Pitcairn Island PDF

PITCAIRN'S
ISLAND
wrbesoilth
.f .
YaclTlc
On 25 January 2003 I
sailed from Valparaiso,
Chile to Papeete, Tahiti on
the 513-passenger
German-registered cruise
ship MS Deutschland.
During the 16-day cruise
the Deutschland called at
Chile's Robinson Crusoe
lsland, Easter lsland and
Pitcairn lsland as well as
Fakarava and Moorea in
French Polynesia. On 4
February I landed at
Pitcairn in smooth seas
and got to explore that
island for half a day.
A Deutschland day-tripper inspects
the dilapidated house of Bounty
mutineer Fletcher Christian's fi rst
son, Thursday October Christian,
who died in 1866.
I had first attempted to land
at Pitcairn during a
previous cruise on the
Deutschland in August
2000. However, that
attempt was frustrated by a
3-meter sea swell. No
passengers were allowed
to disembark from the
Deutschland that time.
Then in November 2002
during a second Pitcairn
attempt aboard the Seven
Seas Navigator I did
manage to land. But
because passengers were
recalled to the ship after
only 20 minures, I never
had a chance to explore
anything but Pitcairn's
dock area.
One of the most remote of
the world's inhabited
islands, Pitcairn lies in the
South Pacific Ocean
roughly midway between
Tahiti and Easter
lsland. Pitcairn lsland is
4,155 nautical miles (nm)
southwest of Los Angeles,
3,504 nm northwest of
Santiago, Chile and 3,314
nm nodheast of Wellington,
New Zealand. Pitcairn is
1 1,281 nm from Cairo.
I have been tascinated by
faraway Pitcairn lsland for
nearly 40 years. ln the
The Pitcairn schoolhouse is sratfed by a
teacher from NewZealand. Fletcher
Christian's triangle.shaped cave rs
visible to the righr of the palm tree on the
right, above the gable of the school.
It is said that the Eounty mutineer used
to retire to this cave to reflect and to
mainhin a watch out over the sea.
early 1960's as a young
teenager I read Nordhoff
and Hall's Bounty Trilogy
novels (Mutiny on the
Bounty, Men Against the
Sea and Pitcairn's lsland)
and began collecting
Pitcairn lsiand postage
stamps.
Pitcairn was discovered in
1767 by a midshipman
nameci Pitcairn aboard
HMS Swatlow, but the
island was not setiled until
1790 when Fletcher
Christian and his band of
mutineers arrived aboard
the Bounty. ln a tale
immortalized on film by
Clark Gable and Charles
Laughton (1 934), Marlon
Brando and Trevor Howard
(1962) and Mel Gibson and
Anthony Hopkins (1 984),
Fletcher Christian seized
the Bounty from Captain
William Bligh and
eventually steered it to
Pitcairn lsland.
The Bounty had
sailed from
England in 1787
on a mission to
gather breadfruit
trees in
Polynesia and
transport them to
the British West
lndies where, it
was thought,
breadfruil would
provide a new,
cheap source offood for
slaves on the sugar
plantations. After ten
months and 27,000 nm of
sailing, the Bounty finally
arrived in Tahiti. During
the five months which the
{r
dt:
,*1
-J,
After spending a very interesling morning ashorer
cruise ship passengers return to the Deutschland
aboard a longboat. Verdant Pitcairn lsland looms
in the background.
ship remained in Tahiti
while young breadfruit
trees were cultivated,
many of the crew
became captivated by
the local women.
The famous mutiny on
the Bounty took place
some 3 1/2 weeks into
the sail from Tahiti
westward toward the
West lndies. Bligh and
18 loyal crew were set
adrift in a longboat.
Against all odds nearly
all of these men
eventually reached
Dutch-held Timor
(lndonesia) after a
3,600-nm open boat
voyage. Meanwhile,
Pitcairn lsland is accessible only via
longboats which are operated by the
islanders. Deutschland passengers used
an external stainilay to board this longboat.
Fletcher Christian and
the other mutineers
returned to Tahiti for
their women. After
leaving behind at Tahiti
16 men who wished to
remain, nine mutineers
and their women Plus
nine other Polynesian
men and women roamed
the Pacific for several
months in search of an
island on which they
could hide. EventuallY
Fletcher Christian sailed
the Bounty to Pitcairn
which, fortunately, had
been charted incorrectly
by 200 miles. There the
Bounty was burned to
hide all evidence of the
mutineers' arrival.
Most of the 50 current
inhabitants of Pitcairn
are descendants of the
original Bounty
mutineers and the
Polynesians who
accompanied them.
Some of the others are
descendants of
shipwrecked sailors who
decided to remain on the
island and marry.
The Pitcairn lslands,
which consist of Pitcairn
plus the uninhabited
Henderson, Oeno and
Ducie, are today
administered as a British
colony via an
administrative
headquarters in New
Zealand. Pitcairn's
island council handles
such local affairs as
island maintenance,
postal and medical
services and
communications. Pitcair
n's chief source of
income derives from the
sale of postage stamPs
to collectors.
About one mile wide and
two miles lon!, Pitcairn
is of volcanic origin. The
highest point on the
island is some 1 ,100
feet. The land is hilly but
fertile; and the islanders
grow sweet potatoes,
yams, pineapples,
cabbages, beans,
tomatoes, citrus and
bananas. There are no
farm animals, although
poultry and wild goats
exist on the island.
Pitcairn is completely
surrounded by steep,
rocky cliffs. There is
only one small harbour,
at Bounty Bay. Access
to this harbour is via
longboat operated by the
islanders. A longboat
carries about two dozen
passengers on an open
deck. Even in calm seas
getting into and out of a
Pitcairn longboat while it
is alongside a cruise
ship can be challenging.
The longboat bobs up
and down with the
waves, so the timing of
one's step is
everything. On mY
previous landing at
Pitcairn I had to climb
down a rope ladder and
then jump "blind" into a
longboat when instructed
to do so by the crew. Luckily
this time the Deutschland
employed an external
stairway. But even the slight
sea swell still made the step
into the longboat an exciting
Taro Ground where the radio
station is situated. Ham radro
enthusiasts from around the
one.
Upon landing on the island, I
first had my photograph taken
in front of the "Welcome to
Pitcairn lsland" sign above
the boathouse.
The next order of business
was climbing the so-called
Hill of Difficulty to reach the
small settlement of
Adamstown, named for the
last surviving mutineer. One
of the Bounty anchors is
displayed in the small town
square. Facing the square
are the post office, the
courthouse, the museum, the
library and a Seventh Day
Adventist church. ln the
church is one of the original
Bounty bibles.
I was fortunate to be offered a
tour of the entire island in an
open all{errain vehicle.
The first stop was on a hilltop
called Ship Landing point
overlooking Bounty Bay from
where I could view
Adamstown. Above the
settlement is a large cave
where Fletcher Christian
maintained a watch out over
the sea.
Then we drove to St. Paul's
Point. Directly below,
islanders can enjoy an ocean
swim in a pool which is
afforded protection by large
boulders. On the way we
passed a very steep trail
leading to "Down
Rope." There on the cliff face
are inscribed Polynesian
petroglyphs. From these
markings and a few stone
tools found on the island it is
known that Polynesians
visited Pitcairn long before
the arrival of the Bounty
The author beams for a photograph at
the ship's railing. While he had cruised
to Pitcairn on two previous occasions,
lhis was the first time he was able to
explore the island e.g. left, he inspects
the Bounty anchor in the square of
Adamstown, Pitcairn lsland.
The Bounty was burned by the
mutineers in Bounty Bay in 1790.
world are ever eager to
make contact with remote
Pitcairn. We went on to the
highest point on the island,
and from there we drove
down Garnet's Ridge back to
Adamstown. On the way I
took in views of beautiful
uninhabited "Tedside." This
term is apparently a
corruption of the phrase "the
other side."
Back in Adamstown, I visited
the schoolhouse. A school
teacher from New Zealand is
posted to the island on a twoyear contract. I also saw the
unoccupied and dilapidated
house of Thursday October
Christian, Fletcher Christian's
first son, who died in
1866. Nearby is the
cemetery which contains
gravestones dating back to
the nineteenth century.
On the way back to the
longboat I stopped at The
Edge which overlooks
Bounty Bay. There rests the
anchor of the Acadia, one of
the many ships which has
foundered in the pitcairn
lslands over the years. The
Acadia ran aground at Ducie
lsland in 188't . The anchor
was raised and carried to
Pitcairn in 1990.
While I had been exploring
Pitcairn during the morning,
about 35 islanders had come
aboard the Deutschland to
sell their wooden handicrafts,
woven baskets, T-shirts and
postage stamps. So after a
quick lunch I shopped for
wooden turtles, my favourite
Pitcairn handicrafl. I also
purchased a large model of a
Pitcairn longboat.
During afternoon tea three of
the islanders were
mutineers.
My tour continued to Tautama
where I saw wild goats
grazing. -Then we drove to
interviewed in the ship's
auditorium. Then it was time
for the Pitcairners to bid us
goodbye. As they sailed
away in their longboat, the
islanders looked up at the
ship's passengers crowded
along the railings and sang us
a farewell song.
For
f u rth
er i nform ati on
about the Mutiny on the
Bounty saga and about
Pitcairn lsland, visit :
www.lareau.org, which
contains many useful
links. The U. S. Pitcairn
lsland Study Group (PtSc)
pu bl ishes an interesti ng
quarlerly log while the U. K.
PISG chapter publishes a
very informative semiannual log.
Refer to www.pisg.org
for contact information.
Those fascinated by the
Pitcairn story will also be
interested in Norfolk
lsland, situated between
Australia, New Zealand
and New Caledonia.
Because Pitcairn's
inhabitants were
evacuated to Norfolk (but
some later returned to
Pitcairn), the islands'
histories are intertwined.
@ Ted Cookson
50