HMS Falcon (1782)

The HMS Falcon was a small fourteen gun brig which was in the service of the Royal Navy primarily during the 1780s and 90s. The ship bears historical significance as it was under the command of William Bligh in the immediate aftermath of the Mutiny on the Bounty.

Bligh's command

William Bligh returned to England from Tahiti in March 1790, having endured nearly a one-year transit from the south seas from the time of the mutiny on the Bounty in April of the previous year. After a court martial for the loss of the HMAV Bounty, Bligh was deemed to have acted properly and at no fault for the loss of his vessel. He was then restored to full rank as a naval lieutenant, the rank he had held on the Bounty under the unusual title "commanding lieutenant", due to the Bounty's small size and status as an "armed vessel" (HMAV) instead of a regular Royal Navy sailing ship (HMS).

On 14 November 1790 Bligh was ordered to command HMS Falcon and issued orders as a "Master and Commander", which was by this time typically shortened simply to "Commander" both in verbal and written correspondence. On-board his ship, Bligh was called "Captain" by the crew out of courtesy. Bligh's appointment as a Commander was as a means to avoid falling on the half pay list due to lack of an active billet; the Navy Board also felt that Bligh serving as a lieutenant on a rated ship, essentially a demotion, would not be proper given his experience on a two-year voyage to the south seas. Bligh had also become something of a naval hero, given that his open boat navigation to Kupang, after being cast adrift by Bounty mutineers, had been regarded as one of the greatest accomplishments in seamanship and navigation up to that point.

Bligh only served as commander of the Falcon for one month when he was transferred to the HMS Medea and promoted to the full rank of Captain (known officially as "making post" or "Post-captain"). Bligh was not the actual Captain of the Medina, but was posted for administrative reasons only. The next year he was given command of the HMS Providence and instructed to return to the south seas for a repeat of the Bounty's failed mission.

Later career

The Falcon was designated as a fire ship in 1800 and was deliberately burned during a raid on Dunkirk.

References

Hough, Richard, Captain Bligh and Mr Christian: The Men and the Mutiny, Hutchinsons, London (1972)

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