Did Captain Bligh father a daughter while on Tofua, Tonga?
Answer
Bligh was only on Tofua one night – hiding in a cave with his men – and for part of the two days on either side of the night. He was always at some distance from the natives because he was afraid of their intentions toward him and the loyalist Bounty crew members who were with him. On the second day he and his man fled from Tofua in the launch in which they had been placed on the day of the mutiny on Bounty. They had to flee under a hail of rocks and spears from the locals and one of his men, John Norton, was killed in the escape! He simply could not have fathered a daughter under those circumstances. This was the only occasion Bligh was on Tofua, either in the Bounty, or during his second breadfruit expedition on the H.M.S. Providence in 1793.
Herbert Ford
Pitcairn Islands Study Center Director & Founder