The Bounty Mutineers were a lost tribe in the South Pacific, who finally found a safe haven in Pitcairn Island. There they, along with a small group of Tahitian men and women, hid from the world and established a far from ideal community. Racism and greed created divisions, blood was spilt - in the end, few would make it off the isolated island of Pitcairn alive. The descendents of those that stayed, however, more than made up for the failings of their ancestors. They became a model of piety and purity. From the fate of the mutineers to life on the island 200 years later, Robert Nicolson reveals a fascinating story.
The infamous Bounty mutiny of 1790 culminated in nine mutineers taking up residence on the small Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific. Rivalry over Polynesian women soon led to homicidal strife and, by 1808, when American sealing vessel Topaz stopped at the island, John Adams was the only mutineer alive. He, however, headed what was soon discovered to be a utopianlike Christian society. Beginning with a background look at the circumstances surrounding the mutiny, this volume contains a detailed history of the Pitcairn Islanders from the original settlement through the opening years of the 21st century. The island's isolation is contrasted with the international attention garnered from its captivating history, making the society a one-of-a-kind historical conundrum. Helpful maps and photographs enhance the reader's experience.
Pitcairn Island -- remote and wild in the South Pacific, a place of towering cliffs and lashing surf -- is home to descendants of Fletcher Christian and the Mutiny on the Bounty crew, who fled there with a group of Tahitian maidens after deposing their captain, William Bligh, and seizing his ship in 1789. Shrouded in myth, the island was idealized by outsiders, who considered it a tropical Shangri-La. But as the world was to discover two centuries after the mutiny, it was also a place of sinister secrets. In this riveting account, Kathy Marks tells the disturbing saga and asks profound questions about human behavior. In 2000, police descended on the British territory -- a lump of volcanic rock hundreds of miles from the nearest inhabited land -- to investigate an allegation of rape of a fifteen-year-old girl. They found themselves speaking to dozens of women and uncovering a trail of child abuse dating back at least three generations. Scarcely a Pitcairn man was untainted by the allegations, it seemed, and barely a girl growing up on the island, home to just forty-seven people, had escaped. Yet most islanders, including the victims' mothers, feigned ignorance or claimed it was South Pacific "culture" -- the Pitcairn "way of life." The ensuing trials would tear the close-knit, interrelated community apart, for every family contained an offender or a victim -- often both. The very future of the island, dependent on its men and their prowess in the longboats, appeared at risk. The islanders were resentful toward British authorities, whom they regarded as colonialists, and the newly arrived newspeople, who asked nettlesome questions and whose daily dispatches were closely scrutinized on the Internet. The court case commanded worldwide attention. And as a succession of men passed through Pitcairn's makeshift courtroom, disturbing questions surfaced. How had the abuse remained hidden so long? Was it inevitable in such a place? Was Pitcairn a real-life Lord of the Flies? One of only six journalists to cover the trials, Marks lived on Pitcairn for six weeks, with the accused men as her neighbors. She depicts, vividly, the attractions and everyday difficulties of living on a remote tropical island. Moreover, outside court, she had daily encounters with the islanders, not all of them civil, and observed firsthand how the tiny, claustrophobic community ticked: the gossip, the feuding, the claustrophobic intimacy -- and the power dynamics that had allowed the abuse to flourish. Marks followed the legal and human saga through to its recent conclusion. She uncovers a society gone badly astray, leaving lives shattered and codes broken: a paradise truly lost.
Introduction to Pitcairn is a book that provides an overview of the history, culture, and geography of Pitcairn Island. The book begins by describing how the island was discovered by Europeans in 1767 and subsequently settled by a group of British mutineers and Tahitian women in 1790. It then goes on to detail how the Pitcairn Islanders built a society on the island, despite facing significant challenges such as shortages of food and water, disease, and isolation. The book also covers the island's natural environment, wildlife, and attractions, such as its tropical climate and pristine beaches. The second paragraph of the book offers insight into the culture and way of life on Pitcairn Island. The book describes how the Pitcairn Islanders have developed a unique culture, blending elements of British and Polynesian cultures, and have also maintained a strong sense of community, despite their small population of approximately 50 people. The book also details the economy of the island, which is primarily focused on fishing and handicrafts, and explains how the Pitcairn Islanders have managed to preserve their traditional way of life while also integrating modern technologies and practices. Overall, Introduction to Pitcairn is a fascinating introduction to a remote and little-known island that has managed to develop a distinctive culture and way of life despite its many challenges.
Pitcairn Island is arguably the most isolated inhabited spot on Earth. Yet despite tricky ocean currents, often lethal surf and sudden gales, the island's standing as the home of the descendants of Fletcher Christian and his mutineer cohorts from H.M.S. Bounty has drawn thousands of ships to its shores. This maritime history of the island chronicles every ship that has called at Pitcairn from the time of the arrival of the mutineers in 1790 to December 2010. The ship's log format lists the date of each call, the ship's name and particulars, and brief reports of activities during the call, which often include matters of love, murder, survival, intrigue, shipwreck, romance, and much more. Since Pitcairn remains totally dependent on ships for its survival, this work offers the most thorough historical record of the island and its people.
From the Taj Mahal to the Parthenon, from Gettysburg to Heidelberg, from Beacon Hill to Tower Hill, from the Great Wall to Hadrian's Wall, from Jerusalem to Kyoto, the International Dictionary of Historic Places presents some 1,000 comprehensive and fully illustrated histories of the most famous sites in the world. Entries include: location, description, and site office details; and a 3,000 to 4,000 word essay that provides a full history of the site and the condition of the site today. An annotated Further Reading list of books and articles about the site completes each entry.
