Fletcher Christian (bef. 1764 - 1793)

Born before 25 Sep 1764 in Moreland Close, Brigham, Cumberland, England

Ancestors

Husband of Mauatua (Unknown) Christian — married 16 Jun 1789 in Tahiti

Descendants

Died 20 Sep 1793 after age 28 in Pitcairn Islands

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Biography

Fletcher Christian is Notable.

Master's Mate on HMS Bounty

Fletcher Christian (25 September 1764 – 20 September 1793) was master's mate on board HMS Bounty during Lieutenant William Bligh's voyage to Tahiti during 1787–1789 for breadfruit plants. In the mutiny on the Bounty, Christian seized command of the ship from Bligh on 28 April 1789.^[1]

Early Life

Fletcher Christian was the sixth son of Charles Christian and his wife Ann, nee Dixon. He was born at 'Moorland Close', ^[2] a farm near Cockermouth in Cumberland, and baptised nearby at Brigham, Cumberland on 25 September 1764. ^[3]

Fletcher came from a well-to-do family descended from an Isle of Man family. His father, Charles, was an Attorney at Law. ^[1] His mother was also born at 'Moorland Close' which had been the Dixon family home.

After Fletcher's father died in 1768, his mother was left to bring up a large family of children on her own. By 1779, the family were forced to move from 'Moorland Close' due to financial difficulties, and Fletcher spent the remainder of his childhood at the Isle of Man. ^[1]

After being educated at the Cockermouth Grammar School ^[2], Fletcher joined the Navy as a cabin boy in 1781 at the age of 17. ^[1] After a period on the HMS Cambridge, a naval vessel on which William Bligh also served, Fletcher was promoted to midshipman on the HMS Eurydice and then briefly to Master's Mate. Following this assignmend, he sought discharge from the Royal Navy and joined the British merchant fleet, joining the HMS Britannia captained by William Bligh. ^[1]

In 1787, Fletcher joined the HMAV Bounty for a two year assignment as Master's Mate, again under the captaincy of William Bligh. Later he was elevated to Second Lieutenant. The Bounty was tasked with taking breadfruit from Tahiti to the West Indies. ^[1]

Mutiny on the Bounty

Fletcher Christian was the leader of the mutiny against Captain William Bligh, later known as the 'Mutiny on the Bounty'. The Mutiny occurred on 28 April 1789. It followed the voyage to Tahiti, and an idyllic few months that the crew of the Bounty had enjoyed on the Pacific Island. After gaining access to the armaments chest, Fletcher and a small band stormed Bligh's cabin and arrested him. ^[4]

As many of the crew remained loyal to their captain, Bligh and 18 others were set adrift in the Bounty's launch. The mutineers were now outlaws and unable to dock safely for any period of time. After many months sailing around the Pacific on the Bounty, sixteen crew (mostly loyal to Bligh) chose to stay on in Tahiti, while Fletcher and eight other mutineers set off with to find refuge on an uncharted South Pacific Island with a group of Tahitian women and men. They eventually landed on Pitcairn Island on 15 January 1790, where they planned to build a utopian community. This strategy was ill-conceived, and three and a half years later on 20 September 1793, five of the mutineers, including Fletcher Christian, were killed by the Tahitians. ^[4]

Marriage and Children

Christian Fletcher married his wife Maimiti (Mauatua) in Tahiti on 16 June 1789. She accompanied him to Pitcairn Island.

Christian and Maimiti had 3 children.

Thursday October born 14 Oct 1790

Charles born 1792

Mary Ann born 21 Sep 1793

Fletcher was born in 1764. He passed away in 1793.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} Wikipedia: Fletcher Christian
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Cockermouth Website. Accessed 7 Sep 2020. Moorland Close
3. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N54X-7LB : 24 March 2020), Fletcher Christian, 1764.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 31 May 2020), memorial page for Fletcher Christian (25 Sep 1764–20 Sep 1793), Find a Grave Memorial no. 9301908, ; Maintained by Find A Grave Body lost or destroyed, who reports a Unmarked grave on Pitcairn Island, location unknown to historians Find A Grave: Memorial #9301908

• Pitcairn Island Register book.
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 31 May 2020), memorial page for Fletcher Christian (25 Sep 1764–20 Sep 1793), Find a Grave Memorial no. 9301908, ; Maintained by Find A Grave Body lost or destroyed, who reports a Unmarked grave on Pitcairn Island, location unknown to historians Find A Grave: Memorial #9301908
• Mutiny on the HMS Bounty: Bligh, Christian, Pitcairn, Norfolk at the Wayback Machine (archived December 5, 2000)
• Glynn Christian, Fragile Paradise: The discovery of Fletcher Christian, Bounty mutineer, 2nd ed. (U.S.A.: Bounty Books, 2005), page 11.
• Charles Christian at thepeerage.com, accessed 28 May 2010
• a b Anderson. The Bounty. p. 60.
• Hough. Captain Bligh and Mister Christian. p. 56.
• Anderson. The Bounty. p. 57.
• Alexander, C. (2003) pp.359-360
• The poet Robert Southey reported in correspondence a sighting of Christian in England in about 1803. Curry, K. (ed)(1965) New Letters of Robert Southey, vol. 1, pp 519ff, cited in Alexander, C. (2003), p.405
• Williams; Oakeshott. The Cambridge Journal. p. 190.
• "Bounty's Crew Encyclopedia, Christian, Fletcher". Pitcairn Island Study Center (PISC). "The text on the PISC website is used with permission from Mutiny and Romance in the South Seas: A Companion to the Bounty Adventure by Sven Wahlroos."
• Hamilton. The Neutronium Alchemist.
• Ian Fairclough (2012-10-29). "Bounty victim was mutineer’s relative". The Chronicle Herald. Retrieved 2012-10-29.
• The Peerage - Person Page 11908
• Wikipedia:Mutiny on the Bounty
• Naval History Society of Australia Website. Accessed 7 Sep 2020. Captain William Bligh RN
• Geneagraphie