This is a maritime version of The Caligula. If his crew are not actually Galley Slaves he will treat them as such. He likes nothing better with his morning coffee then to give some poor sailor A Taste Of The Lash; preferably a very strong taste.

The more modern versions set in, say, World War II are seldom physically violent; they will still have more then enough non-physical ways to express their sadism. However even that small reasurance is gone in the days of Wooden Ships And Iron Men.

The Trope Namer of course is Captain Bligh of the HMS Bounty "immortalized" in the book and movie Mutiny on the Bounty. This version according to many sources may in fact have been a Historical Villain Upgrade.

If such a captain pushes to hard, it will cause a Mutiny.

Film

• Captain Bligh from Mutiny on the Bounty

• Commander Queeg from The Caine Mutiny adapted from the book by Hermann Wouk is a milder example being obnoxious rather then "tyrannical".

Literature

• C.S. Forrester's Horatio Hornblower novel Lieutenant Hornblower. Captain Sawyer of the HMS Renown is apparently suffering from paranoid schozophrenia. He constantly suspects his subordinates of plotting mutiny against him and runs a reign of terror aboard ship. He falls into a hold and and suffers a severe head injury that renders him incapable of command. It's hinted that Hornblower either pushed him or was involved in covering up someone else doing so.