HMS Bounty Replica Rests in Peace Hampton Dunn

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1-1-1960 HMS Bounty replica rests in peace Hampton Dunn

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Scholar Commons Citation Dunn, Hampton, "HMS Bounty replica rests in peace" (1960). Digital Collection - Florida Studies Center Publications. Paper 2700. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/flstud_pub/2700

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HMS BOUNTY REPLICA RESTS IN PEACE

ST. PETERSBURG --- The original HMS Bounty had a stormy and infamous career. But a replica of the historic vessel rests peacefully amid a Tahitian setting at the Vinoy Park Basin here and basks in the compliments tourists pay her.

Bounty II was reconstructed from original drawings in the files of the British Admiralty by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie studio. After starring in the epic "Mutiny on the Bounty" the ship was brought here for permanent exhibit a 60,000 mile journey to the South Seas for the filming and promotional cruises.

The original Bounty was a coastal trader named Bethia. The Navy of King George III selected her for Lt. William Bligh's mission to the South Seas in 1789. Her mission: To collect young transplants of the breadfruit tree and carry them to Jamaica for cultivation as a cheap food for slaves. It was rechristened The Bounty.

Bounty II, built in Nova Scotia, is a 480 ton vessel, 114 feet long and carried 10,000 square feet of canvas. Below, all quarters are decorated in detail with 18th-century furniture, fittings and priceless antiques. A replica of the Bounty's original anchor is also aboard. There is also a replica of the longboat in which Captain Bligh was put to sea by Fletcher Christian in the mutiny.

This marine-historical attraction features the recorded voices of Clark Gable and Charles Laughton as they speak the words of Christian and Bligh that led to the best known mutiny in maritime history.

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