Captain Folger, in the American whaler, Topaz, had fallen across a race of 'Noble Savages', a race which would have thrilled Rousseau himself. The people were 'tall, robust, golden-limbed and good-natured of countenance'. All were extremely athletic and adept at surfboarding. They had an engaging simplicity based on unquestioning belief in a Divine Providence. Nobody lied. Nobody stole. All worked for the common good. It is one of the great ironies of history that a legacy of mutiny and bloodshed had produced a model community.
On December 10, 1823, the British Whaler, Cyrus arrived at Pitcairn bearing two men who were to introduce to the island its first (and almost its last) non-Bounty, non-Polynesian blood.
The ship's captain agreed to allow one of his complement to remain on Pitcairn in the role of school-teacher. This was John Buffett, an adventure-toughened sea-dog and yet a mild, soft-spoken scholar. His friend, John Evans, was not invited to stay but jumped ship.
Just nine weeks after landing, Buffett married Dolly Young, who produced a lightish-skinned offspring on 13 January 1825. Evans chose Adams' daughter, Rachel and presented old John with a grand-daughter later that year. These were halcyon days for Pitcairn but on that other island, its volcanically-born twin, horror returned.
Colonisation
Early Days
The 'Bounty' Connection
Tahiti
Seeds of Mutiny
Eruption
The Open Boat Journey
Starvation on Norfolk
Fate of the Bounty Mutineers
The Noble Savages
Second Settlement
Hell in Paradise
Pitcairn to Norfolk
