William McCoy (mutineer)
Encyclopedia
William McCoy was a Scottish sailor and a mutineer on board the HMS Bounty
.
Following the mutiny led by Fletcher Christian
, the Bounty was taken to Tahiti
for a few days before being compelled to set sail. McCoy joined Christian and seven other mutineers. They took with them eleven Tahitian women and six men. After months at sea, the mutineers discovered the uninhabited Pitcairn Island and settled there in January 1790. McCoy had just one consort, Teio, and fathered two children Daniel McCoy, and Catherine. After three years, a conflict broke out between the Tahitian men and the mutineers, resulting in the deaths of all the Tahitian men and five of the Englishmen (including Fletcher Christian). McCoy was one of the survivors.
His life came to a tragic end after liquor was introduced to Pitcairn Island. By some accounts, McCoy himself was the one who discovered how to distill alcohol from one of the island fruits. He became an alcoholic along with Matthew Quintal
and finally ended his life by jumping off a cliff in a drunken frenzy.
Mutiny on the Bounty
The mutiny on the Bounty was a mutiny that occurred aboard the British Royal Navy ship HMS Bounty on 28 April 1789, and has been commemorated by several books, films, and popular songs, many of which take considerable liberties with the facts. The mutiny was led by Fletcher Christian against the...
.
Following the mutiny led by Fletcher Christian
Fletcher Christian
Fletcher Christian was a master's mate on board the Bounty during William Bligh's fateful voyage to Tahiti for breadfruit plants...
, the Bounty was taken to Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
for a few days before being compelled to set sail. McCoy joined Christian and seven other mutineers. They took with them eleven Tahitian women and six men. After months at sea, the mutineers discovered the uninhabited Pitcairn Island and settled there in January 1790. McCoy had just one consort, Teio, and fathered two children Daniel McCoy, and Catherine. After three years, a conflict broke out between the Tahitian men and the mutineers, resulting in the deaths of all the Tahitian men and five of the Englishmen (including Fletcher Christian). McCoy was one of the survivors.
His life came to a tragic end after liquor was introduced to Pitcairn Island. By some accounts, McCoy himself was the one who discovered how to distill alcohol from one of the island fruits. He became an alcoholic along with Matthew Quintal
Matthew Quintal
Matthew Quintal was an Cornish able seaman and mutineer aboard HMS Bounty. His surname was, in all probability, the result of mis-spelling the Cornish surname "Quintrell". He was the last of the mutineers to be murdered on Pitcairn Island...
and finally ended his life by jumping off a cliff in a drunken frenzy.
Further reading
- Christiane Conway (2005) Letters from the Isle of Man - The Bounty-Correspondence of Nessy and Peter Heywood, The Manx Experience, ISBN 1-873120-77-X