The Search for Fletcher Christian, "THIS RESOUNDING TUMULT"
By Bryn Hammond

Sometime c.2000 Bryn Hammond contacted NAS Fellow, Ed Cumming to discuss his work on the Earl of Abergavenny. Bryn was concluding his epic story about Fletcher Christian and the HMS Bounty mutiny.

Bryn was interested in Ed's research into John Wordsworth and the loss of the Earl of Abergavenny. He felt sure that there was the possibility that Fletcher Christian had left Pitcarn Island and may, at some stage, have become a crew member on the Earl of Abergavenny, a fact that he felt was possibly known to the Wordsworth coterie.

Bryn initially presented a much shorter version of this fascinating story, for inclusion in Ed's project record of ‘The Wreck of the Earl of Abergavenny’. A few years later Ed was surprised to receive a copy of this manuscript with a note giving him permission to use it as he thought fit.

To Ed's knowledge it has never been published, Bryn died in 2008. It is possible that a copy of the manuscript was also passed to the National Library of New Zealand. It is a detailed, complex and lengthy story; whilst there is much speculation, it a most fascinating tale containing a multitude of information on Britain’s maritime history up to the first quarter of the nineteenth century. It certainly warrants being placed in the public domain so it can at least be judged by ‘Bounty’ historians.

Download the full version of the paper here.

Ed Cumming

Email – [email protected]
Honorary Fellow of the Nautical Archaeology Society

© MIBEC Publications: November, 2016. PDF version 2020.
ISBN: 978-0-9956635-0-3