HMS Briton (1812) crew that had seized HMS "Bounty" from its captain Lieutenant William Bligh during the 1789 mutiny aboard the ship. With the coming of the Pax Britannica in 1815, "Briton" undertook various voyages before she was broken up in 1860. At the time of HMS "Briton"s launch, the United Kingdom was at war with the United States and France such that vessels of either country were considered legitimate prizes of war. As a result, on 1 December 1812 "Briton" recaptured , which the American privateer "Grand Turk" had captured a few weeks earlier as "Wolfe's Cove" was sailing from Quebec to
Mutiny on the Bounty Undeterred, Christian and an armed party surveyed the island, and decided it would be suitable for their purposes. However, to create a permanent settlement, they needed compliant native labour and women. The most likely source for these was Tahiti, to which "Bounty" returned on 6 June. To ensure the co-operation of the Tahiti chiefs, Christian concocted a story that he, Bligh, and Captain Cook were founding a new settlement at Aitutaki. Cook's name ensured generous gifts of livestock and other goods and, on 16 June, the well-provisioned "Bounty" sailed back to Tubuai. On board were nearly 30 Tahitian men and