Back in 1789, British sailors mutinied on the ship "Bounty" in the Pacific Ocean and settled on the island of Pitcairn, located among the islands of Tahiti. Some of the team, after disputes, remained to live on the island, and the rest of the rebels went to Tahiti, where they were later arrested by the British and put on trial. Those who remained on the island were able to create a community. In 1838, Pitcairn officially became a British territory. Today, 48 people live on the island who claim to be descendants of the Bounty rebels.
As the island's population dwindles, the once-strict housing requirements are being relaxed in order to attract as many new settlers as possible. How do people live today on a small island in the Pacific Ocean ...
Anyone can visit the island, but getting there is not easy.
The British Pitcairn Islands includes four small volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean. Pitcairn alone has about 50 residents.
Most of the island is rocks and rocks…
... which does not prevent the islanders from being happy.
The municipality of the island was declared bankrupt in 2004. The islanders are heavily dependent on tourism as their main source of income. Since the island is located in a remote area, there are very few visitors here.
Before the arrival of the rebels, the Polynesians were the first settlers on Pitcairn. Here is a photograph of ancient petroglyphs found on the southeast side of the island.
There is only one sandy beach on the island, located next to the petroglyphs.
Here is another view of the beach.
And this is the main pier on the island and at the same time a swimming pool and a village beach. The boats and jetty on Pitcairn Island is also a popular fishing spot.
Jackie - she is a representative of the 7th generation of the descendants of the rebels from the Bounty. She likes to walk around the island along the narrow paths.
Jackie says: "I love Pitcairn and I think we live in the most amazing part of the world."
The island is beautiful in any weather.
This is one of the few roads on the island. Its locals use it when riding motorcycles.
In 5 years, 80% of the island's population will be over 65. In the photo - the oldest inhabitant of the island, 87-year-old Irma on her motorcycle.
This is Emily, one of 8 children on Pitcairn Island, she is 3 years old. The two teenagers will travel to New Zealand next year to attend high school.
Sue O'Keeffe and her sibling Paul said life on the island is far from idyllic. The island has very high prices for common amenities, such as services such as the Internet and electricity. The monthly cost of 2 GB of Internet is $100 and the electricity bill is $400 per month.
Sue O'Keeffe's house offers amazing views of the island and the ocean.
“And at night we can lie on our deck and look at the stars,” said Sue.
Photograph of Sue and Paul's house on Pitcairn. When asked about the island's safety, Sue said, "Everywhere on the island, day and night, I know I'm completely safe from attack."
In general, most houses on Pitcairn do not have doors. This is a testament to the safety of the island.
On Pitcairn, residents receive electricity from a diesel generator. The generator only runs a couple of hours a day and turns off at 10 pm.
Most of the islanders eat fresh fish caught right next to the island. But there are some islanders who do not eat seafood for religious reasons.
The most common cause of death on the island is old age. Photograph of tombstones. Most people on Pitcairn live to be around 90 years old.
Life here and now is the expectation of the arrival of a ship with products once a quarter. Everything from sweets to clothes is delivered to the island from New Zealand.
The islanders are sorting out another food delivery. This is bottled honey.
There is not a single person on the island with a full-time job. The median annual income is less than $5,000.
The entire population of the island gathers for a birthday party, because people live here as a friendly community. The islanders know not only the names of each other, but also of all their ancestors.
To receive treatment or more or less serious medical care, the islanders must travel to New Zealand. They will be able to return no earlier than in 3 months. "If you're lucky, you can get treated for a minor illness like dental problems or minor surgeries in Tahiti and get back within 10 to 14 days," the island's residents say.
Pitcairn Island in the moonlight.
Nevertheless, the island is insanely beautiful, there is an opportunity to admire magnificent sunsets and sunrises from anywhere on the island. This is how people live on a tiny island in the Pacific...
The inhabitants of Pitcairn Island in the Pacific Ocean showed by their example what could happen to the first colonizers of Mars.
Massacres, rampant drunkenness, dictatorship, change of confession and two attempts to leave the island. This is a brief history of four and a half square kilometers of land lost in the Pacific Ocean. A two-century-long social experiment was started by participants in the most famous mutiny in the history of the British Navy.
The rebels put Captain Bligh and part of the Bounty's crew into the boat, April 28, 1789. Painting by Robert Dodd. Source: National Maritime Museum Replica of the Bounty built in 1960. Photo: Dan Kasberger / CC BY-SA 3.0
spree tourists
In the autumn of 1788, the ship "Bounty" arrived in Tahiti to take breadfruit seedlings there. In the spring of 1789, he left with a cargo for Jamaica, but did not have time to sail far. Either because of the cruel treatment of the captain, or because of the unwillingness to leave the tropical island, the ship was captured by a group of sailors led by assistant captain Christian Fletcher.
The rebels put the captain and his supporters in a boat, and they themselves returned to Tahiti.
Some of the sailors decided to stay there, while others went to look for a place where they would not be found by the inevitable punitive operation of the British authorities. Fletcher chose Pitcairn Island, discovered just 20 years before the events described.
On board the ship that approached Pitcairn, there were 9 sailors and 19 Tahitians - 6 men, 12 women and a little girl. Having taken everything of value from the Bounty, the settlers burned their only connection to the mainland.
14 of them were later arrested by the British, 3 were hanged
Captain Bligh showed courage and skill: in a month and a half he brought a boat with 18 people on board across 6,500 km of the ocean to the Dutch colony of Timor.
A scene from the film Mutiny on the Bounty, 1962. Marlon Brando played Christian Fletcher A scene from the 1962 film Mutiny on the Bounty A scene from the 1962 film Mutiny on the Bounty
Women and alcohol
The first problems for the settlers began when they began to lack women. On September 20, 1793, the Tahitians killed five of the nine white men on the island. Unexpectedly, the women took the side of the Europeans and dealt with their relatives. Peace was restored for a while.
In 1797 a new problem arose. William McCoy succeeded in expelling the "devil's rum" from the roots of the cabbage palm. The island entered a period of wholesale drunkenness. A few months later, McCoy, in a fit of delirium tremens, tied a stone to a rope, wrapped it around his neck, and jumped off a cliff into the sea.
In 1808, 18 years after settlement, the American Topaz sailed to the island. He was greeted by 10 women, 24 children, and a single adult male named John Adams. By then he had taught the children to read and write from the only book available, the Bible. Adams died in 1829, revered as patriarch and founder of the Pitcairn commune.
John Adams and his house on a postage stamp. Source: Wikipedia John Adams Bible. Photo: Hardscarf / BY-SA 3.0
Holy dictator
In October 1832, preacher Joshua Hill arrived on the island. Calling himself a representative of the British authorities, he took both the main positions on the island - a pastor and a school teacher. Like any decent dictator, Hill built a prison on the island and organized public floggings of the disaffected. Even worse, he banned moonshine.
The overthrow of tyranny was remarkably peaceful. By October 1834, the semi-crazy Hill had lost his grip and was so fed up that his job was taken from him.
Escape attempts
In 1831, 41 years after the founding of the commune, the inhabitants tried to leave Pitcairn for the first time. They were worried that soon the island would not be able to feed everyone. After six months and 17 deaths from disease, all the surviving Pitcairnians returned from Tahiti to their homeland.
The second attempt happened in 1856, when the population was 193 people. The choice fell on Norfolk - an island between Australia and New Zealand. For almost three years, Pitcairn was abandoned, but soon four families returned to it.
Missionaries landing on Pitcairn.
Stern captain
William Bly
In 1787, the British Admiralty sent the brig Bounty to sea. He had to go to Polynesia - to collect breadfruit seedlings there and bring them to the British colonies of the West Indies.
Captain William Bligh, who was considered one of the best sailors in Britain, commanded the ship. He began sailing on ships at the age of 16 and soon became an experienced sea dog. James Cook, who appreciated the experience and courage of the young man, took him on his fateful third voyage.
They say that it was Bligh who became the unwitting culprit in the death of the famous navigator. During a skirmish with the Hawaiian natives, Bligh was the first to shoot at the aggressive natives, which infuriated them ... Cook died, and Bligh continued to serve His Majesty.
In England, there was an iron discipline in the navy, and Bligh was quite its personification - a strong and unbending man. These qualities were mixed with excessive cruelty and outbursts of rage. In navigation, the captain was both a king and a god for the team, so the sailors and officers had a hard time. The smallest sin of the team was punished to the fullest extent.
The captain had a special hatred for his assistant Christian Fletcher, with whom he had, as they would say now, psychological incompatibility.
Paradise in Tahiti
Swimming was not easy and due to weather conditions. The insidious Cape Horn met the ship with incessant storms, and the captain turned to the Cape of Good Hope. After mooring and repairs in South Africa, the brig headed east, crossing the Indian Ocean along the fortieth parallel.
And in October 1788, the sailboat finally anchored near the island of Tahiti. After a hard, hungry voyage in harsh conditions, the team ended up in a heavenly place - the Tahitians rejoiced at the guests like children, generously bringing luxurious gifts. And local girls surrounded the sailors with the most tender care and affection.
"Bounty" stood in Tahiti for 6 months, although the necessary seedlings with the help of the natives were collected in just a week. The team did not want to leave the hospitable island - all the more so because a voyage full of hardships under the command of a stern captain was ahead of her again. But it was time to go...
After sailing, out of 46 crew members, three were missing. The Bounty returned, the fugitives were found and severely punished. Again the days filled with evil shouts, commands, severe punishments of the guilty sailors dragged on... The contrast after the heavenly life in Tahiti was so great that the crew began to grumble.
But no one dared to speak openly against the cruel captain. The explosion occurred through the fault of Christian Fletcher, whom the captain continued to terrorize - he brought petty nitpicks and scolded for the slightest offense in front of the whole team.
Captain overboard
Christian Fletcher One day, the patience of the sailors and Fletcher was exhausted, and at night, when Bligh was sleeping, they attacked him and tied him up. The captain, who had gone too far, was led out onto the deck, where a crowd of arrested officers who had not joined the rebellion were already standing.
Fletcher left alive both the captain and his fellow officers. They launched a boat for them, gave them some water and provisions, and let them go in peace.
The fate of these people is interesting. Despite everything, the boat did not sink, did not get lost in the vastness of the ocean, but safely sailed to the densely populated islands, and then people managed to cross to England.
In Britain, the case of the rebellious brig was investigated, the crew that refused to obey was sentenced to death, and Bligh was completely acquitted. He served for many years in the British Navy, was for some time Viceroy in Australia, and died in 1817 with the rank of Vice-Admiral, mourned by his three sons, his wife and friends.
The fate of the rebels was more severe. Fletcher knew that for a mutiny on the ship they face the death penalty in their homeland, so for the team remaining under his command, a return to England was ordered. The crew, under the command of the new captain Fletcher, began their journey, first going to Tahiti. Part of the sailors decided to settle on this blessed island, but Fletcher understood that His Majesty's messengers would find the rebels in this habitable corner of the ocean.
Therefore, he decided to look for an island lost in the ocean and sail there with people who wished to join him. (The fate of the rebels who remained in Tahiti was sad - they were really found and arrested. Some of the fugitives were killed, three were hanged on yardarms, the rest were sentenced to various terms of hard labor). And Fletcher studied maps for long days, looking for places for a future refuge, until he finally came across a description of Pitcairn Island.
rock in the sea
This island was discovered in 1767 by the English ship "Swallow". Here is how the captain of the Swallow described the discovery of a new British possession: “We continued our navigation on a course to the west until the evening of July 2, 1767, when we suddenly noticed land approaching in the north. The next day we approached her. The island looked like a huge rock rising from the sea. Its circumference did not exceed five miles, and it turned out to be uninhabited. However, trees grew on it. Since it was discovered by a young gentleman, the son of Major Pitcairn, we named the island - Pitcairn.
The Bounty landed on the shores of Pitcairn. 9 Europeans came ashore. Together with them, 18 Polynesians went to explore new lands - 6 men and 12 women. They say that already in Tahiti, quarrels began between the Europeans, and one of them was due to the fact that the sensible part of the team demanded to take such a number of natives that none of the men were left alone. But the rest said that the island was too small to feed so many women. It was precisely because of the shortage of the fair sex that the bloody drama on the island then unfolded ...
But in the beginning, sailors and natives settled peacefully in the new territory. Each white man received a piece of land on which he settled with a Tahitian girlfriend. The Polynesians lived all together - 6 men and three women ... The islanders tried to engage in cattle breeding (sheep and cows were bought in Tahiti before sailing), they grew vegetables - the usual peasant life.
Many mestizo children were born, and more and more mouths had to be fed, working without straightening their backs. And the sailors got used to a completely different life ... The accumulated anger demanded a way out. Discord broke out on the island. On top of all the setbacks, two native wives died and the Europeans took new wives from the Polynesians.
By the way, the gullible natives at first sincerely wanted to help the whites. But they were practically turned into slaves, and now women have also been taken away. And the war began - perhaps in world history it was the war with the smallest number of participants, but almost all those who fought died on it ...
Only one man remained alive on the island - former sailor Alexander Smith. Ten women and their numerous offspring were under his care. Oddly enough, left alone, Smith managed to restore order - a school, a church and other signs of civilization appeared on the island. He began to call himself Adam - as the first man on earth ...
In 1808, the American fishing vessel Topaz accidentally stumbled upon the island. Its captain told the world about a colony created by a fugitive rebel. The British authorities pardoned the former rebel for a long time. By the way, on Pitcairn, which is still a British possession, the only city is called Adamstone - in honor of Alexander Smith-Adam. For two centuries, the colony has grown, but not significantly - in the best of times, no more than 100 people lived on the island.
Sex in a small town
For many years, Pitcairn, or the Bounty as it is often called, lived in isolation, almost no one knew what was happening on it. In the 20th century, interest arose in the island - after several fascinating books were written about it and a number of feature films were shot. They started talking about the island in the press, on television. In the eyes of the public, this island seemed like a heavenly place in which everyone works peacefully, and indulges in dancing and singing in their free time.
But recently, Pitcairn has opened up in an unexpected way. One of the former islanders accused her countrymen of sexual harassment. Almost half of the male population of the island - 6 people out of 14 are now involved in a sex scandal. An investigation by the British authorities has begun. The simple-minded islanders told investigators that they had been raped since the age of 12. The shocked inhabitants of foggy Albion clutched their heads and, indignant to the core, gathered to punish the rapists to the fullest extent.
But the victims themselves began to oppose the harsh measures - it turned out that the island has long had fairly free morals. 12 years here is considered the most suitable age for reaching puberty, and that the girls themselves do not see anything criminal in early relationships. But, one way or another, the men were accused of violence and even put in jail.
This move threatens the complete destruction of the colony - the defendants are a serious economic force of the island - they sail the ocean, picking up various useful debris and selling products of local craftsmen to passing tourist ships. Even before the verdict was announced, one of the inhabitants of the island said: “If men are put behind bars, there will simply be no one to work here. The population will disperse in all directions, and the tiny island of paradise in the Pacific Ocean will come to an end "...
ALL PHOTOS
Five of the seven men accused of sex offenses on Pitcairn Island have been found guilty. They include 53-year-old mayor Steve Christian - he was found guilty of five rapes of girls, including 12-year-olds. His son Randy Christian was found guilty of four rapes and four sexual assaults.
The oldest defendant in the case, Len Brown, is charged with two rapes, while his son, Dave Brown, was found guilty of nine sexual assaults. Dennis Christian pleaded guilty to three assaults during court hearings. Jay Warren was the only person found not guilty of all charges.
Pitcairn rapists will be sentenced this week, according to The Australian. However, all the accused will remain at large until at least the New Year.
Seven men, among 47 on the tiny British island between New Zealand and South America, have faced 55 counts in total.
It all started when Auckland-based Pitcairn Attorney Simon Moore released a statement through the British Wellington High Commission in April 2003 stating that seven islanders had been charged in a court in Adamstown. The statement contains accusations of "insulting the sexual nature of a person."
As follows from the materials of the investigation, it was about sexual violence and sexual abuse in a particularly perverted form, committed by the accused back in 1999. According to the preliminary conclusion, the criminal episodes include the rape of seven-year-old girls, including a sexual attack on a three-year-old child.
On Pitcairn Island live the descendants of the rebels landed here by the British warship "Bounty" in 1790, and the Polynesians.
Pitcairn is administratively subordinate to the British government in Auckland, located approximately 5300 km from the island. In 1936, up to 200 people lived on Pitcairn, but every year the number of inhabitants decreases, as people leave to work or study in New Zealand and never return.
Currently, 47 people live on the island. Pitcairn, which is only 3 km long and 1.5 km wide, has no airport, hotel or prison. All offenders are serving their sentences in New Zealand.
The island became a British colony in 1838. Currently, the British High Commissioner in New Zealand is also Governor of Pitcairn. The island has a local self-government body - the Island Council, which consists of a magistrate, 5 members elected annually, 3 members appointed for one year by the governor, and the secretary of the island.
PITCAIRN. HOUSING AND RESIDENTS.
“... the first children were united by marriages among themselves; after them, their grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren entered into marriage; so that by the time we are talking about, they were all related by blood to each other. Moreover, these kinship relationships in the most striking way complicated and confused. Some stranger says, for example, to an islander:
“You call this young woman your cousin, and recently you called her your aunt.”
- Well, yes, she is my aunt and at the same time my cousin. And also my half-sister, my niece, my second cousin, my thirty-three cousin, my sister of the forty-second degree, my grandmother, my great-aunt, my widowed sister-in-law, and next week she will become my wife ... "
Mark Twain "The Great Pitcairn Revolution"
At the time of our visit, Pitcairn's population was 47 (forty-seven) local residents. Plus seconded: a pastor with his wife, a school teacher with her husband and a doctor. Plus a dozen so-called "officials" (officials) - officials of the New Zealand administration, social workers and police officers. And also one representative of the British government - Mark Waller. The recent "sex scandal" brought the island to the attention of the authorities, and since then there has been a constant presence of a contingent of "observers".
Plus three (not counting us) guests: the Englishwoman Pat, the Dutchwoman Jos and the American Herb Ford, director of the California Center for the Study of the Pitcairn Islands and my old friend from the Conference and by correspondence.
In total, together with us, on the island in those September days of 2007, there were about seventy people.
Forty-seven "residents" (that is, those who have the official status of a resident of Pitcairn, or, in other words, "island citizenship") have, in general, only four surnames: Christian, Warren, Young and Brown. All, overwhelmingly, are the descendants of the rebels from the Bounty. Except, of course, their New Zealand, British, American and Polynesian spouses who moved to the island with local husbands and wives and received a Pitcairn passport "for family reasons."
The only exceptions are Simon and Shirley Young. This married couple has nothing to do with the offspring of Ned Young. They are the namesakes of the descendants of the former Bounty midshipman, nothing more. These two became real Pitcairns as recently as 2004. Then, for the first time in the entire more than two century history of the island, completely strangers, who are not in any relationship with the indigenous citizens, officially acquired first a “residence permit”, and then a permit for a permanent “propiska”.
About this unique precedent - a little later.
Of the four dominant families on the island, only two are directly related to the rebels from the Bounty: these are the Christians and the Youngs. The Adamses, Quintals and McCoys are long gone from Pitcairn, their clans thriving on Norfolk. The line of John Mills was stopped at the beginning XIX century, when his only son died at the age of 13, and his only daughter got married. The remaining three Anglo-Saxons who landed here in 1790 - Brown, Martin and Williams - as you know, did not have time to leave offspring.
The Christians, Youngs, Warrens and Browns living on Pitcairn today are direct descendants of two waves of Norfolk settlers. Heirs of the same heroes who returned to their native island in 1859, led by the young Moses Young (the youngest grandson of Ned Young), and the rest of the daredevils who followed them in 1864, led by Thursday October Christian II, nicknamed "Duddy" (grandson of Fletcher and Mawatua).
The current island Warrens were named after one of these second-wave settlers, Samuel Russell Warren. This American sailor from Rhode Island at one time wished to settle in Norfolk, married there a daughter of Duddy named Agnes Christian and moved to Pitcairn with her, as well as with three other families.
The current Island Browns are not descended from a shy gardener on the Bounty, but from his namesake, a sailor from the Bowden that was wrecked off the coast of Oeno in 1893. It was from this unnamed Brown that Ann Elizabeth Warren gave birth to a boy, who was named Frederick Warren Brown, and who began a new family name on Pitcairn.
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What were we doing on the island? They walked, watched, absorbed, got acquainted, talked, went to visit, participated in the festivities.
In addition to Tom and Betty, where I stayed, we visited Carol Warren and her extended family, Len Brown, Reynold and Nola Warren, Simon and Shirley Young, Steve and Olive Christian, Mike Warren, and Mark Waller. visited party on the occasion of the birthday of four-year-old Emily Christian, a church service, a local shop, a post office, a museum, a medical center, a school. In general, we visited almost all the historical sights of the island. And, finally, on our initiative, the so-called “public dinner” was organized, which the locals immediately dubbed as “Russian Evening”.
First - about our hospitable hosts and their homes.
72-year-old Tom and 64-year-old Betty Christian, where I stayed, are perhaps the most famous Pitcairnians outside the island. At one time, before the era of the Internet and e-mail, this married couple kept in touch with a huge number of radio amateurs from all over the world via radio waves. Their callsigns are VP6TC and VP6YL are still on the air.
Tom is a chartered radio engineer and meteorologist, as well as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, which he was awarded for his many years of service to the Commonwealth of Nations. Betty is a telephony and communications specialist, local church electric organist and wonderful hostess, author of The Betty Christian Cookbook.
Both are now retired. Their charming daughters, Jacqueline, Raelyn, Sherilyn and Darlene, live in all sorts of places - in New Zealand, Australia, the USA and England. They often invite their parents over.
The 57-year-old kindest Carol Warren, who provided shelter to Volodya and Lyuda, is, one might say, the “first lady” of the island. After all, she is the wife of the mayor, Jay Warren (who was at a conference in Fiji during our stay). Both Jay and Carol take care of the Pitcairn ecosystem and look after its flora and fauna.
By the way, I must state with all frankness: the family of the Pitcairn mayor, like himself, lives more than modestly. Their house least of all corresponds to our post-Soviet ideas about how the residence of the head of the local administration should look like. And in no way, by and large, does not differ from other houses of ordinary citizens, where we happened to visit.
The dwellings of the Pitcairns, by the way, reminded us very much of Russian dachas - large summer houses with numerous outbuildings, utility rooms and a vegetable garden in the backyard. Poultry cages, beehives, ATV shed (“garage”), workshop, pantry, shed.
The Russians take everything old and unnecessary, which is a pity to throw away, to the dacha - the Pitcairns also do not throw anything away. You pay attention to the overabundance of endless boxes, rags, plastic and paper bags and bundles, canisters, buckets, bottles, old furniture and unusable household appliances and other household rubbish.
And in the houses there are a lot of various souvenirs that locals sell to tourists. Firstly, these are T-shirts, baseball caps, polo shirts, windbreakers, badges and the like - all with Pitcairn symbols; islanders order these things in New Zealand (and therefore are very expensive). The second group of items are artifacts made by the Pitcairns themselves. The shelter for the descendants of the rebels is famous for its folk crafts. Many families have been making world-famous handicrafts for decades. Women weave baskets and paint the leaves of an orchid tree, men carve amazing figurines of turtles, dolphins, sharks, whales and other marine life from miro wood, and also build Bounty table models.
With all this production, many Pitcairn dwellings are literally overflowing. In Carol's house, for example, two whole rooms are allocated for a souvenir warehouse. During cruise ship visits, when passengers disembark, each islander family can sell souvenirs, sometimes for several hundred dollars. A good addition to the family budget.
By the way. The official currency on Pitcairn is New Zealand dollars, but the islanders also accept US dollars and British pounds. Money can be exchanged at the local treasury (a tiny office of the island's secretariat), run by Nadine Christian and located in the central square of Adamstown, next to the library and post office. There are no ATMs on Pitcairn and, of course, there never were, and therefore all visitors need to stock up on cash in advance.
Since we are talking about this, I have to repent. Simon didn't have change on my $100 bill that evening, and generously allowed me to pay later. Which I (punish myself for) never did. I forgot, to my shame. So I owe Simon and Shirley $20.
To be continued...