Mutiny on the Bounty for himself, his clerk Samuel, and his servant John Smith, and sailed on 16 October 1789. Four of the remainder—the master's mate Elphinstone, the quartermaster Peter Linkletter, the butcher Robert Lamb and the assistant surgeon Thomas Ledward—all died either in Batavia or on their journeys home. After the departure of Bligh's launch, Christian divided the personal effects of the departed loyalists among the remaining crew and threw the breadfruit plants into the sea. He recognised that Bligh could conceivably survive to report the mutiny, and that anyway the non-return of "Bounty" would occasion a search mission, with Tahiti as its
Mutiny on the Bounty (1962 film) Christian's life on Pitcairn Island. In the 1950s MGM remade a number of their earlier successes in colour and widescreen. They decided to film "Mutiny on the Bounty". In 1958 it was announced Aaron Rosenberg would produce the film and Marlon Brando was mentioned as a possible star Eric Ambler was signed to write a script. It was intended to combine material from the Nordhoff and Hall novels "Mutiny on the Bounty" and "Pitcairn Island" (MGM also owned the rights to a third book, "Men Against the Sea", which dealt with Bligh's boat voyage after the mutiny). In 1959 it