrates incredible navigation and seamanship skills.

Of course, the granddaddy of maritime classics is Homer's Odyssey and Illiad.

Hope someone finds some of these to read, and enjoys them.

[Raine]

26. THANKS for suggesting all these books. Sounds like some really interesting

topics ... I'm going go to check them out.

[HooptieWagon]

41. Some are in reprint.

Sailing Alone Arond the World, Saga of Cimba, and Trekka Round the World all available in paperback reprints. In particular, Trekka has interesting updates and appendixes. Boat is in a museum in Vancouver, there's probably a website.

10,000 Leagues Over the Sea has been out of print for decades, but vintage hardback copies of it and Robinson's other books can be found on Amazon. Well worth the effort.

[montanto]

13. more like 3600 miles, landed in Timor.

Been fascinated with naval stuff/naval disasters for a long time.

[HooptieWagon]

19. Thankyou.

It was many years ago I read the story.

[TorchTheWitch]

33. wasn't that also where the escaping convicts sailed to

from what was then New South Wales (now Australia) that included the woman, Mary Bryant? Even though they were caught pity for their ordeal and amazement that they made it (some of them anyway) inspired the populous so much the court excused their escape and freed them.

I love these real stories from long ago!

[BlueMan Votes]

17. Pitcairn was also charted in the wrong position on British maps and charts...

so it would have been difficult for the Navy to find it, if they had decided to look for the mutineers there.

[mmonk]

4. She was actually rescued. It's that she was unresponsive

in Albemarle Regional Hospital. Tragic that she died. I keep up with a lot of maritime events and history off the NC Coast (called the graveyard of the Atlantic). It's history is rich from Blackbeard to German U Boats to Spanish Galleons to HMS Bounty. The Albemarle region is named after my ancestor George Monck, Duke of Albemarle. He was once in charge of the Admiralty of England.

[Tsiyu]

6. It's rich in history for certain

And how wonderful you have that connection!

I love Tybee Island, GA, personally, and lived in Fort Screven ( what's been converted to a home ) where the living room was a former gun room - huge round depression in the floor where the gun rotated as aimed out to sea. The basement held jail cells.

That North shore of Tybee has seen Natives, British, French, Maybe some Spanish, American Colonists, Confederates, Yankees wrest control, and waited for German U-Boats its own self. lol


Lots of ghosties there! ( If you believe in that sort of thing! )

[mmonk]

9. That is the joy I think of living on the East Coast.

That connection that runs deep in the development of a people. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the ship HMS Bounty was in the movie (one of my favorites) Master and Commander starring Russell Crowe. Also I would be remiss if I didn't mention that it feels weird seeing the same family crest of my family on what is called the Albemarle highway in eastern North Carolina. Wish I could claim the area back for my family but that dang revolution gets in the way of that.

[Tsiyu]

11. We did post a skull and crossbones flag

on the fort when I was there

We were claiming the fort for ninja pirates everywhere!

Fun times at the sea; makes you forget how unforgiving she can be...

[mmonk]

12. Excellent. That is the colors I fly at my lake house (off the end of my pier).

We used to fly the Jolly Roger at our property at Atlantic Beach NC before we sold it. I fly that and the Union Jack (because blood runs deep). The sea is definitely unforgiving. I was on a deep sea fishing expedition when we got caught in a storm. I remember the panic to this very day. The boat rolled in high waves and footing was near to impossible but we made it in after many gruelling hours. It was enough to make an atheist pray.

[Tsiyu]

21. The Jolly Roger!

I could not think of that to save my life.

I love old age ( got Some-Timers - I remember stuff some of the time )

[Old and In the Way]

14. Very sad.

Wish I could post some pics I took of the HMS Bounty this summer. She was motoring up the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth, NH while we were headed out to sail around the Isle of Shoals. I really don't understand why the captain put the ship and crew in harm's way like that. Seemed like they had plenty of warnings and opportunity to stay out of that area. Cape Hatteras has claimed many ships in storms...I don't know why it didn't stay well North of the track of Sandy.

[Tsiyu]

20. I think they were trying to take her to Florida

to get out of harm's way. Not sure about that but that's the only thing that makes sense. And who knows what was out at sea. The currents and jet streams, etc. appear to be all messed up.

And I do understand the grieving for a ship.

Saw the Cutty Sark on the Thames and got pics and now she is no more....

ON EDIT: It appears they restored the Cutty Sark and she was re-opened to the public this past April.! Yays!

[cabot]

15. Very sad

I guess if anything good can be said - at least she died doing what she loved. Most of us won't get that chance.

[Tsiyu]

22. This is very true n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

16. She graduated from West High School here in Anchorage

(the same HS two of my daughters attended) back in 1988. It's indeed a small world.



Here's local coverage http://www.adn.com/2012/10/29/2676058/hurricane-claims-famous-tall-ship.html

[Tsiyu]

24. Thanks for adding that link

Yes, it is a small world.

Her ancestral connection to the past of the original Bounty is amazing to me.

[Casandia]

27. Found this picture of her

[link:http://www.google.com/imgres?q=claudene+christian&num=10&hl=en&biw=1266&bih=588&tbm=isch&tbnid=NQ7ICYUqJ8Ve6M:&imgrefurl=http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/156986-bounty-victim-was-mutineer-s-relative&docid=Ueh9FY0t6qFKcM&imgurl=&w=660&h=372&ei=6gSRUIbKCef6yQG76oGQAg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=203&sig=111015342026845181784&page=1&tbnh=86&tbnw=153&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i 8&tx=92&ty=41|

[Tsiyu]

28. Thanks for adding this

Beautiful woman, such a sad loss

[sabrina 1]

36. Here's another photo of her:

Picture of the Bounty as it sank taken from a US Coastguard Helicopter:




She was rescued, but died later. The captain is still missing, the crew abandoned the ship and were all rescued thankfully.

[HooptieWagon]

38. The woman is quite beautiful.

And it appears the topmasts on the Bounty are down. I wonder if they were lowered before the trip, or were cut down or broken during the storm?
I am guessing they probably were lowered before the trip due to Coast Guard or insurance regulations, to improve stability.