The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-05-23

BOSTON. MASS. April1a-The ship Mercury
from Port Townsend, reports that She passed
Pitcairn Island on January II. Inhabitants
came aboard and repcsted los persons on the
Island-52 males and53 females. She took their
mali, some twenty-five letters, for different
parts ofthe world
At long intervals an item like the
above recalls to the minds of a few of
the older generation Of readers a far
more interesting omanc of the sea
than Robinson Crusoe, = and one which
has-what De Foes immortal story has
not-the essential element Of truth.
Though Byron has utilized the princi-
pal incidents in his poem 1.-THE Island, :"
yet they are comparatively unfamiliar
to the public Of to-day and may be
worth brief revival.
Pitcairn Island is located near the
southeastern corner of the great Poly
nesian Archipelago, in the Pacific Ocean,
in latitude 25 degrees, 3 minutes, 6 sec
onds south, and longitude $50 degrees, 6
minutes west. 1t is entirely alone in
that wide waste of waters, the nearest
main land being the coast of Chill
more than 2 900 miles away. It's length
is about two and a half miles, it's breath
half as much, and the total area about
one and a half square miles. Sur
rounded by rocks and reefs, with
no harbor for larger craft than boats,
and a soil not specially productive, it
would hardly. be mentioned even in
biographies but for the strange his
tory Of which it is the center and
scene. 1t was first discovered by Car
teret in 1867, and named for the officer
who first saw it from the masthead, af-
forwards Mai. Pitcairn, who led the
J British marines at the battle of Bunker
Hill and was killed there. In Deem
Der, 1877, the government sent the ship
Bounty" under command Of Capt.
William Bligh, to Tahiti for the pur-
pose of collecting bread fruit plants
which we've to be introduced into the
West India colonies. On the voyage
from Tahita to Jamaica a long -slumber-
ing mutiny broke out, due in a large
measure to the unbearable tyranny OF
Bligh, who, as the sailors say, had "a
genius for making a hell afoat." The
leader was the ranking midshipman and
acting first lieutenant, Fletcher Chris
tan, a young man of good family, who
| seems TO have suffered until ~forbearence
ceased to be a virtue. Bligh and eigh-
teen men who choose to accompany him
uzax.o oaxNk al..,ft - ~ ono. hook anA
managed to make their way in safety to
Timor, an inhabited island 5000 miles
distant. The Bounty" in charge of
Christian, went back to Tahiti, where
sixteen of the crew preferred to remain.
The rest, nine sailors, with six Tahitian
men and twelve women, after cruising
about for some time, landed on Pitcairn
Island, where the ship was broken up
and burned and a permanent settlement
made. AS soon as possible after Bligh's
arrival In England the government dis
patched the Pandora" sloop Of war in
| search of the mutineers. OF the six
teen who had remained at Tahiti, four
teen were captured, of whom three were
executed in September, 1892; but no
trace could be obtained OF their com-
panions, and the search was finally
| abandoned. Not until 1908 were they
heard from by the outside world.
In that year Capt. Folger, an
American, touched at what he supposed
a desert island, and found a happy and
prosperous little colony-vail of whom
| spoke English-under the leadership Of
the last survivor Of she original settlers,
Alexander Smith, who had changed his
name to John Adams. He was very un
communicative in regard to the past,
but admitted that the mutineers and the
Tahitians had quarreled among them
selves and killed each other; Christian
having been murderedin his " house.,
which he had built on a lofty peak,
where be could sweep with his glass the
ocean, which, sooner or later, he feared,
would bring the ministers of vengeance.
Adams had been converted from evil
ways by means of a prayer-book and on
these he laid the foundations Of the re-
form that produced a Christian com.
munity in which crime was utterly I'M
known and perfect peace and harmony
prevailed, Folger, on his return, re-
ported what he had seer to the British
Government, which was then too busy
with the Napoleonic wars to give the
matter any attention. In 1914, however,
o British vessel called at the island,
found old Adams still alive and the con
trolling spirit Of a devoted band of dis
ciples. Since her the colony has been,
to a certain extent, under the patronage
and protection of England. In 1881, the
population having outgrown the means
Of subsistence, eighty-seyen persons
We're transported to Tahiti; but dislik-
ing their new home they returned to
the old one within six moths. In 1855,
the number having again become too
large. all were removed at their own