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Captain William Bligh is known for surviving the mutiny on HMS Bounty, getting his loyal men 4,000 miles to safety, then surviving a SECOND mutiny in Australia cleaning up a corrupt rum trade.
And what'd he survive all this for? To found Dun Laoghaire. We never talk about this🧵
And what'd he survive all this for? To found Dun Laoghaire. We never talk about this🧵
Bligh and 18 loyal crew were set adrift by mutineers who strangely preferred staying in Tahiti to any of rum, sodomy, or the lash. He took their ludicrous seven-metre launch on a seemingly impossible 47-day voyage to Timor, the nearest European settlement. They got there safely.
One mutiny's enough for most people in life, but 16 years later, Bligh gets sent to Sydney as governor. So Australia decides to have its first and only military coup. Against him. (His orders, to clean up the New South Wales Corps's corrupt rum trade, went down rumarkably badly.)
In 1800, Bligh comes to Ireland. Amazingly, 19th century Ireland is the ONE place he was not met by rebellion.
His job is to map Dublin Bay. Moving sandbars makes it a difficult place for shipping. So he proposes a refuge harbour be built at Dún Laoghaire. Aka, (for me) here.
His job is to map Dublin Bay. Moving sandbars makes it a difficult place for shipping. So he proposes a refuge harbour be built at Dún Laoghaire. Aka, (for me) here.
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