]

] Um, if it is true that Bligh was looked down on as lower class, it is even more true that one could not be an officer in the Navy without also being a navigator. It's the sort of mundane, practical skill ones needs to keep one's ship from smacking a rock somewhere--and I assure you that any navy captain was overwhelmingly concerned not to smack a rock with his expensive Admiralty toy (-:

] "Infra dig"?

] YHOS, Snarkhunter

well there would be several officers on board ship. But Bligh had a natural aptitutde for navigation - look how he took his men away safely from the Bounty. but I hve seen a programme about the mutiny which posits that Bligh was considered of low rank -- he was fit for the more mundane tasks, but admitteldy he was not much good at command