Goofs

When the officers are dining together, a block of cheese on the table changes shape between shots. When the captain slices a piece of cheese for himself, the block is intact. But only moments earlier, it was clear that the cheese had already been sliced.

Upon leaving Portsmouth harbor, Captain Bligh orders a starboard tack. Different shots show the yardarms/sails changing between a starboard tack and a port tack as the ship moves, then finally it is shown on a starboard tack in a distance shot.

Near the end of the film, John Williams' shirt changes from green to blue.

When Bligh first comes aboard the Bounty, Horticulturalist William Brown is seen in the background removing his hat, next cut in close up, he has his hat back on again.

During the mutiny and boarding the rowing boat, Bligh is wearing a shirt, yet later in the rowing boat he wearing his blue officer's coat.

The actual mutiny did not happen in the manner portrayed in the film. Christian and the other mutineers actually took the ship in the early hours of the morning, while Bligh and almost everyone else was asleep.

Capt. Bligh is portrayed as an older man. During the real voyage, Bligh was only in his thirties.

The film shows Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian sailing together for the first time. In reality, Bligh and Christian were friends and they had sailed together before the Bounty's voyage.

The burning of the Bounty at Pitcairn's Island wasn't the result of one man deciding to destroy it. It was the general consensus of most of the mutineers that the ship be burned because there was no way to conceal it, and they didn't want passing ships to be able to identify their island. It was certainly not done without Christian's knowledge (it was actually his idea).

William Brown (in the prologue/epilogue) is shown to be the only mutineer still alive when Pitcairn is re-discovered by a British frigate in 1814. In reality, Brown was one of the mutineers killed in 1793 during warfare between the Tahitian men and the British mutineers. John Adams (who sailed under the name Alexander Smith) was the only mutineer still alive when an American whaling vessel happened upon Pitcairn in 1808, followed by a British vessel in 1814. All of the other mutineers (including Brown and Fletcher Christian) had died by violence in the preceding years, with the exception of Ned Young, who had died of asthma in 1800. Young, having realized he was dying, took it upon himself to teach the illiterate Adams/Smith how to read and write and likewise taught him what he would need to lead the community on Pitcairn.

When the seaman is keelhauled you can tell that there is no way this can be accomplished because the rope would need to be free of any encumbrances on the railing of the ship, this fact was preceded by the seaman being eaten by sharks.

It starts in Portsmouth Harbour on 23rd December yet trees in the background are in full leaf plus it is very sunny and looks warm, very unusual for England just before Christmas.

When William Brown first arrives at the Bounty, he introduces himself as a "gardener from Kew Gardens". Kew Gardens were not founded until 1840, over fifty years after the Bounty sailed. In Brown's day, the gardens were known as the "Exotic Garden at Kew Park" or simply as "Kew Park".

When Bligh lands on the beach in Tahiti he orders the cutter in close. As he walks up the beach a sailor in the background from the cutter jumps out of the boat leans down and puts on a pair of sunglasses.

Bligh's map shows Tahiti too far east in the Pacific Ocean, almost on the same longitude as Baja California (114 deg W) whereas Tahiti is approximately 2100 nautical miles further west on longitude 149 deg 30 min W.

After Fletcher's party lands on Pitcairn Island, Roto Nui Volcanic Mountain on Moorea Island can be seen in the background, which is only a few miles from Tahiti.

Francis Drake is reported as the man who brought potatoes to the Old World, but they were actually carried by the Spanish after the conquest of Peru.