day 24 - that one awesome movie idea that still hasn’t been done yet
The Fate of the Mutineers on Pitcairn Island
Following the mutiny on the HMS Bounty, the nine mutineers along with 6 men and 11 women they picked up in Tahiti sailed to Pitcairn Island. There, they marooned themselves by burning The Bounty, and hoped that they would not be found and tried by the British government. I didn't know anything about this at all until I saw the film The Bounty.
In the closing credits, there is a brief epilogue as the Bounty burns that says they weren't found until 18 years later, when an American whaling ship came upon the island and docked there. Only one man remained, along with nine women and 23 children. Some said that Fletcher Christian (the lead mutineer, played by Mel Gibson two decades B.S. (Before Sugartits)), escaped back to England, while others said he was murdered on Pitcairn. His descendants still lived on Pitcairn.
And then the credits rolled and I was like NOOOOOOO, tell me what happened! His descendants are still there even now, almost 200 years later? What was/is it like there?
In my usual fashion, I became obsessed with the story and read everything I could about it. I even checked out a book from the university library called Pitcairn: The Island, the People and the Pastor, with a short account of the mutiny of the Bounty, which was published around 1850. It was about the size of a wallet and had very tiny print, but I devoured every word of it. It was fascinating.
Some of the men died in accidents, others were murdered. It sounded like many of them became alcoholics, indulging too frequently on the very strong liquor they had figured out how to distill. I'm sure this didn't help the conflicts that brewed between the men over the women either. When only two men were left, they smartened up a bit and decided that they needed to foster a peaceful atmosphere. The men that remained (both mutineers) determined that they should all become Christians and used a copy of the bible that had been saved from the ship to educate themselves and the women and children on the island. One of the two men died of an infection, leaving just one mutineer to stand for his crimes when they were all found. This man, John Adams, was pardoned in part because they were impressed with the current state of affairs on Pitcairn.
Fascinating! I know there's a movie somewhere in all that. I see some odds and ends on IMDb (LOL!), but I'd love to see a modern treatment of it.
And yes, there are people still living on Pitcairn, mostly direct descendants of the mutineers. In the mid-1800's, the population had flourished such that the island could no longer sustain them. At one point, there were efforts by some to move back to Tahiti, and later, about 200 of them were relocated to Norfolk Island, though eventually some went back home to Pitcairn.
Today, there are about 50 people living there. They apparently speak an interesting hybrid of 18th century English and Tahitian called Pitkern, though modern English is also taught in their school now. As you can imagine, they remained isolated for quite some time and even now, there is no way to land a plane or dock a large boat, so goods (or tourists) must be ferried across on smaller boats that can handle the shallow waters. It's still a lush, beautiful place.
Unfortunately, Pitcairn has not quite lived up to its Utopian promise in other ways. In recent years, some of the men on the island were accused and then found guilty of some pretty horrifying criminal sex charges, mostly involving underage girls. To make things even worse, their defense was along the lines of, "This is part of Polynesian tradition" and "we're out of your jurisdiction and can do what we want." Yikes. Apparently it was never easy to keep the younger generations on the island once they were old enough to make the decision to leave. Of course there are lots of reasons why this might be the case, but yeesh...
Still... Pitcairn! Mutineers! Paradise, drunken murders, and redemption! Go!
Following the mutiny on the HMS Bounty, the nine mutineers along with 6 men and 11 women they picked up in Tahiti sailed to Pitcairn Island. There, they marooned themselves by burning The Bounty, and hoped that they would not be found and tried by the British government. I didn't know anything about this at all until I saw the film The Bounty.
In the closing credits, there is a brief epilogue as the Bounty burns that says they weren't found until 18 years later, when an American whaling ship came upon the island and docked there. Only one man remained, along with nine women and 23 children. Some said that Fletcher Christian (the lead mutineer, played by Mel Gibson two decades B.S. (Before Sugartits)), escaped back to England, while others said he was murdered on Pitcairn. His descendants still lived on Pitcairn.
And then the credits rolled and I was like NOOOOOOO, tell me what happened! His descendants are still there even now, almost 200 years later? What was/is it like there?
In my usual fashion, I became obsessed with the story and read everything I could about it. I even checked out a book from the university library called Pitcairn: The Island, the People and the Pastor, with a short account of the mutiny of the Bounty, which was published around 1850. It was about the size of a wallet and had very tiny print, but I devoured every word of it. It was fascinating.
Some of the men died in accidents, others were murdered. It sounded like many of them became alcoholics, indulging too frequently on the very strong liquor they had figured out how to distill. I'm sure this didn't help the conflicts that brewed between the men over the women either. When only two men were left, they smartened up a bit and decided that they needed to foster a peaceful atmosphere. The men that remained (both mutineers) determined that they should all become Christians and used a copy of the bible that had been saved from the ship to educate themselves and the women and children on the island. One of the two men died of an infection, leaving just one mutineer to stand for his crimes when they were all found. This man, John Adams, was pardoned in part because they were impressed with the current state of affairs on Pitcairn.
Fascinating! I know there's a movie somewhere in all that. I see some odds and ends on IMDb (LOL!), but I'd love to see a modern treatment of it.
And yes, there are people still living on Pitcairn, mostly direct descendants of the mutineers. In the mid-1800's, the population had flourished such that the island could no longer sustain them. At one point, there were efforts by some to move back to Tahiti, and later, about 200 of them were relocated to Norfolk Island, though eventually some went back home to Pitcairn.
Today, there are about 50 people living there. They apparently speak an interesting hybrid of 18th century English and Tahitian called Pitkern, though modern English is also taught in their school now. As you can imagine, they remained isolated for quite some time and even now, there is no way to land a plane or dock a large boat, so goods (or tourists) must be ferried across on smaller boats that can handle the shallow waters. It's still a lush, beautiful place.
Unfortunately, Pitcairn has not quite lived up to its Utopian promise in other ways. In recent years, some of the men on the island were accused and then found guilty of some pretty horrifying criminal sex charges, mostly involving underage girls. To make things even worse, their defense was along the lines of, "This is part of Polynesian tradition" and "we're out of your jurisdiction and can do what we want." Yikes. Apparently it was never easy to keep the younger generations on the island once they were old enough to make the decision to leave. Of course there are lots of reasons why this might be the case, but yeesh...
Still... Pitcairn! Mutineers! Paradise, drunken murders, and redemption! Go!