Pitcairn, first seen by Europeans in 1767, was settled in 1790 after the infamous mutiny against Capt. The romance of the Pitcairners' early story has never quite been matched by the realities of the islanders' insufferably dreary lives. A century ago, with famine and privation depleting the colony's numbers drastically, the entire population decamped to the former prison colony of Norfolk Island, midway between Australia and New Zealand. Today many of the lineal descendants of Fletcher Christian and his men continue to live there, comfortably and in some prosperity. Keeping Pitcairn going costs someone, somewhere, a great deal of money.
Cargo costs several thousand dollars per ton to transport.
A teacher has to offer the compulsory education to the half-dozen island youngsters. And that, most certainly, is not the Pitcairn islanders, for the simple reason that they do not earn any appreciable money on which any taxes could be levied. Twice in recent years, schemes that might have proved their salvation have failed. For the first time, in other words, the islanders would have real contact with the outside world. But the World Wildlife Fund objected, claiming that Henderson Island sported a flightless rail, a fruit-eating pigeon and a uniquely rare species of snail.