So many of these tiny volcanic islands were at one time occupied by pirates and mutineers. Only on one island group did the castoffs make a go of it. Thanks to John Adams, the last of the mutineers off the HMS Bounty, a functioning settlement of 46 was found 19 years later by a passing American ship. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This stamp shows John Adams presenting to Topaz Captain Mayhew Folger the ship chronometer from HMS Bounty as a souvenir of his short eight hour visit to Pitcairn in 1808. Captain Folger did not get to keep the memento long. He showed it later to the then Spanish Governor of what is now the Chilean island of Robinson Crusoe. The Governor was so impressed he stole it. The chronometer passed through several Spanish hands before being acquired by the British Museum in 1840.
Todays stamp is issue A43, a 1.20 New Zealand Dollar stamp issued by the British Colony of the Pitcairn Islands on June 14th, 1983. It was a 4 stamp issue in various denominations honouring the 175th anniversary of the visit of the Topaz. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $1.10 unused.
Fletcher Christian decided upon unoccupied Pitcairn as his group’s refuge. It took him several months to find it, it’s recorded position was over 100 miles off. His group included 9 Englishmen, 6 Tahitian men, 12 Tahitian females, and one little girl. Everything useful was removed from HMS Bounty and the ship was burned. Early on there was much racial tension with love triangles and the mixed blessing of one of the Englishman rigging up a still that made a brandy from the tri root. It was decided among the Tahitian men to murder all the Englishmen. 5 of the Englishmen were murdered including Fletcher Christian. The Tahitian men did not count on what happened next from the Tahitian woman. All four of them were murdered in their sleep by the widows of the Englishman.
John Adams was now the leader of the half of the settlement that wasn’t drunk all the time and there were soon lots of babies to raise. When the Topaz arrived the settlement was up to 46 mainly children with John Adams the Governor and the last of the 9 Englishmen. The Bounty’s Union Jack flew over the colony. The Topaz, an American ship was not looking for Pitcairn, it had sailed from Boston looking for seals. The next year Captain Folger submitted a report to the British Admiralty. No action was taken due to the amount of time that had passed and the more pressing issue of the Napoleonic wars. Soon after Topaz’s journey, Captain Folger moved to Ohio and took up the noble profession of Postmaster.
Today Pitcairn has 50 residents with a capital called Adamstown. It is administered under the British Governor General of New Zealand. New Zealand also handles the Island’s postal offerings.
Well my drink is empty and with the rest of the world stuck at home in the style of Pitcairn, I will soon have to decide whether I want to join the half that is drunk all the time. Update, I decided mostly against the proposition. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.