Pitcairn Island, The South Pacific
January 15, 1790: HMAV (His Majesty’s Armed Vessel) Bounty arrived at Pitcairn Island. For the nine mutineers aboard, Pitcairn seemed to provide all that they might want. It was isolated and fortress-like, with fresh water and rich volcanic soil in which to grow crops. It lacked a protected harbor that might provide refuge for passing ships, so their location could remain a secret. And who would think to look for them there, anyway? The Bounty was beached in what is now Bounty Bay. It was stripped of all that might be useful in their new lives, and burned.
The mutineers, together with six Polynesian men, 12 women from Tahiti, and one baby, were there for the rest of their natural lives. For most of the men this turned out to be a very short period. Within a few years thirteen of the fifteen men had died a violent death, but not before the mutineers had fathered the next generation. The 51 people now living on Pitcairn Island are descendents of the mutineers and their Tahitian wives. With English sailors on one side of their ancestry and Polynesian voyagers on the other, it is not surprising that the Pitcairn Islanders are superb seamen. They came out to our ship in their longboats to transport us to the island over a large ocean swell and through waves breaking in the entrance to the small harbor.
Then it was up the “Hill of Difficulty”, by foot or perched on the back of an ATV, to reach the settlement, Adamstown (after the last surviving mutineer, John Adams.) We went off exploring in various directions, some to hike to the highest point of the island for a superb view, others to “Christian’s Cave” where, according to legend, Fletcher Christian was prepared to make his last stand. Christian is now the most common surname on Pitcairn Island. In “The Square”, next to the anchor of the Bounty, the Pitcairners had set up tables with T-shirts, wooden carvings, and local honey for sale. You can’t come all this way without a shirt to prove it! We found the islanders to be open, friendly, and willing, even anxious to share with us the stories of their island existence. Pitcairn Island and the story of the Bounty are known to many through books and popular films, but few will ever have the opportunity to visit one of the most isolated communities in the modern world. On this day we were fortunate to be among the few!
January 15, 1790: HMAV (His Majesty’s Armed Vessel) Bounty arrived at Pitcairn Island. For the nine mutineers aboard, Pitcairn seemed to provide all that they might want. It was isolated and fortress-like, with fresh water and rich volcanic soil in which to grow crops. It lacked a protected harbor that might provide refuge for passing ships, so their location could remain a secret. And who would think to look for them there, anyway? The Bounty was beached in what is now Bounty Bay. It was stripped of all that might be useful in their new lives, and burned.
The mutineers, together with six Polynesian men, 12 women from Tahiti, and one baby, were there for the rest of their natural lives. For most of the men this turned out to be a very short period. Within a few years thirteen of the fifteen men had died a violent death, but not before the mutineers had fathered the next generation. The 51 people now living on Pitcairn Island are descendents of the mutineers and their Tahitian wives. With English sailors on one side of their ancestry and Polynesian voyagers on the other, it is not surprising that the Pitcairn Islanders are superb seamen. They came out to our ship in their longboats to transport us to the island over a large ocean swell and through waves breaking in the entrance to the small harbor.
Then it was up the “Hill of Difficulty”, by foot or perched on the back of an ATV, to reach the settlement, Adamstown (after the last surviving mutineer, John Adams.) We went off exploring in various directions, some to hike to the highest point of the island for a superb view, others to “Christian’s Cave” where, according to legend, Fletcher Christian was prepared to make his last stand. Christian is now the most common surname on Pitcairn Island. In “The Square”, next to the anchor of the Bounty, the Pitcairners had set up tables with T-shirts, wooden carvings, and local honey for sale. You can’t come all this way without a shirt to prove it! We found the islanders to be open, friendly, and willing, even anxious to share with us the stories of their island existence. Pitcairn Island and the story of the Bounty are known to many through books and popular films, but few will ever have the opportunity to visit one of the most isolated communities in the modern world. On this day we were fortunate to be among the few!
