Total Isolation
South Pacific
47 people. All descended from the Bounty mutineers. There is no hotel.
The Forgotten Atlas — Field Report
47 people. All descended from the Bounty mutineers. There is no hotel.
On April 28, 1789, Fletcher Christian led a mutiny against Captain William Bligh on HMS Bounty in the South Pacific. Bligh and eighteen loyal crew were set adrift in a small boat — they sailed 3,618 nautical miles to safety, one of the greatest open-boat voyages in history. Christian and eight other mutineers, along with twelve Tahitian women and six Tahitian men, searched the Pacific for somewhere they would not be found. They found Pitcairn Island — a tiny volcanic outcrop that had been mischarted and was not where British naval maps showed it to be. They landed in January 1790, burned the Bounty so it could not be spotted, and stayed.
The Pitcairn Islanders are the most isolated community on Earth descended from an act of defiance. Every one of the 47 people living there carries that history in their name.
The Forgotten Atlas
The 47 current residents of Pitcairn are almost all descended from Fletcher Christian and the Tahitian women who came with him. The surnames are Christian, Warren, Brown, Young — the surnames of the original mutineers. The community is self-governing, growing its own food, fishing, and selling honey and handcrafts to the container ships that occasionally stop. The Seventh-day Adventist Church is the dominant institution. There is no permanent doctor. Medical emergencies require a helicopter evacuation.
There is no scheduled transport to Pitcairn. The only way to visit is to arrange passage on one of the cargo ships that call irregularly, or on one of the occasional cruise ships that anchor offshore. The island has no jetty — you transfer from the ship to the island on a longboat through Henderson's Landing, which requires good weather and some physical capability. To stay overnight you arrange with an island family. The tourism office on the island handles these arrangements. Expect a minimum of three months of planning.
Contact the Pitcairn Island Tourism office. They handle all visitor arrangements. Give yourself six months minimum for planning.
The only settlement. The square, the church, the museum (containing Bounty artefacts), the post office. The entire social world of 47 people.
Where the Bounty was burned and where visitors land. The anchor of the Bounty is on display in the square.
The steep path from the landing to the settlement. Named by the original settlers. Every visitor climbs it. It lives up to its name.
Meals are with host families. You eat what they eat — fresh fish, vegetables from island gardens, the extraordinary Pitcairn honey.
The most remote honey on Earth, from bees introduced to the island. A jar brought home is the definitive souvenir.
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