Peter Heywood

Peter Heywood ( born June 6 1772 in Douglas on the Isle of Man, † February 10, 1831 in London) was a British naval officer. He became known during the mutiny on the Bounty.

Youth

Peter Heywood was one born on 6 June 1772 in the Nunnery in Douglas on the Isle of and baptized two days later. In the parish registers of St. Matthew's in Douglas, where the baptisms of his older siblings Mary, James and Elizabeth are listed, there is no record of his personal. However, there is an entry in the parish registers of St. James' in Whitehaven, where his father had moved the family shortly after birth Heywoods. It says under baptisms anno 1772, December 19:

He came from a northern English gentry family that can be traced back to the 11th century and comes from the place Heywood near Manchester. His father Peter John Heywood was only Second Deemster in the Isle of Man, then a lawyer and moneylenders in Whitehaven and later seneschal of the Duke of Atholl. His mother Elizabeth Spedding, came from a rich and respected family from Cumberland. Some years later, Peter was sent only to Nantwich, a small town in Cheshire, then went to the nearby Whitehaven St. Bee's Grammar School.

The Bounty expedition

On October 11, 1786 Peter Heywood joined at the age of 14 years as Captain 's Servant, then a rank among the Midshipmen in the Royal Navy one. When it became known that an expedition was to sail under the command of Lieutenant William Bligh in the South Seas to collect Tahitian breadfruit plants and bring to Jamaica, succeeded Heywood through the mediation of Richard Betham, both an acquaintance of Heywood and William Bligh father, as acting midshipman to hire. He took up his duties in August 1787. On December 23, 1787 Bounty stabbed from Spithead out to sea.

On April 28, 1789, there was a mutiny in which the 15 -year-old Heywood remained on board. As a result, he left on 22 September in Tahiti with others the bounty, while the remaining team with the ship left the island. Heywood married and later settled tattooing according to local custom. On March 23, 1791, the frigate Pandora went to Tahiti, the travel order was the detection and capture of the mutineers of the Bounty. Heywood came to pass the same day voluntarily on board. Nevertheless, he was placed as all other later arrested mutineers in chains. He survived on your way to his trial in Portsmouth the downfall of Pandora, the malarial Batavia as well as the long period of malnutrition. The trial of the mutineers of the Bounty took place from 12 to 18 September 1792 in Portsmouth on the HMS Duke instead. Member of the 12-member court was occupied, among others, Albemarle Bertie, the wife of a cousin 's daughter was the fourth degree of the father of Peter Heywood.

The laws of the Royal Navy said that the one who behaved neutrally in a mutiny, was just as guilty as the mutineers themselves, such behavior was punished with death. However, martial law provided for a royal pardon, which the death penalty could be abolished. As a result of the investigation, the court in case Heywoods voted unanimously for this recommendation. On October 27, 1792 hit a such a pardon, Heywood was released on the same day.

Swell

• Christiane Conway: Letters from the Isle of Man - The Bounty - Correspondence of Nessy and Peter Heywood. The Manx Experience, Isle of Man, 2005. ISBN 1-873120 -77 X
• Caroline Alexander: The Bounty. The true story of the mutiny on the Bounty. Berlin Verlag, 2004. ISBN 3-8270-0625-2