Was Fletcher Christian A Good First Officer?

Was Mister Christian a good First Officer to Captain Bligh?

Now, this isn't a trick question, or anything. Nor am I referring to the time of the actual mutiny itself.

I'm addressing Christian's behaviour on the outbound trip to Tahiti, their time at Tahiti and the homeward passage until the mutiny.

My feelings are that he wasn't. The First Officer of a vessel is, by tradition, the officer in charge of making sure order is kept and that the Captain's orders are carried out. As well, the First Officer is to make sure that a common front exists to all other officers, warrant officers and ratings on board, so far as command of the vessel goes.

Christian seemed to always be letting everyone else know that he disagreed with Bligh over his treatment of the crew. He tells Byam -a midshipman who he should be setting an example to- that he feels Bligh punishes too harshly and for the wrong reasons. From the start he's letting the midshipman know that he thinks Bligh isn't acting properly. Byam seems to let that sentiment filter down to the crew (i.e. the scene where they're having to tow the ship to find wind and the men are complaining about the rations).

Even worse, when Bligh orders some punishment, Christian steps up and openly questions it. Now, the First Officer IS expected to question things, but it is ALWAYS to be done in private. It's never to be done in front of the crew. By doing that, it constantly let the crew know that there was a schism between the Captain and the 1st Officer. The crew then knew that they could expect something different with Christian if he were in commmand of the vessel.

So, I feel that Christian undermined the command structure by letting the crew know that he disagreed with Bligh's methods, thus giving them the idea that mutiny could happen.