Named for Lt. William Bligh (1754–1817), renowned navigator, who had sailed with Captain Cook {see planet  (3061)} on the latter’s second voyage to the south Pacific. Despatched to Tahiti in H.M.S. Bounty {see planet  (3264)}, Bligh was cast adrift in an open boat by mutineers off the Friendly Islands with 18 of his crew. Without charts, Bligh managed to navigate the tiny vessel over some 4000 miles of ocean to safety in Timor. Commended for his command of the Bounty’s launch by the court-martial set up to investigate the loss of his ship, Bligh was cleared of all blame for the mutiny. However, he remains unique in British naval history as the only naval commander to suffer two mutinies — the second being in 1808, while he was Governor of New South Wales. (M 19692) _ _.