Captain Bligh
Anthony Hopkins as Captain Bligh in The Bounty (1984)
William Bligh was the (purportedly) ruthless and cruel captain of the HMS Bounty, the crew of which famously mutinied in 1789. Bligh and his loyalists were set adrift in a small boat, and the Bounty continued on to the Pitcairn Islands, where the mutineers settled with some Polynesian women they had abducted (and where their descendants remain today).
Why I Looked It Up
Buck Rogers observes Admiral Asimov (actually, an evil clone of him) berating the crew of the Searcher. He later says, “You were acting like Captain Bligh.”
Postscript
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On an episode of Moonlighting, Maddie asked her staff to work over Christmas, which was met with complaints. She remarked:
I don’t appreciate being treated like Captain Bligh.
Postscript
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In Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society:
Notwithstanding popular depictions of Bligh as a tyrant, he was, by many accounts, an enlightened and humane captain…
Postscript
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I discovered that Prince William Sound in Alaska is home to Bligh Island and Bligh Reef, named for the captain. This is odd because I can’t see that Bligh ever sailed anywhere near Alaska.