In 1787 Bligh became leader of a small expedition to be sent to Tahiti to get breadfruit trees. These would be planted in the West Indies as food for the slaves. The "Bounty" left Tahiti loaded with breadfruit trees on 4 April 1789. Three weeks later, a seaman named Fletcher Christian led a mutiny (take over) of the ship. Christian wanted to go back to Tahiti. This event is called the Mutiny on the Bounty. Bligh and 18 seamen were put into a small boat, with little food or water, four swords, a sextant, a pocket watch, but no map. They were able to get to Batavia (now Jakarta), a distance of 6701 km, in 47 days. Bligh finally got back to England in March, 1790. He wrote a book about the mutiny called "A Narrative of the Mutiny on board His Majesty's Ship "Bounty"". 