One observer expressed concern that I chose William Bligh as a character to play in my ocean voyage yesterday. A summary provided by ChatGPT will have to suffice until I can access a digital library and librarian with literary expertise. For now, Chat reports the common contention is the ornery sea captain was a tyrant that did not understand the feelings of his crew.

My contention is that Captain Bligh understood much greater feeling than his crew. He was just better skilled at sorting out relevant from irrelevant ones.

As Sailing Master with Captain Cook, he knew the threat of hostile natives. As a low-born citizen of British Empire, he suffered a lifelong struggle to earn respect from his peers. He faced often the terror that emerges on the sea; and, studied it dutifully and scientifically to protect his men and navigate it more skillfully.

So, Bligh ‘knew’, experienced, ‘felt’ the terror of being eaten alive. He felt the constant humiliation and bigotry of people’s low expectations. The sea, as a metaphor of Life Itself, he understood can be harrowing depending on how well sailors respect its demands.

Bligh experienced these things himself that’s why he understood them. That’s why he became a man that could accomplish the greatest sailing feat in human history. Ok, he wasn’t very ‘nice’ about. Jesus wasn’t nice all the time either.

Fletcher Christian, his friend and second officer, represents what I’ve called “pity.” He saw the struggle and exhaustion of the crew to keep up with Bligh’s demands; and, the humiliation they experienced from his sharp remarks that bordered on cruel. (Life, like a drill officer, can scourge us, heckle and taunt us, to test our resolve and expose our weaknesses.)

But, Fletcher didn’t like this part of Life, or Captain Bligh’s embodiment of that reality. He wanted Tahiti, no pressure to excel or achieve. He was high born; and falsely imagined he was entitled to comfort as well as respect as a naval officer. But these are mismatched expectations. Naval officers don’t earn respect of their peers being sentimental, entitled, or collapsing under pressure.

Fletcher claimed to pity the men, which is an almost empty word. If he possessed compassion- an expression of caring followed up with corresponding action– his claims may have been credible. He did not regard Overcoming the harsh demands of life as mandatory.

Perhaps Fletcher considered his circumstance more narrowly, as a conscientious objector to an Imperial Britain? But, Bligh’s ambition wasn’t ‘for the Empire’. In fact, Bligh’s ambition was to prove the empire wrong- by defying its problematic oppression of the Everyman (as he was one of them). Bligh was defying the Empire to a degree and going to great lengths to do so.

However one view’s the situation, it was an opportunity to prove one’s self worth. But, that seems irrelevant and even offensive to Christian. So, Fletcher fled.

To my critic, I’d respond, if Life can be a great ocean that may or may not respect me and my feelings; if there are hostiles that may overthrow me in a delusional pursuit of utopia; if nature itself can be unpredictable- beautiful and pleasing one day, and terror-inducing the next, ought not I then, be all that I am capable of being?

This was Captain Bligh’s object clearly. In my Chronicles, I have documented how true each of the above statements about life is, fairly well. Sentiment and feelings do not marshall our best instincts necessarily. But, reality does. Truth does.

Being ‘nice’ to cannibals and to weak and/or vain men like Fletcher, in my opinion, doesn’t do them any good. (Niceness can be like flattery, and nothing good can come of false praise). So, I’d argue that teaching the crew how to endure hardship and injustice and why was what both Bligh and Christian lacked. Not everyone can be effective communicators.

Bligh believed the crew and Fletcher cared as much as he did about the success of their voyage, I believe. That was probably the most cruel disappointment for him. They didn’t seem to care very much at all.

Bligh wasn’t unfeeling. He knew, experienced, felt completely what life required of him. In fact, it is almost an innocent mistake- or reflection of William’s true humanity – that he believed his fellow shipmen shared his desire to succeed. That is why he quickly takes Fletcher into his bosom as a companion to his dreams; a great honor which Christian fails to appreciate. What a cruel betrayal, to be cast to sea!

But, without manifold cruelty of existence, there’d be no captain William Bligh to blog about. His magnificent sailing feat may never be achieved or celebrated. And, we’d all be congratulating ourselves for being ‘nice’ when life demands so much more.

Do I want to be ‘nice’? Not really. Do I want to survive, live up to all Life’s challenges, and excel despite manifold adversity? That is the question.

Nice is an -ism, a fleeting reflection on a tea bag or fortune cookie. Not much help in storms!