Craig and Amy in the South Seas: Voyage to Pitcairn and Beyond, Part 6. Pitcairn Island, Day 1

“There never was a mutiny of the Bounty. Rather there was a revolt of one man against another.” - Glynn Christian, direct descendant of Fletcher Christian, ‘Fragile Paradise’, 1982

It was January 15, 1790, and Fletcher Christian, along with his band of mutineers and Tahitians on the HMS Bounty, had been looking for a small island in the vast South Pacific for over a month. Christian thought that Pitcairn’s Island, discovered 20 years before, might be the safest place to hide from the British Navy, as it was hundreds of miles from anywhere and far away from normal shipping lanes. But the original discoverers hadn’t charted it accurately, so when they had reached those coordinates, there was no Island there. This gave them even more hope that if they could actually find it, they might be safe.

Nine months before, on April 28, 1789, Christian, who was second in command of the Bounty, seized the ship from the notorious Lieutenant William Bligh, along with several of the crew. Bligh and 18 loyalists were put in the ship’s longboat, over 4000 miles from the nearest port (Bligh, in one of the most amazing feats of navigation in history, made it to a port of call and eventually to England).

There were actually two reasons for the mutiny. Bligh was a terrible leader of men and had gone a bit off his rocker, almost stark raving mad at Christian and many of the crew. Bligh accused Christian of stealing coconuts (Christian was a 'gentleman' and Bligh was not from a 'good' family and accusing a fellow officer of stealing just wasn't done). But also, the crew of the Bounty had just spent 5 months in the South Sea paradise of Tahiti, at this point pretty much untouched by Europeans, Christianity, and all that has entailed since. Many had “wives” in Tahiti and they missed them greatly.

Christian was going to desert the Bounty on a homemade raft. But after several unwarranted floggings of crew members, he decided to take the ship. And he had several willing crew members to back him up.

So off they went back to Tahiti. But they soon realized that eventually a British ship would show up and learn of the mutiny, arrest them all and take them back to England to be court marshaled and hanged when found guilty.

So Christian, 10 other mutineers,12 Tahitian women and 6 Tahitian men sailed away from Tahiti (not all the Tahitians went willingly, most thought they were just going to a nearby island). There were still many loyalists that never got on the longboat, so they stayed on Tahiti (where eventually, they were captured, along with several mutineers, taken to England and court marshaled. Many of the mutineers were hanged).

Over the next several months, the mutineers tried to settle on some islands, but were violently thrown off by the local populations. So, as a last resort, Christian headed to Pitcairn, where after a long search and just about to give up, it was sighted on January 15, 1790.

Once on this small island, about 3 miles long and 1 & 1/2 miles wide, they decided to take all they needed off the Bounty and burn her, so she would not be sighted by passing ships and, hopefully, they would be safe.

It was hard going at first. But thanks to the Tahitian women, who knew how to recognize and use the food and medicinal plants on the island, they were able to survive. For a while, anyway. There was one other problem. There were more men than women. This, along with the fact that the Europeans were going to divide the land up among themselves and give nothing to the Tahitian men, started a bloodbath that saw all the Tahitian men and all but four of the mutineers die violent deaths within a few years (including Christian, who was shot by a Tahitian man while tending his yams).

Within a few years, three of the four remaining mutineers had died from disease, leaving just one, John Adams, alive with 10 Tahitian women (two had died) and several children. Adams, who was a lifelong n'er do well, decided to finally live a good life and to teach the women and the kids how to read, using the only book they had, the Bible.

Finally, about 18 years after they had landed on Pitcairn, an American ship, the Topaz, landed on Pitcairn and the incredible mystery of the mutineers was finally solved! Other ships soon arrived, including British ships. But because of the time since the mutiny and the fact that John Adams created this small British civilization on this island, he was forgiven of his crime.

Fast forward exactly 229 years to the day, January 15, 2019, and the Aranui 5 sailed into Bounty Bay where, far below, the remnants of the Bounty still lie.

We were incredibly lucky, as the notoriously rough Pitcairn seas were calm and beautiful this day. So we got on the barge and headed to the small dock. Pitcairn rises straight up from the ocean, there are no beaches or many flat places. So we hiked up on the only paved road to the town, Adamstown, named after John Adams. The Aranui had planned a little picnic lunch and a ceremony in town, but Amy and I decided to hike the island instead. So after shopping for souvenirs (where we bought a beautiful carved wooden bowl, some t shirts and a hat), we hiked up to the “High Place”, the highest spot on the island, 1250 feet above sea level. It was very hot and humid and a bit hard going, but we slowly made our way up and stopped along the way to see the beautiful views. Once on top, it was a 360 degree view of the island and the infinite sea beyond. There was also a sign post on top that had various cities and the distances to them.

The big surprise about Pitcairn was its natural beauty. There are gorgeous views everywhere, but also, the flora is spectacular. Lots of beautiful tropical flowers and trees, including huge pandanus trees. Our hike was almost four hours and by the time we got back, lunch was over and packed up. There were only a few oranges and some dessert left.

Remember that we promised to deliver a letter to Randy Christian? He is one of the 40 residents on the island (35 of which are direct descendants of the mutineers) and Randy is a direct descendant, 8th generation, of Fletcher Christian. We met him driving some passengers around in his ATV and handed him his letter! In fact, we had some nice talks with some of the other descendants, as of course they man the souvenir stand, the post office and are just hanging out.

The residents of Pitcairn make their living several ways. There is Pitcairn honey and Pitcairn coffee, which is grown here. Also, cruise ships often stop by to visit. But if there are more than 300 passengers on the ship, then they can't come on the island. Instead, the Pitcairners go out to the ship on their longboats to sell their souvenirs. Many Pitcairners make beautiful wood carvings, such as wooden bowls, carvings of different sea animals, and even carvings of the Bounty. There are some paintings, books, t shirts and hats for sale. Pitcairn has always been a big deal for philatelist's, as Pitcairn stamps are highly sought after. In fact, we sent ourselves a postcard from Pitcairn in order to get the stamp! It might be several months before it arrives, as the mail has to wait for the cargo ship, which comes every 3 months.

Pitcairn is subsidized by both the EU and Great Britain, as it is a British protectorate. But what happens to the big subsidies from the EU, which have paid for things like roads and the diesel electric plant, after Brexit is anyone's guess.

As far as religion is concerned, about 100 years ago the whole population converted to Seventh Day Adventist and to this day, that is the only game in town. So there is no tobacco or alcohol on the island.

That evening, back on board, we had a big celebration with the descendants. 38 of the 40, including the only three children on the island, came on the boat and we had an exchange of gifts between them and the Wong family, the owners of the Aranui. There was song and dance by the crew and then the Pitcairners sang their “anthem”, ‘Sweet Bye and Bye’. After this, they joined us for dinner before heading back to the island on our barge.

But this wasn’t the end to our adventure on Pitcairn, for we were to go back the next morning.

Land Ho!