When Fortune Frowns

The engrossing story of HMSPandora,never before told in a historical novel, comes to life in this portrait of the crew that embarked in 1790 on an epic voyage to Tahiti to find and arrest the men who revolted against theBountyand Captain William Bligh. Evoking the remarkable and cataclysmic events that occurred after the British Admiralty sent the Royal Navy out to detain the mutineers and bring them back to England for trial, this novel embodies life aboard a ship in the 19th century. Based on original documents, including the correspondence of the participants and a study of thePandora's logbook, this vivid and exciting tale of adventure is filled with storms, brave deeds, serene tropical islands, and, ultimately, a horrific shipwreck on the Great Barrier Reef. Readers will see that contrary to conventional wisdom, Captain Bligh was not the tyrant he has been portrayed as, while the commander of thePandorafit that description to a T.

William H. White is a former United States naval officer and a maritime historian. He is the author of The Greater the Honor and In Pursuit of Glory. For this book he viewed and handled artifacts from the wreck of the ship Pandora to add authenticity to his account of its voyage. He lives in Rumson, New Jersey.