shipstamps.co.uk

Built as a wooden boat in 1787 by John Samuel White, Cowes, Isle of Wight.
Dimensions 7 x 2.1 x 0.8m.

After the mutiny on the HMAS BOUNTY on 28 April 1789 in which Captain Bligh was taken prisoner, he and 19 men which still support them were put in the ship launch.
They got also 28 gallons of water, 5 bottles of wine, 4 quarts of rum, 150 ponds of biscuit and 20 ponds of pork. They were also give a sextant, compass and 4 cutlasses.
The launch was so heavily loaded that it got only a freeboard of 0.21 cm.
29 April she landed on Tofoa Island one of the Fiji Islands, where one of the crew was killed by the natives when they were preparing to leave the next day.
They had to ration the food and water drastically to one ounces of bread and four ounces of water, later reduced to less.
Captain Bligh decided to sail to Koepang (now Kupang) West Timor in the Dutch East Indies, a voyage of 3,600 miles and the nearest European settlement.
They passed the New Hebrides between 14 and 15 May, then along the Great Barrier Reef from 16 May to 4 June, then trough the Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea arriving in Koepang on 12 June a passage of 43 days.
A dangerous voyage through uncharted waters in an overcrowded open boat, and ill-provisioned men.
Only one man was lost due to an attack of natives in Tofoa Island.
Still till today it is an outstanding feat of navigation without GPS.
After the crew was recuperated Bligh bought a small ship which he renamed RESOURCE in which he sailed to Batavia. They took also the launch with him.
The RESOURCE and the launch were sold at an auction in Batavia on 10 October 1789.

Fiji 1967 $1 sg365, scott?. 1970 8c sg426, scott?. 1989 45c and 1$ sg790 and 793, scott?
Isle of Man 1989 16p and 23p sg409 and 410, scott?
Pitcairn Island 1964 ½d sg36 and 2d sg38, scott?, 1967 ½c on ½d sg69 and 2c on 2d sg71, scott?, 1967 1c and 8 c sg82/83 scott?. 1989 90c sg344, scott? 1992 $1.50 sg424, scott377


Voyage of the Bounty launch by John Fryer. http://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/bounty/launch.shtml

Was Bounty’s launch built by John Samuel White of Cowes, Isle of Wight? This is a legend that I have often seen repeated.
John Samuel White lived from 1838 to 1915 (the mutiny occurred in 1789) and his family didn’t move their shipbuilding activities to Cowes until the early years of the nineteenth century, so it would seem to be impossible. But, as with many legends, could there be a grain of truth in it somewhere?
The origins of shipbuilding by the White family are obscure, but John White (1714–1782), his son John (1732-1801) and grandson Thomas (1773-1859) had, by the middle of the eighteenth century, established a successful business at Broadstairs in Kent.
Besides producing fishing smacks for the local trade, the yard built fast cutters for the Naval and Revenue services as well as brigantines and a number of West Indiamen. In 1764 John White the younger made his name by publishing a draft book of hull designs, which aroused considerable interest; copy is in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich. By the end of the eighteenth century the family realised that their business required closer contact with the Admiralty and they left Broadstairs for Gosport and Cowes. Both these towns are near to Portsmouth.
The yard at Cowes already had a distinguished history of shipbuilding; see HMS Jersey of 1698 built by Joseph Nye (Jersey SG981) and HMS Vanguard of 1762 built by Philemon Ewer (St Kitts SG42). This continued after the arrival of the White family, in particular Thomas, his son Joseph (1801-1876) and his grandson (Joseph’s nephew) John Samuel White. Over the years many of their Cowes-built vessels have appeared on postage stamps, from the Olive Branch of 1818 (Ciskei SG84) to HMS Eskimo of 1963 (Tristan da Cuhna SG215). White’s was the only company building for the British Admiralty to have successfully made the change from wooden ships powered by sails to steel ships driven by steam and gas turbines.
I was employed by the company during the final years of shipbuilding (which ceased in 1965) and for the following period when it continued to produce turbines and other marine-based engineering products. During my time there I heard the legend, which centred on a letter supposedly written by Captain Bligh praising the company for a launch they had supplied. My informant added that the letter no longer existed; apparently it had been “destroyed in a fire on the company’s premises”. A more recent version of the legend has it that the letter was lost when many documents were destroyed after the company was taken over by US interests.
I have three different books telling the history of John Samuel White & Co Ltd, none of which mentions Captain Bligh or Bounty’s launch. Two of these books were produced by the company themselves; if the legend was true would they have missed an opportunity for the publicity it would bring? I have also asked the company’s last managing director, but he was unaware of any truth in the legend.
And yet we know that, prior to sailing on her final voyage in 1787, the Bounty was refitted at Deptford. We also know that Bligh took the opportunity before sailing to replace the Bounty’s boats with sturdier ones. Bligh could have organised for the White family of Broadstairs to supply the launch. After sailing the Bounty waited for several weeks in St Helen’s roads (off the Isle of Wight) for favourable winds. St Helen’s is only twelve miles from Cowes and even closer to Gosport. He could have obtained the launch from builders at either of these two towns.
We must also bear in mind that, after the mutiny, Captain Bligh (1754 – 1817) went on to complete a long and distinguished career as an officer in the Royal Navy. Is it possible that during his later years he did write to White’s to thank them for supplying a useful craft? Did he write such a letter, and if he did, was he referring to the one used for his epic voyage or was it a later one built at Cowes? Maybe we shall never know – unless any further evidence can be produced.