On 28 April 1789, a mutiny on HMS Bounty in the south Pacific was led by Fletcher Christian. Bounty had left England in 1787 on a mission to collect breadfruit plants from Tahiti. During a five-month layover there, many of the men were in relationships with native Polynesians. Lieutenant William Bligh handed out increasingly harsh punishments and abuse, especially to Christian, and morale plummeted. After three weeks back at sea, Bligh and 18 of his crew were forced into the ship's small uncovered launch, and had to row and sail more than 4,000 miles (6,400 km) to reach safety. In 1791, 14 of the Bounty crew were arrested in Tahiti; four of these died when their ship ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef, four were acquitted at a court martial, three were pardoned and three were hanged. On Pitcairn Island, just one surviving mutineer, John Adams, was discovered in 1808; Christian and most of the rest had been killed, by each other and by the mistreated Tahitians they brought with them. Their descendants would continue to inhabit Pitcairn into the 21st century. The view of Bligh as an overbearing monster has in recent years been challenged by historians.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny_on_the_Bounty

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1253:

Nichiren, a Japanese monk, expounded Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō for the first time and declared it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nichiren_Buddhism

1887:

A week after being arrested by the Prussian Secret Police, Alsatian police inspector Guillaume Schnaebelé was released on order of German Emperor William I, defusing a possible war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Schnaebel%C3%A9

1949:

Former First Lady of the Philippines Aurora Quezon, her daughter, and ten others were assassinated by the military arm of the Philippine Communist Party. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_Quezon

1965:

Four days after the Dominican Civil War began, the United States invaded the country, aiming to prevent the development of what Lyndon Johnson saw as a possible second Cuban Revolution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Civil_War

2001:

Dennis Tito became the world's first fee-paying space tourist, riding the Russian Soyuz TM-32 spacecraft to the International Space Station. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Tito

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

Boreas: 1. (Greek mythology) The god of the North Wind. 2. (poetic) The north wind personified. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Boreas

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I have never disliked religion. I think it has some purpose in our evolution. I don't have much truck with the "religion is the cause of most of our wars" school of thought because that is manifestly done by mad, manipulative and power-hungry men who cloak their ambition in God. I number believers of all sorts among my friends. Some of them are praying for me. I'm happy they wish to do this, I really am, but I think science may be a better bet.   --Terry Pratchett https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett