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On August 20, 1787, Sir Joseph Banks, representing the Lords of the British Admiralty, appointed the first six crewmembers to sail on the ill-fated H.M.S. Bounty, due to set sail three months later on a high-priority scientific voyage to the South Pacific. This select team, the nucleus of the crew, included the Commander, Sailing Master, Surgeon, Botanist, First Midshipman, and one 'enlisted man', Gardener William Brown.

Who was William Brown? Little is known of him. He was born in Leicestershire, England, about 1761. Some evidence suggests that this 26-year-old skilled horticulturist had been employed at Kew Gardens (the British equivalent of our National Botanic Gardens), very likely at the same time as Botanist David Nelson, one of the most respected men of his field in England at the time. Brown is likely to have been appointed at the direct request of this eminent scientist.

Commander Bligh described him as 5 feet 8 inches tall, with slender build, fair complexion, and dark brown hair. His face was terribly disfigured with a remarkable scrofula scar on one of his cheeks which contracted his eyelid, and ran all the way down to his throat.

Throughout the voyage, Brown seems to have been quiet and well-behaved. His only run-in with his Commander occurred when the Surgeon declared him unfit for duty due to rheumatic pain and a slight touch of scurvy. Bligh ordered him on deck for exercise, and upon his refusal, was punished by having his ration of grog withheld. He appears never to have been flogged, as so many of his crewmates were.

During the ship's stay in Tahiti, Brown's expertise kept him busy potting and storing the hundreds of breadfruit plants to be transported to the West Indies. What no doubt amazed him, was that his scarred face, no doubt considered unpleasant in England, was no impediment in the South Pacific. Scars were a mark of bravery, and Brown's obvious horticultural skills were also valued in that society. It is speculation only, but the acceptance and admiration he found among the Polynesians, especially the women, compared with his life in England, might well have been the reason for his actions during the coming mutiny.

Brown took absolutely no part in the mutiny, but he also appears to have entertained not the slightest notion of returning to England with Bligh. He willingly threw in his lot with Christian, and settled on Pitcairn Island with Teatuahitea, his consort from Tahiti. Sadly, all was not to go well.

Brown seems to have been the mildest mannered man on Pitcairn, taking no part whatsoever in the intrigues instigated by his fellow crewmembers. However, when the Polynesian men finally rebelled against the inhuman treatment of their English 'neighbors', Brown was one of the casualties of the uprising. He was murdered some time in late 1793 on Pitcairn, having fathered no children.

Although the name BROWN is one of the 4 surnames in use on the island today, they are descended from a later immigrant to the island, not from the young horticulturalist turned mutineer.