I have been lucky enough recently to have a little run around the bay in a boat known as "the Bounty launch", said to be a replica of the one Bligh took to Australia after the mutiny. It's sobering to think of cramming 18 people into it and sailing thousands of miles--it's 22 feet long.

What kept the men on board was the fact that they weren't allowed off--sometimes for two years or more, even when anchored in home ports. That's why they allowed women on board. Sometimes they didn't get paid for a couple of years, either. Rather hard on their families, if they had them.

Also, more of them died of disease than in battle.