Midshipman Roger Byam To the voyage of the Bounty. Still waters of the great golden sea. Flying fish like streaks of silver, and mermaids that sing in the night. The Southern Cross and all the stars on the other side of the world.
Played by Franchot Tone 
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) · 16 quotes
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) · 16 quotes
Tied for 2nd most-quoted character in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935): in 6 of its 16 quotes
Most scenes with: Capt. William Bligh (2)
These men don't ask for comfort. They don't ask for safety...They ask only the freedom that England expects for every man. If one man among you believed that - one man! - he could command the fleets of England. He could sweep the seas for England if he called his men to their duty, not by flaying their backs but by lifting their hearts - their..., that's all.
More lines from Midshipman Roger Byam
3 quotes Midshipman Roger Byam Midshipman Roger Byam My lord, much as I desire to live, I'm not afraid to die. Since I first sailed on the Bounty over four years ago, I've known how men can be made to suffer worse things than death, cruelly, beyond duty, beyond necessity. Captain Bligh, you've told your story of mutiny on the Bounty, how men plotted against you, seized your ship, cast you adrift in an open boat, a great venture in science brought to nothing, two British ships lost. But there's another story, Captain Bligh, of ten cocoanuts and two cheeses. A story of a man who robbed his seamen, cursed them, flogged them, not to punish but to break their spirit. A story of greed and tyranny, and of anger against it, of what it cost.
Midshipman Roger Byam One man, my lord, would not endure such tyranny. That's why you hounded him. That's why you hate him, hate his friends. And that's why you're beaten. Fletcher Christian's still free. Christian lost, too, my lord. God knows he's judged himself more harshly than you could judge him. I say to his father, 'He was my friend. No finer man ever lived.' I don't try to justify his crime, his mutiny, but I condemn the tyranny that drove him to it. I don't speak here for myself alone or for these men you condemn. I speak in their names, in Fletcher Christian's name, for all men at sea. These men don't ask for comfort. They don't ask for safety. If they could speak to you they'd say, 'Let us choose to do our duty willingly, not the choice of a slave, but the choice of free Englishmen.' They ask only the freedom that England expects for every man. If one man among you believe that - one man - he could command the fleets of England. He could sweep the seas for England. If he called his men to their duty not by flaying their backs, but by lifting their hearts, their... That's all.
Scenes with Midshipman Roger Byam
2 scenesWhat's your name?
Seaman Ellison
Thomas Ellison, sir. Pressed into service. I've got a wife, a baby!
I asked your name, not the history of your misfortunes.
But you're taking my ship. My ship.
Your ship? The King's ship, you mean. And you're not fit to command it. Into the boat!
Casting me adrift thirty five hundred miles from a port of call. You're sending me to my doom, eh? Well, you're wrong, Christian! I'll take this boat, as she floats, to England if I must. I'll live to see you - all of ya - hanging from the highest yard arm in the British fleet!
