The novel tells the story through a fictional first-person narrator by the name of Roger Byam, based on a crew member Peter Heywood. Byam, although not one of the mutineers, remains with the Bounty after the mutiny. He subsequently returns to Tahiti, and is eventually arrested and taken back to England to face a court-martial. He and several other members of the crew are eventually acquitted.

Cherished as one of the most thrilling sea adventures ever recorded, Mutiny on the Bounty has sold millions of copies and enthralled generations of readers around the world in the eight decades since its initial publication. The novel reprises a true story -- the strange, eventful, and tragic voyage of His Majesty's Ship Bounty in 1788-1789, which culminated in Fletcher Christian's mutiny against Captain Bligh -- and reaches peaks of narrative excitement that mark the book indelibly as a modern classic.

The story of the Bounty continues in Men Against the Sea and Pitcairn's Island.

""A superb achievement...Here is what the historical novel should be -- a bit of history brought to life in a book."" --New York Times