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Fateful Voyage

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Revised May 19 2021

Bligh Notebook

This is a notebook Bligh kept on the launch voyage. As he explains on Page 3, "This account was kept in my bosom as a common memorandum of our time & transposed into my fair Journal evry day when the Weather would admit–with every material circumstance which passed. — It happened that Mr. Hayward had this Book with some signels sat down in it wch appear in two Pages & I appropirated the blank leaves to this use."

I have included every page with writing on it, but have transcribed only the remarks. The page numbers are my own and some are missing, I discovered some were blank after I numbered them. The images are copyrighted by the National Library of Australia and are used by permission. Due to the copyright holder's restrictions, the images are shown at approximately 77% actual size.

A note on the links below. A simple date, 4 May or 3-4 May for example, is either a narrative or a page in the style of a logbook. 'Rems' denotes remarks and often follow a logbook page, and 'Figs' denotes Bligh's position calculations and often precede the logbook pages with the same date.

1. Figures 29. 13 May 58. 28 May Rems 86. 4 Jun Rems
2. Figures 30. 14 May 59. 28 May Rems Map 87. 5 Jun
3. Bligh's Preface 31. May Map Rems 60. 29-30 May Figs 88. 5-7 Jun Figs
4. blank15 May 61. 29 May 89. 6 Jun
5. Preface-28 Apr 33. 15-16 May Figs 62. 29 May Rems 90. 7 Jun
6. 28-29 Apr 34. 16 May 63. 30 May Restoration 1 91. 8 Jun
7. 29 Apr-1 May 35. 17 May 64. 30 May Restoration 2 92. 8-10 Jun Figs
8. 2-3 May 36. 18 May 65. 30 May Contd 93. 9 Jun
9. 3-4 May 37. 17-20 May Figs 66. 1-2 Jun Figs 94. 10 Jun
10. 4 May 38. 19 May 67. 31 May 95. 11 Jun
11. 3-4 May Figs 39. 21 May Figs 68. 31 May Rems 1 96. 11-13 Jun Figs
12. 5 May Map 40. 20 May 69. 31 May Rems 2 97. 12 Jun
13. Hayward Signals 41. 21 May 70. 31 May Rems 3 98. 12 Jun Rems
14. blank 42. fragment 71. 1 Jun 99. 13 Jun
15. 5 May 43. fragment 72. 1 Jun Rems 1 100. 13 Jun Rems 1
16. Hayward Signals 44. Prayer 1 73. 1 Jun Rems 2 101. 13 Jun Rems 2
17. 6 May 45. Prayer 2 74. 1 Jun Map 102. 14 Jun Figs
18. Signals Map 6 May 46. Prayer 3 75. 2 Jun 103. 14 Jun
19. 6 May & Figs 47. 22-23 May Figs 76. 2 Jun Rems 104. 14 Jun Rems 1
20. 7 May 48. 22 May 77. blank 105. 14 Jun Rems 2
21. 8 May 49. 23 May 78. Cape York Map 106. 14 Jun Rems 3
22. 9 May 50. 24 May 79. blank 107. 14 Jun Rems 4
23. 7-9 May Figs 51. 24-25 May Figs 80. Figures 108. 14 Jun Rems 5
24. 10 May Map Figs 52. 25 May 81. 3 Jun 109. 14 Jun Rems 6
25. 10 May 53. 26-27 May Figs 82. 3 Jun Rems 1 110. 14 Jun Rems 7
26. 11 May 54. 26 May 83. 3 Jun Rems 2 111. Map Figs
27. 11-14 May Figs 55. 27 May 84. 3-4 Jun Figs 112. Flags Figs
28. 12 May 56. 28 May Figs 85. 4 Jun
57. 28 May

Model of Launch
The image above is of a model of the launch scratch-built by Prof. James M. Norton, Ph.D.,
Chairperson, Department of Physiology, University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, in 2005.
Used by Permission.

(More images of the model can be found here.)


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