Pitcairn Island 85f Sunny
The South Polynesian islands are divided into various groupings. For example, Tahiti and Riaitea belong in the Society Islands. The Pitcairn Islands group consists of 4 islands and the only inhabited island is Pitcairn Island. Pitcairn Island is noted to have an area of 4.5 km2 which my conversion comes to about 1.7 sq miles. There is a population of 50 and they are mainly descendants of the sailors involved with the true story of the Mutiny on the Bounty.
The islands are considered British overseas territory, and their local government is headed by a Mayor. One of the interesting facts I ran across was that Pitcairn Island guaranteed women’s equal rights and right to vote about 185 years ago, becoming the second country on earth to do so. Women were instrumental in the survival of the original Bounty landing group and demanded that recognition and protection.
The island has 1 landing cove, Bounty Bay, as the rest of the coastline is sheer rock. The only settlement or town is Adamstown, after John Adams from the Bounty. They have simple but modern housing, electricity, solar, TV, internet, catch rainwater for drinking and a road system that links only the buildings. A school existed but closed due to the lack of school age children. There is no airport and access to medical care is via long boat transportation to islands 1,000 km away that provide those services. The only church on the island is Seventh Day Adventist.
While it is possible to land on Pitcairn Island, one choice is to travel on a supply ship. Private sailboats is another option. If the sea cooperates so visitors can land, the British government clearly accepts no responsibility for death or harm when attempting to land or leave the island. Visitors are accommodated in resident’s homes. The bell from the Bounty was recovered and is home on the island.
The land is fertile, and they produce all sorts of tropical fruits and obtain fish and seafood from the sea. In 1998 the UK established an apiculture project and Pitcairn Island Honey was supposedly Queen Elizabeth’s favorite. The island has some of the best examples of disease-free bee populations.
Pitcairn Island has also been referred to as ‘the paradise island where no one wants to live’. At some point the island population will no longer be able to sustain itself. The UK has tried some migration opportunities, but the population is not really growing as the residents continue to age.
On the ship’s schedule, Pitcairn Island was noted as a 3 hour stop with no tours available. You can imagine that 1,000 people on the island is not sustainable. The night before we received information that the stop would consist of a ‘panoramic circumnavigation’ with an Island market set up on board. Which meant, some of the population would set up craft tables on the upper decks as the ship went in a circle around the island.
Here are some of the pictures I took during the circumnavigation. The coastline is mainly sheer rock face with lots of waves crashing amid angry seas. The location of Adamstown is the left end of the island.
Most of the other pictures show the sheer amount of rock face falling to the ocean. There is no beach, so lovely white sand or swaying coconut trees. Lots of rock and angry seas.
A couple of pics of Adamstown. I don't think enlarging them will show much detail as we were pretty far away.
The story of the Bounty, the mutiny, the settling on Pitcairn Island and life in the beginning years appears to be one huge soap opera of drama, he said / he said, intrigue, pseudo kidnapping, lies, drunkenness, murder and suicide. I had no idea what really happened until I started to look for additional information on Pitcairn Island.
Just a few interesting points:
1. The Bounty’s purpose was to pick up 1000 breadfruit trees in Tahiti and return to the West Indies as some folks believed the breadfruit could grow well in that area. The ship was outfitted with a large greenhouse that condensed the crew quarters to overcrowded to say the least.
2. It was a difficult journey to Tahiti and once there it took months before the Bounty was ready to sail again.
3. The crew had a great time in Tahiti – not much work to do, great climate, friendly people and had a hard time leaving.
4. A core group decided to mutiny to return to Tahiti. Bligh and around 18 of his supportive crew were put out to sea in one of the long boats.
5. The Bounty returned to Tahiti to drop off any remaining crew who were not in favor of the mutiny. Knowing that Bligh would come looking for them, they invited about 20 Tahitians (3 men, 17 women) to the boat for ‘a party’ and during the party cut the ropes to the anchor so the boat would just drift away and the Tahitians were in essence kidnapped to remain on the adventure.
6. They finally found Pitcairn Island and decided that would prove to be a safe place to live and hide.
7. After salvaging what they could from the Bounty, it was set on fire and sank to avoid discovery, dooming the mutineers to a short and dangerous life. When they were discovered 10 years later, only one mutineer was still alive. The Tahitians fared a little better.
We continue traveling to various islands in southern Polynesia – next stop is Riaitea.
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