Not exactly your typical deserted island ...
Hello from the Beautiful South Pacific..
Ok, show of hands. Who has ever thought about being stranded on a deserted island, out in the south pacific, and who would you want to be stranded with? We have all imagined or played that game. Maybe long ago you saw or read about Robinson Crusoe and his man Friday. Or perhaps a little later than that it was the Swiss Family Robinson gang where the family was marooned and still managed to have a very highly sophisticated treehouse, etc. Later still it was good old Gilligan leading an eclectic little group who obviously benefited from Hollywood giving them whatever they needed except a way off the island.
Well today Vialula and I witnessed the actual thing. Pitcairn Island. While you can't really call it deserted, due to the 38 people who live there, it is absolutely as close as you can come to it. 38 people. 85% of these people there are the direct descendants of the mutineers of the HMS Bounty and their Tahitian women. For the longest time I always thought the book and subsequent movies were based as a novel, not a true story. But no, Fletcher Christian and his little band of mutineers were the real thing and the story is interesting.
Now William Bligh was a hard ship's captain. His rank was actually Lieutenant but he was in charge of the expedition and thus captain of the ship. Somewhere along the line, after a long stay in Tahiti where the men found paradise and several "wives" they decided they had become tired of Blythe's harshness and decided to take matter in their own hand. When they sailed away from Tahiti, several men stayed behind. The ones who sailed away with Bligh mutinied at some point, led by Fletcher Christian who then set Bligh and his followers adrift on a boat. Bligh and his band actually made it back to civilization, and several attempts to find Mr. Christian and his mutineers were deployed.
Now Fletcher Christian and his band of mutineers were desperate to find a place where England would not find them. There were numerous uncharted islands and they struggled to find one but eventually Pitcairn became their final stop. To be sure not to be spotted, they burned their ship after getting anything usable off of it thus sealing their fates onto that one isolated island. It more or less became a story of the Lord of the Flies where chaos ruled, people were killed for their food or their women or ??
Society finally ruled and while it was a difficult struggle the remaining people became a group of farmers and fisherman, and thus they eked out an existence and became fruitful...in more ways than one. Many years later, Britain returned to Pitcairn. By then only one surviving mutineer named John Adams remained, along with 9 women and 23 children.
Pitcairn is a group of 4 islands, three of which are uninhabited. The nearest one is about 70 miles away. Henderson, one of the islands, is about 200 miles away. They go there to get different types of wood to make their carvings.
Pitcairn today is still a territory of Britain, and in fact it is the only holding that Britain has in the south pacific. It is the smallest jurisdiction in the world. They are not a separate country. All jobs on the island today are "government" jobs as Britain pays the salaries. They are still farmers and fisherman. They grow a wide variety of food items, and one of their claims to fame is their honey. It is one of only three places on the earth where the honey is completely pure and has no diseases in it. It is a favorite of Prince Charles and his wife.
At its pinnacle, there were 233 people there. Through attrition of various types, it is now down to 38 and there is question out there if it will remain viable. Simon, who came on board, did a presentation and a question/answer session. He and his wife were not born there and in fact came there from California to make a living and live the island life. They say they would never leave. There is a school, a church, a couple of government buildings, and the rest are homes. The children (3 with 2 more coming soon) are schooled up to about 13 or 14 and then they are sent to New Zealand for boarding school and then university. Whether they come back or go and make their own life is up to them at that point. Some go, some come back. Free land is available to anyone who might like to join the group and they welcome any and all to come out. So ask yourself....could you do it? Could you give up your land of milk and honey and join theirs? Electricity is on from 6:00am to 10:00pm. Internet is available but expensive. They get a supply ship every 3 months so you better be good at ordering what you need. I mentioned mail earlier. Mail goes out with the supply ship quarterly so the things we had mailed will go out in March and we will be home long before it gets to us there. Still thinking it sounds like something you want to try??
All too soon, they gathered up their things and returned to their longboat to take them back to their island home. I am sure it was a big day for them. They get about 19 cruise ships a year. Most are smaller than ours. There was a lot of waving and smiles going back and forth from both sides as they motored away. A bit surreal on our part to see them going back to their island, happily doing so, but it works for them and they are indeed a unique bunch.
So in the last couple of stops we saw the most remote place on earth in Easter Island and the smallest jurisdiction on earth in Pitcairn. Both unique in their own ways and both happily existing as if it is quite the ordinary. Far from it. In my eyes they are both quite extraordinary. Vialula and LeRoy don't necessarily want to live there but it sure was a treasure to be able to go visit both places. Our lives have been enriched by them. As usual, we want to wish everyone well and say hello to all. Thanks for tagging along with us. I am hearing that folks have been commenting on our stories but we are not getting the comments on a regular basis. I am not sure of the problem but please continue to do so. Not sure who all of them are from but that is ok too. Until next time. We are on our way to Tahiti tomorrow, then Moorea ,and then Bora Bora in the next three days. What adventures lie ahead? Stay tuned to find out.
LeRoy
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| New address maybe? |
Well today Vialula and I witnessed the actual thing. Pitcairn Island. While you can't really call it deserted, due to the 38 people who live there, it is absolutely as close as you can come to it. 38 people. 85% of these people there are the direct descendants of the mutineers of the HMS Bounty and their Tahitian women. For the longest time I always thought the book and subsequent movies were based as a novel, not a true story. But no, Fletcher Christian and his little band of mutineers were the real thing and the story is interesting.
Now William Bligh was a hard ship's captain. His rank was actually Lieutenant but he was in charge of the expedition and thus captain of the ship. Somewhere along the line, after a long stay in Tahiti where the men found paradise and several "wives" they decided they had become tired of Blythe's harshness and decided to take matter in their own hand. When they sailed away from Tahiti, several men stayed behind. The ones who sailed away with Bligh mutinied at some point, led by Fletcher Christian who then set Bligh and his followers adrift on a boat. Bligh and his band actually made it back to civilization, and several attempts to find Mr. Christian and his mutineers were deployed.
Now Fletcher Christian and his band of mutineers were desperate to find a place where England would not find them. There were numerous uncharted islands and they struggled to find one but eventually Pitcairn became their final stop. To be sure not to be spotted, they burned their ship after getting anything usable off of it thus sealing their fates onto that one isolated island. It more or less became a story of the Lord of the Flies where chaos ruled, people were killed for their food or their women or ??
Society finally ruled and while it was a difficult struggle the remaining people became a group of farmers and fisherman, and thus they eked out an existence and became fruitful...in more ways than one. Many years later, Britain returned to Pitcairn. By then only one surviving mutineer named John Adams remained, along with 9 women and 23 children.
Pitcairn is a group of 4 islands, three of which are uninhabited. The nearest one is about 70 miles away. Henderson, one of the islands, is about 200 miles away. They go there to get different types of wood to make their carvings.
Pitcairn today is still a territory of Britain, and in fact it is the only holding that Britain has in the south pacific. It is the smallest jurisdiction in the world. They are not a separate country. All jobs on the island today are "government" jobs as Britain pays the salaries. They are still farmers and fisherman. They grow a wide variety of food items, and one of their claims to fame is their honey. It is one of only three places on the earth where the honey is completely pure and has no diseases in it. It is a favorite of Prince Charles and his wife.
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| The islanders coming out to meet us! |
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| Coveted Pitcairn postage stamp |
Due to the size of our ship, we are not allowed to tender over to them. It would overwhelm them, and they are not prepared to handle the size of the tenders we have. So the island comes to us. About 33 of the 38 came out to our boat in their longboat. They bring their wares to sell to us. The most popular item is a post card with Pitcairn postage on it. Where else can you get that? Their craftsmanship is excellent, and they gather different wood from various places. We met Steven, Randy, Mike and Andrew Christian, all descendants of Fletcher Christian . One of the reasons they want new people to move there is to strengthen the gene pool. Everyone was so very nice. They have British accents based on olde English.
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| Vi with Andrew Christian |
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| Our new friends heading back to their home |
So in the last couple of stops we saw the most remote place on earth in Easter Island and the smallest jurisdiction on earth in Pitcairn. Both unique in their own ways and both happily existing as if it is quite the ordinary. Far from it. In my eyes they are both quite extraordinary. Vialula and LeRoy don't necessarily want to live there but it sure was a treasure to be able to go visit both places. Our lives have been enriched by them. As usual, we want to wish everyone well and say hello to all. Thanks for tagging along with us. I am hearing that folks have been commenting on our stories but we are not getting the comments on a regular basis. I am not sure of the problem but please continue to do so. Not sure who all of them are from but that is ok too. Until next time. We are on our way to Tahiti tomorrow, then Moorea ,and then Bora Bora in the next three days. What adventures lie ahead? Stay tuned to find out.
LeRoy
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