On 27 Aug 1787, William Purcell was signed aboard H.M.S. Bounty as Ship's carpenter, with the rank of Senior Warrant Officer. Although his age is not given, it is reasonable to assume that he was 35 or 40 years of age, and probably a veteran of 10 to 20 years in the Royal Navy.

Purcell was highly conscious of his special status due to his rank and skills which exempted him from flogging. An early unionist, he was quick to call his Captain's attention to his claimed exemption from ordinary duty, and his proprietary rights to his tools. As recorded in his log, Bligh's difficulties with Purcell began at a very early date.

On 26 Aug 1788, while in port in Tasmania, Purcell refused 'in a most insolent and reprehensible manner' to take part in certain general duties, like hoisting water into the hold. This was probably a sulk, as Purcell had been recently reprimanded for his conduct on a wood-gathering party. His conduct could have resulted in his arrest and confinement pending trial, but Bligh, not wishing to lose the services of an able crewman for the remainder of the long voyage, chose instead to sentence him to laborer's duties on the ship, a very demeaning assignment for his rank.

He apparently was able to convince his colleague, Senior Warrant Officer Fryer, the Ship's Master, who was in charge of the assigned duties, that Purcell's rank and need to attend to his carpentry would not permit his compliance. When Bligh heard of this, he carefully gathered statements and evidence from crewmembers to be used later to back charges against the carpenter. Bligh then confronted Purcell, indicating that 'until he should work as commanded, all provisions would be withheld.' Severe punishment would befall and crewmember who assisted him, and the log recalls that 'he was soon brought to his senses'.

Purcell seems to have been only the first to express the serious rift that was forming between Bligh and his senior staff, all highly experienced older men. Bligh's well-documented confron- tations with Fryer seem to have begun at this point, and grew increasingly rancorous throughout the voyage.

In October of 1788, while in Tahiti, Purcell again outraged Bligh when he refused to cut a grindstone for Bligh's Tahitian host on the grounds that 'it will spoil my chisel. There is a law to take away my clothes, but there is none to take away my tools.' This got him a day of cabin arrest!

Just before the mutiny, which occurred the following April, Fletcher Christian approached Purcell complaining of Bligh's treatment of his officers. Purcell tried to calm him, saying that 'it is for a short time only', but this had little effect on the angry young Lieutenant. Despite his earlier run-in's with Bligh, when the mutiny actually took place, there was little question of Purcell joining the mutineers. The senior officers knew well the gravity of mutiny, and what fate would await them should they be apprehended. Likewise, the mutineers had little patience for this group of 'establishment figures' that had attempted to dissuade them from their course of action. Christian, therefore, chose to force Purcell's assistants, Norman and McIntosh, to remain with the Bounty to handle carpentry emergencies. Most of Purcell's tools were likewise confiscated.

Despite the privations and the difficulties of the voyage in the launch that carried Bligh and his loyalists to safety in Timor, constant bickering occurred as the refugees split into camps supporting Bligh or Fryer. Purcell, of course, was one of Fryer's strongest supporters. On the second leg of the voyage, from Timor to Surabaya in a larger vessel towing the launch, Fryer and Purcell were again in deep trouble that ended with Bligh arresting them at the point of a bayonet!

But Fryer got some measure of revenge by filing charges against Bligh before leaving Surabaya, and from this point forward, Bligh and Fryer were not on speaking terms. On the third leg, from Surabaya to Batavia, the three men shipped on separate vessels in the convoy, with Fryer and Purcell in irons. On Sept. 22nd, Fryer apologized in a way acceptable to Bligh and was released, but Purcell remained in irons until Oct. 1st when they reached their destination.

In England, when Bligh filed his reports and charges against his former crew, he chose not to charge Fryer. Purcell was charged on six counts, but the prosecution was unusually mild, and he was let off with only an official reprimand. This sea-lawyer and advocate of the unionism that was later to affect most marine shipping was the only Bounty loyalist against whom Bligh preferred charges.

"William Purcell went out to the West Indies after the court-martial; eventually, he would serve in fourteen more ships before retirement. Sometime after 1800, he married Hannah Maria Mayo, a widow. Purcell died in 1834, after having "shown symptoms of derangement," in Haslar Hospital, across the water from Portsmouth. His death was thought to warrant a notice in the Gentleman's Magazine, in which he was referred to as "the last surviving officer of the Bounty, and one of those turned adrift in an open boat on the Pacific ocean." Touchingly, his wife's gravestone also commemorated this event, referring to Mrs. Purcell as the relic of one who had been "an adherent of Captain Bligh's." (Caroline Alexander,"The Bounty")

e died on 10 Mar 1834 at Haslar Hospital, on the Gosport side of Portsmouth harbor in England. Ironically, his room overlooked Spithead, from which the Bounty set sail 47 years earlier. He was the last known survivor of the ill-fated crew, having outlived the last of the mutineers by 5 years

Record	Events	Title	Source Website	Type	Created
JohnFryer.jpg			Forces War Records	Image	1/08/2007
heywood.gif			Forces War Records	Image	1/08/2007

Crew of the Bounty

Source Documents