the island of Tofoa in the vicinity of Fiji. Two thirds of the crew and officers
rebelled and only 18 crewmen stayed with Bligh. However, there were only eight
English sailors and officers along with Fletcher Christian, plus six Polynesian men
and 12 Polynesian women, who went to settle on Pitcairn, because the others had
perished on Tubuai Island during fighting with each other, or they had been found
by the British and hung for their crime of mutiny. Before landing and settling the
Island of Pitcairn, it took Fletcher and his little group about two months to find an
appropriate place to hide.
During their journey, they stopped in Tahiti and persuaded a few Polynesian
men and women to follow them on board the Bounty. In all, there were thirtyseven people on board. After finding the island, they burned the Bounty and settled
down to communal life. The Island, because of its morphology with steep vertical
scarps 200 m high and only one small rocky beach, called Bounty Bay, is very
difficult to access by boat. It is constantly under large swells that are a few meters
high. This makes landing quite hazardous for any navigator. Thus, Pitcairn was an
ideal place to avoid having any unwelcome visitors.
By 1800, all the men were dead and only John Adams had managed to stay
alive. He took care of the youths and the 10 women who were left. In 1887, the
islanders had become members of the Seven Day Adventist religion. In 1823,
sixty-six people were living on the Island. The peak of the population was in 1936
when more than 200 persons lived on the island.
Today, Pitcairn Island is the smallest democracy in the World and it has
become dependent on modern technology, such as computers and Internet links, in
order to remain connected to the outside World. However the islanders are very
much self-sufficient. When I was first there in 1989, only about 41–43 islanders
lived in their closed community having little contact with the exterior world. There
were 13 adolescents and children who went to school with an Australian woman as
their teacher. Contact with the rest of the World was mainly through the radio
station run by several operators who stayed on the air during the day. Most contact
was through New Zealand, but they could also place radio-telephone calls to
Australia, the USA and Europe. It is thanks to the Pitcairn radio station that most
direct contacts were made with passing ships traveling a few days away from the
Island. That is how we were able to request a visit during our first trip to work in
the area of Pitcairn Island.
All the transport to and from the Island is done on ‘‘longboats’’, which look like
Boston whalers made of aluminum. The largest form of income for the islanders is
in the worldwide sale of Pitcairn Island stamps for international collectors. Any
personal income comes from the sale of hand-made products such as paintings,
carvings, woodcraft, or woven baskets to visiting ships. The Pitcairn Islanders get
their wood, called ‘‘miro wood’’, by traveling in their longboats to another
inhabited island called Henderson Island that is located about 120 miles from
Pitcairn. The trip usually takes more than a week. Pitcairn has electric power
generators running about 7–8 h a day. Their diesel fuel comes from supply ships,
and is carried to the island in drums by longboat. This permits the families to have
326
9 Hotspots
rebelled and only 18 crewmen stayed with Bligh. However, there were only eight
English sailors and officers along with Fletcher Christian, plus six Polynesian men
and 12 Polynesian women, who went to settle on Pitcairn, because the others had
perished on Tubuai Island during fighting with each other, or they had been found
by the British and hung for their crime of mutiny. Before landing and settling the
Island of Pitcairn, it took Fletcher and his little group about two months to find an
appropriate place to hide.
During their journey, they stopped in Tahiti and persuaded a few Polynesian
men and women to follow them on board the Bounty. In all, there were thirtyseven people on board. After finding the island, they burned the Bounty and settled
down to communal life. The Island, because of its morphology with steep vertical
scarps 200 m high and only one small rocky beach, called Bounty Bay, is very
difficult to access by boat. It is constantly under large swells that are a few meters
high. This makes landing quite hazardous for any navigator. Thus, Pitcairn was an
ideal place to avoid having any unwelcome visitors.
By 1800, all the men were dead and only John Adams had managed to stay
alive. He took care of the youths and the 10 women who were left. In 1887, the
islanders had become members of the Seven Day Adventist religion. In 1823,
sixty-six people were living on the Island. The peak of the population was in 1936
when more than 200 persons lived on the island.
Today, Pitcairn Island is the smallest democracy in the World and it has
become dependent on modern technology, such as computers and Internet links, in
order to remain connected to the outside World. However the islanders are very
much self-sufficient. When I was first there in 1989, only about 41–43 islanders
lived in their closed community having little contact with the exterior world. There
were 13 adolescents and children who went to school with an Australian woman as
their teacher. Contact with the rest of the World was mainly through the radio
station run by several operators who stayed on the air during the day. Most contact
was through New Zealand, but they could also place radio-telephone calls to
Australia, the USA and Europe. It is thanks to the Pitcairn radio station that most
direct contacts were made with passing ships traveling a few days away from the
Island. That is how we were able to request a visit during our first trip to work in
the area of Pitcairn Island.
All the transport to and from the Island is done on ‘‘longboats’’, which look like
Boston whalers made of aluminum. The largest form of income for the islanders is
in the worldwide sale of Pitcairn Island stamps for international collectors. Any
personal income comes from the sale of hand-made products such as paintings,
carvings, woodcraft, or woven baskets to visiting ships. The Pitcairn Islanders get
their wood, called ‘‘miro wood’’, by traveling in their longboats to another
inhabited island called Henderson Island that is located about 120 miles from
Pitcairn. The trip usually takes more than a week. Pitcairn has electric power
generators running about 7–8 h a day. Their diesel fuel comes from supply ships,
and is carried to the island in drums by longboat. This permits the families to have
326
9 Hotspots