Bligh: Master Mariner

Description

The eighteenth century was an era when brave mariners took their ships beyond the horizon in search of an unknown world. Those chosen to lead these expeditions were exceptional navigators, men who had shown brilliance as they ascended the ranks in the Royal Navy. They were also bloody good sailors. From ship's boy to vice-admiral, discover how much more there was to Captain Bligh than his infamous bad temper. Meet a 24-year-old Master Bligh as he witnesses the demise of his Captain and mentor Cook; a 34-year-old Lieutenant Bligh at the helm of the famous Bounty then cast adrift by Fletcher Christian on an epic 47-day open-boat voyage from Tonga to Timor; and a 36-year-old Captain Bligh as he takes HMS Providence, in the company of a young Matthew Flinders, on a grand scientific voyage around the world. And all this before he was forty. Rob Mundle's BLIGH puts you at the heart of a great nautical life - it's a story that embraces the romance of the sea, bravery in battle, the adventure of exploration under sail and the cost of having the courage of your convictions.

Rob Mundle is a bestselling author, journalist and competitive yachtsman whose family heritage is with the sea, dating back to his great-great grandfather who was the master of square riggers. For over forty years Rob has combined his passions for sailing and writing. He has written thirteen books, reported on more than thirty Sydney to Hobarts (and competed in three), and covered seven America's Cups, four Olympics and numerous international events. He is the winner of many sailing championships, and a regular competitor in local and international contests, and has sailed everything from sailboards and 18-foot skiffs through to supermaxi yachts and offshore multihulls.

A fine storyteller and the scope of his research in Bligh: Master Mariner is vast. - Sydney Morning Herald There's more to Cap'n Bligh than the Bounty mutiny and convicts. - The Australian Mundle admits he does not write as a historian and his account, redolent with the colour and action of life on the high seas, is the more entertaining as a result. - The Daily Telegraph Mundle's strength is that his own experience of the sea makes for vivid, absorbing descriptions of Bligh's voyages. - Weekend Australian Mundle's Bligh is a meticulously researched biography that benefits from its author's seafaring experience and ability to write with bracing vitality of the trials faced during the age of exploration. - The Age Written with sympathy and admiration, this is a rich and forceful story. - The Canberra Times