AKeelhauling is a medieval form of punishment where a convicted sailor's arms were tied to long ropes, and he was tossed off the bow into the water. Sailors on either side of the deck used the ends of the ropes to 'haul' his body under the ship's keel, either from one side of the ship to the other or down the length of the ship (from bow to stern). If the sailor was not ripped to shreds by the barnacles encrusting the ship's hull, he most certainly drowned. In the case of this movie, he got eaten by a shark.
QWhat is 'Mutiny on the Bounty' about?
ATaking his first command in 1787 as Captain of the British merchant ship the HMS Bounty, William Bligh (Trevor Howard) sets sail from England to Tahiti to obtain breadfruit plants and transport them to British Jamaica where they will be grown to supply plantation slaves with an easy-to-grow, cheap, and nutritious food plant. During the journey, Bligh becomes so abusive to the crew that Leftenant Fletcher Christian (Marlon Brando) sees no alternative but to mutiny against the captain and take over control of the Bounty.
AMaimiti and Christian are awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of crackling fire on the Bounty. In attempting to save the sextant, Christian is severely burned. He is returned to shore where he is covered with a blanket and given laudanum. Mills (Richard Harris) apologizes for Christian's 'bad luck' at getting burned, explaining that he only burned the Bounty because the men were afraid that Christian might force them to go back to England. With Miamiti at his side, Christian dies. The final scene is of the burning Bounty as it collapses and sinks into the bay.
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