Pitcairn Island…..somewhere in the South Pacific
January 31, 2007
If you ever want to get away from it all, including a lot of neighbors, consider the small and exotic Pitcairn Island. We sailed for 2 ½ days after leaving Easter Island (which took us 4 days to reach from Lima, Peru!) and finally, early this morning, the historical site of “Mutiny on the Bounty” came into view.
With no dock, not even a pier, the tender boats were unable to transport us to the shores of this small and very sparsely inhabited place. No problem….if we can’t go to them…they’ll come to us! And, indeed they did… almost the entire population came to us!...all 40 of them! Laden with all manner of crafts, books, T-Shirts, and post card after post card and stamps and stamps and stamps! (Apparently stamp collectors love getting a Pitcairn post mark….not many of them around!) these lively and energetic people climbed rope ladders eager to meet, greet, and talk….and of course, sell! sell! sell!
Many of these smiling people, darkly tanned and exotically tattooed in black tribal motifs, with deep blue eyes and long jet-black hair….some with numerous ear piercings… looked as though they came from central casting out of Hollywood-- just what you would expect to find on a remote South Pacific island. However, most looked just like you and me and spoke with a delightful accent that was neither Australian, British or New Zealand….an accent all its own.
While her family set up their table, one particularly striking woman chatted away telling us how they managed nicely with about 10 hours of electricity a day which is generated by diesel-powered generators. She explained how the one doctor on the island cared for most ailments and when necessary how they could be air-lifted to some not-too-close neighboring island for hospital treatment. When asked how it was to live on such a small place with so few people she replied “People are people!...Some days it’s just better to stay home” She further explained, “When you have a beef with someone….especially a small one…it’s best to hit it head-on because, for sure, you will see that person the next day!” “We don’t have big arguments” she explained, “because we don’t let the small ones grow!” Not a bad approach! She lamented that, unfortunately, as the children went away for college and university few were returning….”But we have survived this long….I suspect we will make it a bit further” she smiled!
As the ships “Daily Program” so aptly summarized, “The Pitcairn Islands, officially named the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno Islands, are a group of four island in the southern Pacific Ocean that are the last remaining British overseas territory in the Pacific. The original settlers of the Pitcairn Islands were Polynesians who appear to have lived on Pitcairn and Henderson for several centuries. However, although archaeologists believe that Polynesians were living on Pitcairn as late as the 15th century, the islands were uninhabited when they were discovered on July 3, 1767 by the crew of the British sloop HMS Swallow. Pitcairn Island was named after Midshipman Robert Pitcairn, a fifteen-year-old crewmember who was the first to site it. In 1790, the mutineers of HMAV Bounty and their Tahitian companions, 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; the ship itself was discovered in 1957 by National Geographic explorer Luis Marden. Although the settlers were able to survive by farming and fishing, the initial period of settlement was marked by serious tensions among the settlers. Pitcairn Island is inhabited with approximately 40-45 people, from nine families, making it notable for being the least populated jurisdiction in the world (although it is not a sovereign nation). The largest population it held was in 1937 with 233, but through emigration to New Zealand, the population dwindled to what it is now. The United Nations Committee on Decolonization includes the Pitcairn Islands on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories”.
What lovely memories I will always have of the people of Pitcairn Island. As they sailed back to their island in one big “long-boat” with buckets of ice cream that the ship’s crew sent to the children as well as ice chests full of meat and pockets full of American dollars they waved and smiled…seemingly delighted to return to their lovely Pacific Island and await the next ship. It was fun too, to spot several of our visitors who had newly shorn and colored hair (it was apparently impossible to get a hair appointment in the ship’s beauty shop today…the Islanders had emailed weeks ago to book them!!!!). And, of course, I will never hear the name of Captain Bligh or Fletcher Christian, the main characters in Mutiny on the Bounty, that I don’t think of that morning mist I saw early today rising over Pitcairn Island.
January 31, 2007
If you ever want to get away from it all, including a lot of neighbors, consider the small and exotic Pitcairn Island. We sailed for 2 ½ days after leaving Easter Island (which took us 4 days to reach from Lima, Peru!) and finally, early this morning, the historical site of “Mutiny on the Bounty” came into view.
With no dock, not even a pier, the tender boats were unable to transport us to the shores of this small and very sparsely inhabited place. No problem….if we can’t go to them…they’ll come to us! And, indeed they did… almost the entire population came to us!...all 40 of them! Laden with all manner of crafts, books, T-Shirts, and post card after post card and stamps and stamps and stamps! (Apparently stamp collectors love getting a Pitcairn post mark….not many of them around!) these lively and energetic people climbed rope ladders eager to meet, greet, and talk….and of course, sell! sell! sell!
Many of these smiling people, darkly tanned and exotically tattooed in black tribal motifs, with deep blue eyes and long jet-black hair….some with numerous ear piercings… looked as though they came from central casting out of Hollywood-- just what you would expect to find on a remote South Pacific island. However, most looked just like you and me and spoke with a delightful accent that was neither Australian, British or New Zealand….an accent all its own.
While her family set up their table, one particularly striking woman chatted away telling us how they managed nicely with about 10 hours of electricity a day which is generated by diesel-powered generators. She explained how the one doctor on the island cared for most ailments and when necessary how they could be air-lifted to some not-too-close neighboring island for hospital treatment. When asked how it was to live on such a small place with so few people she replied “People are people!...Some days it’s just better to stay home” She further explained, “When you have a beef with someone….especially a small one…it’s best to hit it head-on because, for sure, you will see that person the next day!” “We don’t have big arguments” she explained, “because we don’t let the small ones grow!” Not a bad approach! She lamented that, unfortunately, as the children went away for college and university few were returning….”But we have survived this long….I suspect we will make it a bit further” she smiled!
As the ships “Daily Program” so aptly summarized, “The Pitcairn Islands, officially named the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno Islands, are a group of four island in the southern Pacific Ocean that are the last remaining British overseas territory in the Pacific. The original settlers of the Pitcairn Islands were Polynesians who appear to have lived on Pitcairn and Henderson for several centuries. However, although archaeologists believe that Polynesians were living on Pitcairn as late as the 15th century, the islands were uninhabited when they were discovered on July 3, 1767 by the crew of the British sloop HMS Swallow. Pitcairn Island was named after Midshipman Robert Pitcairn, a fifteen-year-old crewmember who was the first to site it. In 1790, the mutineers of HMAV Bounty and their Tahitian companions, 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; the ship itself was discovered in 1957 by National Geographic explorer Luis Marden. Although the settlers were able to survive by farming and fishing, the initial period of settlement was marked by serious tensions among the settlers. Pitcairn Island is inhabited with approximately 40-45 people, from nine families, making it notable for being the least populated jurisdiction in the world (although it is not a sovereign nation). The largest population it held was in 1937 with 233, but through emigration to New Zealand, the population dwindled to what it is now. The United Nations Committee on Decolonization includes the Pitcairn Islands on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories”.
What lovely memories I will always have of the people of Pitcairn Island. As they sailed back to their island in one big “long-boat” with buckets of ice cream that the ship’s crew sent to the children as well as ice chests full of meat and pockets full of American dollars they waved and smiled…seemingly delighted to return to their lovely Pacific Island and await the next ship. It was fun too, to spot several of our visitors who had newly shorn and colored hair (it was apparently impossible to get a hair appointment in the ship’s beauty shop today…the Islanders had emailed weeks ago to book them!!!!). And, of course, I will never hear the name of Captain Bligh or Fletcher Christian, the main characters in Mutiny on the Bounty, that I don’t think of that morning mist I saw early today rising over Pitcairn Island.
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