Pitcairn Island a tiny dot of land in the middle of the Pacific, became famous as the home for many of the mutineers of the Bounty. They came to this uninhabited island after picking up supplies and women (and a few men) on Tahiti. Their hidden island went undiscovered for nearly twenty years, helped by the fact that the sea charts at the time listed it as several hundred miles away. At this point, all but one of the men were dead, most of them murdered or succumbed to alcohol-related illness. But there were a passel of kids. There are around 35 people on the island now, down from around 200 in the earlier part of the last century.

There really isn't a safe landing spot for the boat's tenders, so the Pitcairners came out to see us – almost the entire population of the island.

Their main income sources are selling memorabilia to passing ships, and selling their beautiful postage stamps to collectors around the world. They brought baskets and boxes of things to sell – shirts, postcards, honey, carvings, stamps and more stamps.

Living History

There was an interesting talk by Tom Christian, the Great great great great great great-grandson of Fletcher Christian, the lead mutineer, about the history of the island, and what it's like living in the middle of nowhere – there are only four supply ships a year, plus anything they can barter for off passing ships. There is no airport, and no regularly scheduled ships. There is a school for up to grade 7 or 8, but after that the kids have to go to New Zealand for school Pitcairn is a dependency of Great Britain, but managed out of an office in New Zealand. In fact mail for the islanders needs to be addressed "Pitcairn Island, South Pacific Ocean, Via New Zealand" in order to get delivered! Otherwise, they tell us, it could circle the world before anybody figured out where "Pitcairn" was.

While there is still no radio, television, or true phone service, there is now shared satellite Internet to each home, so they can connect to the rest of the world. In the past, they had used VHF radios as their only means of external communication.

An interesting place to visit, but we wouldn't want to live there.

Click any photo to see a larger version.

Arrival via long boat	Return to boathouse	Houses	Houses
Islanders	Islanders	Singing before departure	Singing before departure

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