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From: Peter Fogg (no email)
Date: Thu Sep 16 2004 - 01:09:19 EDT
-----Original Message-----
From Gordon Talge
I think Pitcarin Island was remote and mischarted and that is why the
British ( or any ship for that matter ) didn't sight island for years
leaving the mutineers to their own devices.
It certainly was and is remote. While the Bounty mutineers were floundering
about in mid Pacific, looking for another refuge (their first choice didn't
turn out too well) someone remembered this little speck of land to the east.
They had a position but no reason to put too much store in the longitude, so
sailed along the latitude until it popped up on the horizon. As you did.
They were left alone for many years, eventually being visited by an American
whaler. Although they had kept meticulous records their calendar was out by
one day, due to failing to take into account one of the mutineer Bounty's
crossings of the dateline (180 degrees East or West). One of their number at
that time was called Thursday, so was promptly renamed Friday, the origin of
the 'Man Friday' of the Robinson Crusoe story.
Later in the 19th century Queen Victoria offered them settlement on Norfolk
Island, another small island, also unfortunately without a harbour, today a
self governing part of Australian territory, about halfway between Australia
and New Zealand. And there most of them still are. Some elected to stay on
Pitcairn. Their story in the last hundred odd years is an interesting one,
mostly recorded by schoolteachers and the like who have spent time there.
The locals of this period seemed to enjoy exceptionally rude good health,
being farmers and fishermen, always outdoors, eating simple healthy food
they produced themselves. They would regularly sail to nearby Henderson
Island. It was a bit of a holiday excursion, but also to collect timber and
fish in the lagoon, a trip of some days in open whaleboats. These same few
timber craft, modeled on the Bounty's ship's boats, were also used for
offloading produce and passengers from visiting ships. It was not unknown to
set sail to Tahiti, more or less casually, when it seemed necessary - they
have always had to be self-reliant.
The story of how they came to be there and the clash between English and
Polynesian cultures resonates even today, as evidenced by an unsavoury court
case prosecuted by the British Government (but held in New Zealand) against
most of the adult Pitcairn men, alleging child fexual abuse over at least
the last 50 years. As one of the elder women said, it was a part of their
way of life that nobody used to question. It is potentially as much a threat
to their 200-odd year old culture as any other that has come along so far.
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