Pitcairn Island is one of the last remaining British overseas possessions. Tiny,isolated Pitcairn is in the south east Pacific, 4,200 miles south of California and 3,300 miles east of New Zealand. In 1790, near Tahiti, English sailors staged a mutiny on board the ship "Bounty." Nine English mutineers, their Polynesian "wives," and a few Tahitian men and women took the Bounty on a desperate search for a hideout. They found it on Pitcairn Island.

0ne surviving mutineer, many women and children were rediscovered by accident 18 years later when an American sealing ship put in for water. Imagine Captain Mayhew Folger's astonishment when he saw a canoe full of young men all shouting to him in English telling him they were the children of the "Bounty" mutineers who had "vanished" in 1790! In l814, not knowing this story, the British warships "Briton" and "Tagus" also rediscovered the inhabitants of Pitcairn and experienced the same surprise. Captains Staines and Pippon dutifully filed official reports and First Lieutenant John Shillibeer, Commander of the Royal Marine detachment on board the "Briton," wrote a book about the voyage which included his own sketches.

By then the "Mutiny on the Bounty" was the most talked about story of the early nineteenth century and would even surpass the story of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in human interest. In our century this epic adventure has been the subject of a best selling trilogy and three best selling movies.

My interest since 1955 has been to learn how much of their original way of life has been preserved by one of the most isolated English-speaking communities in the world and whether it would give me insight into American village life styles of the early 1800's.

Today 40 descendants still live on this 1,100 acre (1 x 1.75 mile) British colony. For 187 years their lives have revolved around the need to trade fish, fruit and beautiful wood carvings with the rare ship that stops. Their only link with the outside world are two open boats which battle their way out of the 50 foot wide "harbor" to make contact.

In some ways,Pitcairn Island is occupied by an English speaking tribe of interrelated individuals who possess one of four family names. In spite of the up-to-date clothing and awareness of events in the outside world, life continues as it has for 187 years. Living as a community, fishing, gardening vegetables or fruit, making wood carvings, trading with the rare ship that stops are unchanging facets of their life style.

Useful Links:

http://www.government.pn/homepage.htm
http://www.lareau.org/pitc.html
http://www.pisg.org
http://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/

Getting There Pitcairn Places More Pitcairn Places Pitcairn People Pitcairn Crafts Pitcairn in 1957