James Norman Hall & Charles Nordhoff 
Mutiny on the Bounty 
Historical Novel

Mutiny on the Bounty is novel based on the mutiny against Lieutenant William Bligh, commanding officer of the HMS Bounty in 1789. It tells the story through a fictional first-person narrator by the name of Roger Byam, based on a crew member Peter Heywood. HMS Bounty was on a voyage to Tahiti for breadfruit plants and some of the crew members were complaining about Lieutenant William Bligh’s harsh treatment. The mutiny broke out under the leadership of Fletcher Christian, master’s mate on the ship. Mutineers set Bligh afloat in a small boat with members of the crew loyal to him. Byam, although not one of the mutineers, remained with the Bounty after the mutiny. Mutineers continued to sail on the Bounty, looking for a place build a colony, conflicting with natives.

About the author

James Norman Hall (1887-1951) was an American writer best known for The Bounty Trilogy, three historical novels he wrote with Charles Nordhoff. During World War I, Hall had the distinction of serving in the militaries of three Western allies: Great Britain as an infantryman, and then France and the United States as an aviator. After the war, Hall spent much of his life on the island of Tahiti, where he and Nordhoff wrote a number of successful adventure books, many adapted for film.