June 27, 2025
Did you know that in 1962 a ship made famous in a maritime mutiny, the HMS Bounty, called at Seattle for the World’s Fair? Well, not the original ship, but a movie star replica.
Mutiny on the Bounty (1789)
In 1789, the HMS Bounty became the stage for one of the most famous mutinies in maritime history. While on a mission to transport breadfruit plants from Tahiti to the West Indies, tensions between officers and crew began to rise and reached a breaking point on April 28. Led by Fletcher Christian, a group of disgruntled crewmen seized control of the vessel from Capt. Lt. William Bligh, citing harsh discipline and favoritism. Bligh and 18 loyalists were set adrift in a small boat but survived a 4,000-mile journey to safety. Meanwhile, the mutineers eventually settled on remote Pitcairn Island, where they sought to escape British justice. The story has since become a legendary tale of rebellion, leadership, and survival at sea.
It is no wonder that the story has been immortalized in novels, plays, and film. And that’s where the HMS Bounty, the Seattle Century 21 World’s Fair, and the Port of Seattle connect. Three major films tell the story of the mutiny on the Bounty: a 1935 version starring Clark Gable, a 1962 version starring Marlon Brando, and a 1984 version starring Mel Gibson.
“Mutiny on the Bounty” (1962)
For the 1962 production, MGM Studios built a near-exact replica of the HMS Bounty. It was built in 1960 in Nova Scotia, Canada, by Smith & Rhuland Shipyard for $750,000 (almost $8 million in 2025). To assist with filming and carry production staff, her dimensions and tonnage were increased from the original vessel. While built primarily for film use and powered by two John Deere diesel engines with 375 horsepower, she was fully equipped for sailing and had a sail area of 10,000 square feet.
“Mutiny on the Bounty” (1962) was filmed between 1960 and 1961 in Tahiti and California and cost $20 million ($212 million in 2025). To help promote the film, MGM decided to use the ship itself as a key piece of its marketing. It sailed the HMS Bounty to various cities for public tours to promote the film scheduled for released in the 1962 Christmas season.
The Bounty comes to Seattle
One of the major stops of the HMS Bounty was a visit to the Century 21 World’s Fair held in Seattle in 1962. The HMS Bounty joined several other tall ships that came to Seattle to coincide with the World’s Fair and Seattle’s maritime tradition, Seafair, including the Japanese Nippon Maru and Kaiwo Maru and the Chilean naval vessel Esmeralda.
After weather delays and weeks of building excitement, with many breathless articles promoting the visit in The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the HMS Bounty pulled into Elliott Bay on Friday, June 22, 1962, at 2:30 p.m. She was greeted with huge fanfare and a water turret salute from the Seattle Fire Department and welcomed by pleasure craft of all sorts and crowds thronging the waterfront piers. The Bounty first called at Pier 51 on the Seattle central waterfront, next to The Polynesia restaurant. The crew, Capt. Ellsworth Coggins, and MGM representative Ivan Stauffer were welcomed by huge crowds on both piers 51 and 50, including dancers, bands, and local dignitaries, including Seafair royalty and World’s Fair officials.
Later that day, she sailed to the Port of Seattle’s newly-opened Shilshole Bay Marina for a weeklong public appearance. From June 23 to27 she was open to visitors daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. to go aboard for free and check her out. It was a wildly popular experience with residents and fair goers alike, drawing 38,871 visitors during her first two days on exhibit.
Stuck in the mud
Not everything worked out so well. The HMS Bounty was scheduled to take a promotional cruise through the Ballard Locks and around Lake Washington with 80 dignitaries aboard on Sunday, June 24, 1962. With an incoming tide the Bounty tried to pull out of her slip with the assistance of a tug just after 4 p.m. But the ship stopped moving and an announcer came on the loudspeaker telling the dignitaries: “This is simply a case of a little too much ship in too little water.”
She should have had four feet to spare under her 12-to-13-foot draft. Instead, she ran aground on a muddy shoal. E.H. Gaillac, manager of Port of Seattle’s Shilshole Marina, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that “the shoal had built up from tidal and current action around the breakwater since the last check of the water depths two months ago, and apparently a shoal (mud bar) built up. There’ll be a dredge out there in the morning.”
True to his word, the shoal was removed and eventually the lake tour did happen a few days later on June 27, with the tall ship making quite a site for gawking onlookers as she transited from salt water to fresh water via the Hiram M. Chittenden Ballard Locks and began her promotional tour around Lake Washington.
The Bounty almost became a permanent Seattle attraction. Impressed with the vessel as it called at Pier 51 next to his restaurant, The Polynesia owner Dave Cohn offered MGM $800,000 to $1 million to purchase the ship and retain it as a Seattle waterfront tourist attraction. But MGM declined and kept with their plans for the ship.
The HMS Bounty left Seattle on June 28, 1962, continuing her promotional blitz across the world. She stopped in San Francisco, London, the Canary Islands, Cádiz, Spain, and finally New York City to coincide with the release of the film in the winter of 1962.
A flop
The Marlon Brando-helmed film “Mutiny on the Bounty” premiered in Seattle at the long-gone Blue Mouse Theatre on Fifth Avenue on December 22, 1962. The film was well received by critics and received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture (losing out to “Lawrence of Arabia”). However, audiences weren’t as impressed, and the film was a box office flop, losing $10 million.
A tragic end
Though that was the last time HMS Bounty came to Seattle it wasn’t the end of her story. After the worldwide promotional tour, the ship was berthed in St. Petersburg, Florida on June 19, 1965, as a permanent tourist attraction, where she stayed until the mid-1980s. In 1986, Ted Turner acquired the MGM film library and Bounty with it. The ship was used for various productions over the years including an episode of the TV show “Flipper” in the episode "Flipper and the Bounty" (1965), “Yellowbeard” (1983), “Treasure Island” (1990), “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie” (2004), and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest” (2006).
Turner donated the HMS Bounty to the Fall River Chamber Foundation, Inc., which established the Tall Ship Bounty Foundation, Inc. to operate the ship for educational adventures and serve as a tourist attraction and celebrity promoter of Fall River, Massachusetts. HMS Bounty summered in New England waters, operating out of the Fall River Heritage State Park facilities and wintering in St. Petersburg, Florida.
On October 25, 2012, the vessel left New London, Connecticut, heading for St. Petersburg, Florida, initially taking an easterly course to avoid Hurricane Sandy, but later changing course. On October 28 the crew contacted the U.S. Coast Guard for help as the Bounty was floundering in the hurricane. She was listing badly and taking on water when the Coast Guard located the vessel. Tragically, the HMS Bounty sank on October 29, 2012, losing two of the 16 crew members onboard. The U.S. Coast Guard investigation into the sinking concluded that the captain’s decision to change direction and sail the ship into the path of the hurricane was the primary cause. Much like her namesake, the later HMS Bounty fell victim to the poor decisions of the man behind the helm.
Insets:
Original HMS Bounty (1784-1790)
His Majesty's Armed Vessel (HMAV) Bounty, or HMS Bounty, was built in 1784 at the Blaydes shipyard in Hull, Yorkshire, as a collier named Bethia. She was renamed after being purchased by the Royal Navy in May 1787.
- Type: Full-rigged ship
- Length: 91 feet (28 m)
- Beam: 25 feet (7.6 m)
- Draft: 13 feet
- Tonnage: 215
HMS Bounty Replica (1960-2012)
The HMS Bounty replica, built in 1960, is a three-masted, full-rigged ship constructed in Nova Scotia, Canada, by Smith & Rhuland Shipyard. The ship is powered by two John Deere diesel engines with 375 horsepower, and its sail area is 10,000 square feet.
Fun fact: The replica technically doesn’t deserve the HMS title, since it was never a British warship, but it is used for historical continuity.
Type: Full-rigged ship
Length: 120 feet
Beam: 31.6 feet
Height: 111 feet
Sail area: 10,000 square feet
Engines: Two John Deere diesel engines, 375 horsepower total
Built by: Smith & Rhuland Shipyard in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Sources:
The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer digital archives
All images from Port of Seattle archives
Wikipedia: Bounty (1960 ship)
Wikipedia: Mutiny on the Bounty
Wikipedia: HMS Bounty
U.S. Coast Guard Investigation into the Circumstances Surrounding the Sinking of the Tall Ship Bounty
National Transportation Safety Board Marine Accident Brief Sinking of Tall Ship Bounty
