When Captain Bligh was set adrift after the Bounty mutiny, why did he not set a course for South America, which was thousands of miles closer than Timor?

star_gazer

Bligh had confidence in his navigational skills, which he had perfected under the instruction of Captain Cook. His first responsibility was to survive and get word of the mutiny as soon as possible to British vessels that could pursue the mutineers. Thus, he undertook the seemingly impossible 3,618 nautical mile (6,701 km) voyage to Timor. In this remarkable act of seamanship, Bligh succeeded in reaching Timor after a 47-day voyage, with the only casualty being the crewman killed on Tofua. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bligh Jul 15 09, 11:21 PM

Watchkeeper

Shortly after being set adrift, Bligh landed at Tofua for supplies but his party was attacked and one man was killed. With no weapons for defence, he would not call at any other uncivilised place and risk the lives of himself and his crew. (op cit) Instead he navigated to Timor because he knew it was in Dutch hands, and he and his crewmen would easily be repatriated to England. Such proved to be the case. "And the fact that he chose to navigate to Timor where he knew there was a civilized outpost which, would ultimately, if they made it; would ensure his safe return to London." http://www.bbc.co.uk/humber/content/articles/2008/09/10/bounty_feature.shtml Another not insignificant fact was that to head eastwards would be to travel "uphill" against the South Equatorial Current. http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/T1817E/T1817E12.gif Instead, he chose to "go with the flow". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bountya.jpg Jul 17 09, 4:23 PM