HMS Bounty Tahitian woman. Others of the "Bounty"s warrant officers and seamen were also said to have formed "connections" with native women. After five months in Tahiti, the "Bounty" set sail with her breadfruit cargo on 4 April 1789. Some west of Tahiti, near Tonga, mutiny broke out on 28 April 1789. Despite strong words and threats heard on both sides, the ship was taken bloodlessly and apparently without struggle by any of the loyalists except Bligh himself. Of the 42 men on board aside from Bligh and Christian, 22 joined Christian in mutiny, two were passive, and 18 remained loyal to
Mutiny on the Bounty describe the pleasure which the blessing of the sight of this land diffused among us", Bligh wrote. On 14 June, with a makeshift Union Jack hoisted, they sailed into Coupang harbour. In Coupang, Bligh reported the mutiny to the authorities, and wrote to his wife: "Know then, my own Dear Betsey, I have lost the "Bounty" ..." Nelson the botanist quickly succumbed to the harsh Coupang climate and died. On 20 August, the party departed for Batavia (now Jakarta) to await a ship for Europe; the cook Thomas Hall died there, having been ill for weeks. Bligh obtained passages home