Pitcairn Island, Chile

 

Pitcairn Island is renowned as the final resting place of the H.M.S. Bounty and its mutineers. As we enjoy scenic cruising here, view the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Henderson Island—with its abundant bird life -- we might get a glimpse of Bounty Bay where the ship went down. It is one of the remotest of the world’s inhabited islands, lying halfway between New Zealand and the Americas. 4800 km. of open ocean separate you from them.

The Pitcairn Islands form a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean and are a British overseas territory (formerly a British colony). Officially named the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Ocno Islands. The four islands are spread over several hundred miles of ocean and have a total area of about 18 square miles. Only Pitcairn, the second largest and measuring about 2 miles across, is inhabited. If you call at Pitcairn, you will see a unique community of Anglo-Tahitian descent which turned a naval mutiny into a celebrated romance.

Pitcairn is the least populous and most remote jurisdiction in the world. The United nations Committee on Decolonization includes the Pitcairn Islands on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. Capital – Adamstown, ethnic groups – British, Polynesian, Population – 50, Currency – New Zealand dollar.

Although archaeologist believe that Polynesians were living on Pitcairn as late as the 15^th century, the islands were uninhabited when they were discovered by Europeans.

Pitcairn Island was sighted on 3 July 1767 by the crew of the British sloop HMS Swallow, commanded by Captain Philip Carteret. It was named after Midshipman Robert Pitcairn, a fifteen-year-old crew member who was the first to sight the island. Carteret, who sailed without the newly invented accurate marine chronometer, charted the island. Although the latitude was reasonably accurate the longitude was incorrect. This made Pitcairn difficult to find, as highlighted by the failure of Captain James Cook to locate the island in July 1773.

In 1790, nine of the mutineers from the Bounty and Tahitian companions (6 men, 11 women and a baby), some of whom may have been kidnapped from Tahiti, settled on Pitcairn Island and set fire to the Bounty. The wreck is still visible underwater in Bounty Bay. Although the settlers were able to survive by farming and fishing, the initial period of settlement was marked by serious tensions among the settlers. Alcoholism, murder, disease and other ills took the lives of most mutineers and Tahitian men. John Adams and Ned Young turned to the scriptures using the ship’s Bible as their guide for a new and peaceful society. The Pitcairners also converted to Christianity (Church of England), later they would convert to Seventh-day Adventism after a successful Adventist mission in the 1890s.

The Pitcairn islanders reported that it was not until 27 December 1795 that the first ship since the Bounty was seen from the island, but as she did not approach the land, they could not make out to what nation she belonged. The American trading ship Topaz under the command of Mayhew Folger was the first to visit the island and communicate with them when they spent 10 hours at Pitcairn in February 1808. A report of Folger’s find was forwarded to the Admiralty mentioning the mutineers and a more precise location of the island.

Pitcairn Island became a British colony in 1838 and was among the first territories to extend voting right to women. Since a population peak of 233 in 1937, the island has been suffering from emigration, primarily to New Zealand, leaving some fifty people living there.

In 2004 charges were laid against seven men living on Pitcairn and six living abroad with sex-related offences dating back a number of years. The British government set up a prison on the island at Bob’s Valley. The men began serving their sentences in late 2006, as of 2010 all men have served their sentences or been granted home detention status.

In 2010 the island received a new and updated constitution.

In 1904 the days of representation without taxation were ended. An annual license fee for the possession of firearms was introduced which, until 1968, when motor vehicle licenses were introduced, was Pitcairn’s only tax. Postage stamps were issued in1940 which turned the ‘shanty town’ into the Adamstown of today.

Oranges and bananas and other crops are grown in the subtropical climate.

46 inhabitants of Pitcairn Island were invited onto the ship. It is said that they make the world’s best honey, which is Queen Elizabeth II’s favourite. We watched them arrive in their longboat and then they set-up shop on the Lido Deck to sell their wares. They gave a presentation in the Queen’s Lounge at which time they presented our captain with a wooden carving of the HMS Bounty. When they left the ship sent them off with chicken, beef, fresh fruits and vegetables, wine and beer. This was a wonderful and really interesting experience.