William McCoy (mutineer)
| William McCoy | |
|---|---|
| Born |
c. 1763 Scotland |
| Died |
20 April 1798 Pitcairn Island |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Occupation | Sailor |
| Spouse(s) | Teio |
| Children | Daniel, Catherine |
William McCoy (c.1763 – 20 April 1798) was a Scottish sailor and a mutineer on board HMS Bounty.
Bounty mutiny
Following the mutiny led by Fletcher Christian, the Bounty was taken to Tahiti for a few days before being compelled to set sail. McCoy joined Christian and seven other mutineers. They took eleven Tahitian women and six men with them. After months at sea, the mutineers discovered the uninhabited Pitcairn Island and settled there in January 1790.
Personal life
McCoy had one consort, Teio, and fathered two children, Daniel and Catherine. After three years, a conflict broke out between the Tahitian men and the mutineers, resulting in the deaths of all the Tahitian men and five of the Englishmen (including Fletcher Christian). McCoy was one of the survivors.
Death
He died after liquor was introduced to Pitcairn Island. McCoy was the one who discovered how to distill alcohol from one of the island fruits.[1] He became an alcoholic along with Matthew Quintal, and finally killed himself in a drunken frenzy by jumping off a cliff with a stone around his neck.[2][3]
Further reading
- Christiane Conway (2005) Letters from the Isle of Man - The Bounty-Correspondence of Nessy and Peter Heywood, The Manx Experience, ISBN 1-873120-77-X
References
- ↑ Oxbridge Reverend Schoolmasters (1884). The Boy's Own Annual, Volume 6. Boy's Own Paper. p. 684.
- ↑ Dening, Greg (1998). Readings/writings. Melbourne University Publish. p. 181. ISBN 978-0-522-84841-0. Extract of page 181
- ↑ Marks, Kathy (2009). Lost Paradise: From Mutiny on the Bounty to a Modern-Day Legacy of Sexual Mayhem, the Dark Secrets of Pitcairn Island Revealed. Simon and Schuster. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-4165-9784-1. Extract of page 17
External links