Poster for Wednesday September 9th meeting

Did Captain William Bligh visit Starcross?

We've had a request from Exeter's Royal Albert Memorial Museum for information about a Rear Admiral who was, according to wiki, Captain Bligh's nephew.
Please get in touch if you can help

Did the reviled Captain Bligh  (1754 - 1817) ever visit his nephew, or relations of his nephew, Rear Admiral Francis Godolphin Bond, if they lived in Starcross? The mutiny on The Bounty was in 1789. Whereabouts in Starcross did  the Rear Admiral live?

Rear Admiral Francis Godolphin Bond may have lived in Starcross at anytime between his retirement from the navy in 1802, and his death in 1839, aged 74.

"
 I wonder if anyone in the Starcross History Group has done any work on Francis Godolphin Bond, 1765-1839? (Rear Admiral when he died in Exeter.) Bond sailed with Capt Bligh on the second voyage to collect Breadfruit from Tahiti (Bligh’s first trip was in the ‘Bounty’) and he donated some  wonderful Tahitian objects to the Devon and Exeter Institution which are now in the RAMM collection in Exeter.

I understand that he spent some time in Starcross after he retired from the navy in 1802.

I’d be most grateful if you can direct me to any information you might have about this.  I am researching Bond for the RAMM as part of a project researching their Pacific Collections.

Many thanks

"

The Tahitan  mourning costume donated to the Royal Albert memorial Museum by Rear Admiral Francis Godolphin Bond

Francis Godolphin Bond was born in Plymouth. He was just 11 years old when he joined the Royal Navy and was only 13 when he was badly injured in a battle. His most significant role came in 1791 when he served with the infamous Captain Bligh - who was his uncle.

Bond served as First Lieutenant on the Providence, which took breadfruit plants to the Caribbean to be cultivated for food for slaves. Bond enjoyed a better relationship with his captain than the mutinous Fletcher Christian did aboard the Bounty in 1789.

In 1797 Bond was promoted to Captain. A few years later he retired from active service after his marriage, settling in Exeter on half pay. In 1839, shortly after reaching the rank of Rear admiral, he died.

Bond was a founder member of the Devon & Exeter Institution and donated some of the wonderful treasures he gathered during his naval career to their collection. The most spectacular is the costume of a chief mourner worn during the funeral of a nobleman, given to Bond in Tahiti in 1791. This extremely rare piece was later added to RAMM's collections.

http://www.rammuseum.org.uk/collections/collectors/francis-godolphin-bond-17651839