Bligh was born into a naval family and served on a variety of ships from a young age, moving up through the ranks to lieutenant prior to the outbreak of the wars with France.

He was in the East Indies when war broke out, but returning to Britain he saw action in the Mediterranean during the early attacks on Corsica, the Siege of Toulon and the Battle of Cape St Vincent.

[1][4] From there Courageux returned to Toulon and underwent repairs, during which time Bligh served ashore in the batteries defending the town during its siege by Republican forces.

[5] Bligh was present in this post at the Battle of Cape St Vincent on 14 February 1797, and having acquitted himself well in action, was promoted to commander on 8 March 1797 and given the sloop HMS Kingfisher for service on the Portuguese coast.

[4][5] Bligh was ordered to leave his ship shortly after his arrival at Lisbon, and took passage with Vice-Admiral Waldegrave back to Britain aboard the frigate HMS Flora.

Bligh instead received orders to go out to the West Indies in February 1802 and join the fleet at Jamaica under Admiral Sir George Campbell.

[1] Faced with the loss of the ship, the garrison's commander decided that he could no longer defend against a force of native Haitians who were attempting to expel the French from the island.

[9][10] Bligh agreed to take their surrender and having spiked the fort's guns and destroyed its ammunition, evacuated the garrison and transported them to Cap-François.

General Dumont and his suite had been captured by the Haitians, and Cap-François was in imminent danger of falling to an army led by Jean-Jacques Dessalines.

Rochambeau then approached the commander of the British blockade, Commodore John Loring, and attempted to negotiate passage for his squadron from the port.

The negotiations did not result in an acceptable agreement for either side, though Rochambeau was hopeful that his squadron would be able to escape the blockade under cover of bad weather.

By 30 November the blockade was still in force, and the Haitians had begun to take possession of the forts surrounding the harbour, threatening to use their guns to destroy the French ships with heated shot.

[10][11][12] Having performed these duties Bligh sailed to Jamaica and was given command of a squadron of three ships of the line and two frigates by Sir John Duckworth with orders to attack the Dutch-held island of Curaçao.

[12] Using his frigates to blockade the harbour, Bligh moved his ships of the line to a small cove, and exchanged fire with a shore battery.

[14] With no quick end to the conflict in sight, and mindful that he had been warned not to overextend himself, Bligh called off the attack on 4 March, having exhausted his ammunition of 18-pounder shot.

[13][15] Though the British force had failed to capture the island, Duckworth was sympathetic, and felt that Bligh could have succeeded had the men and guns of HMS Vanguard been at his disposal.

[15][16] He made a night-time landing on the Spanish island of Saint Andreas, capturing the garrison and the governor, and taking them away as prisoners of war.

[11] Bligh did not go to sea again until March 1807, when he was given command of the 74-gun HMS Alfred and ordered to join the fleet bound for Copenhagen under Vice-Admiral James Gambier.

Cotton sent Bligh to superintend the defence of the area and he was able to hold it with 500 marines until being reinforced by troops landed at Mondego Bay under Sir Arthur Wellesley.

[17] Bligh also landed Sir John Moore's force and continued to support the army, being involved at the Battle of Vimeiro on 21 August 1808.

[11][17] Bligh then rejoined Sir Charles Cotton at Lisbon and was assigned to the escort to Britain of the Russian fleet under Admiral Dmitry Senyavin, which had surrendered to the British under the terms of the Convention of Cintra.

He moved into the inner road and joined the attacks on the forts and several beached French warships, and having taken out the prisoners, burnt the 118-gun Ville de Varsovie and the 74-gun Aquilon.

Confiance had evaded British blockaders and cruisers during the entirety of her voyage, having escaped pursuit fourteen times in her 93-day passage from the Indian Ocean.

[17] Hampered by light winds, she was unable to escape the Valiant, and finally surrendered to her just a few hours away from reaching safety in a French port.

[11] Bligh made his home at Fareham in 1823, and, apparently suffering from a long-term illness he had contracted in his service in the West Indies, died at his seat of Whitedale House, Hambledon, Hampshire on 19 January 1831 at the age of sixty.

c. ^ The Naval Biography of Great Britain has a slightly different order of his ships, suggesting he was aboard Bulldog until March 1786, when the death of her captain caused him to move to Camilla.

Bligh's other biographers omit this detail, but agree Dessalines was reluctant, and refused to provide pilots to guide the French out of the harbour, resulting in one of the frigates running aground for a time.