Acknowledgements

Business was quite busy – writing and sailing – when an email arrived from Helen Littleton, non-fiction publisher at Hachette in Sydney. It presented an exciting opportunity – a wonderful idea for a book – a biography of Captain Bligh, the brilliant eighteenth-century seafarer, explorer and commander. Helen and a mutual friend, that old seadog and publishing legend, John Ferguson, had lamented how Bligh, ‘the master mariner’, had been overshadowed by his reputation. They thought I should right this wrong. I had a coffee with Malcolm Edwards, Fiona Hazard and Helen at Hachette and with that, life’s course changed for me. I was honoured by this offer; so here now is my story of one of the great master mariners.

Producing the words for this book has been a far from solo effort. Had it not been for the contributions of many people Bligh would never have set sail. Firstly, I have to say that Helen Littleton is the most professional, encouraging, supportive and enthusiastic publisher I have worked with, as are the outstanding editorial team working with her at Hachette – Kate Stevens, Emma Whetham, Rachael Donovan, Jacquie Brown and proofreader Jon Gibbs. I am equally indebted to my dedicated assistant, Liz Christmas, whose contributions to the book were always generous and enthusiastic; and to Prue Stirling for her understanding and support when this project began to absorb a significant amount of my time. To Nigel Erskine, Curator, Exploration and European Settlement at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney – and a ‘Bligh fanatic’ – I say thank you for your initial assistance in helping research the subject, and subsequent reading of the manuscript. Paul Brunton, Senior Curator of the Mitchell Library at the State Library of NSW, a man passionate about Bligh and an author of many works on Bligh and our colonial heritage, gave me guidance in the early stages on the extraordinary collection of Bligh material held by the library and provided invaluable assistance to my publisher in sourcing and crediting the images and charts that appear in the work. Also, I must recognise Captain Welwyn Gamble of Australian Reef Pilots and Troy Hamilton-Irvine of Antique Mapart Australia for their help.

Finally, I want to thank the booksellers in advance for their support of this book, and for what they achieved with my previous publications.