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The Bounty tailor was 5 feet 6 inches high, dark complexion, brown hair, slender made, with a very strong black beard and scars under his chin. He was tattooed in several places on his body. One of those who deserted on 5 Jan 1789, only to be recaptured on 22 Jan 1789 and flogged (48 lashes...in two installments). At the time of the mutiny, he was chopping wood in the fore scuttle. He was a rather dissolute womanizer and lazy in his duties, but had little stomach for the mutiny.

After the mutiny, Muspratt was one of the mutineers who insisted on returning to Tahiti. He, Sumner, and Burkitt settled on the western coast, south of Matavai Bay, at a place called Papara. Later, he settled in Oparra, near Matavai, with several of his fellow crewmembers, living as guests of the chief of that district.

After his return to England, Muspratt was court martialed for his part in the mutiny, and convicted. He was, however, defended by a skilled attorney, Stephen Barney, who succeeded in getting his client released on a legal technicality.

On 19 Aug 1793, he made and executed a will naming his brother, Joseph, as his executor. This will went through "limited probate" in Jan 1798, indicating that William was deceased, and had most recently been serving on the HMS Bellerophon.