He was later captured in Tahiti , tried and condemned to death as a mutineer, but subsequently pardoned. He resumed his naval career and eventually retired with the rank of post-captain , after 29 years of honourable service. The son of a prominent Isle of Man family with strong naval connections, Heywood joined Bounty under Lieutenant William Bligh at the age of Although unranked, he was granted the privileges of a junior officer.
Bounty left England in on a mission to collect and transport breadfruit from the Pacific, and arrived in Tahiti late in Relations between Bligh and certain of his officers, notably Fletcher Christian , became strained, and worsened during the five months that Bounty remained in Tahiti.
Shortly after the ship began its homeward voyage, Christian and his discontented followers seized Bligh and took control of the vessel. Bligh and 18 loyalists were set adrift in an open boat; Heywood was among those who remained with Bounty.
Later, he and 15 others left the ship and settled in Tahiti, while Bounty sailed on, ending its voyage at Pitcairn Island. Bligh, after an epic open-boat journey, eventually reached England, where he implicated Heywood as one of the mutiny's prime instigators.
Heywood and one other sailor welcomed the Pandora in canoes, relieved to be rescued. However, they were arrested; the captain, Edward Edwards , had them and 12 others fettered and handcuffed in an foot 3.
