In the month of October, 1823, an English whaleship, the Cyrus, Captain Hall, visited Pitcairn Island. John Adams, being now somewhat advanced in years, and beginning already to feel the infirmities of age, expressed to Captain Hall the wish that he could find among the ship’s crew someone to assist him in the arduous task of trying to impart instruction to his young people. The captain listened kindly, and promised to do what he could. Calling his men around him, he made known to them the wishes of the old man, and asked if any of them would be willing to accede to his request. After a few minutes’ hesitation, John Buffett, a young man twenty-six years of age, stepped forward and volunteered his services. Being bound by no home ties, he counted it no great sacrifice to remain.
Buffett had in early youth been apprenticed to a cabinet maker in Bristol, his native place. Of a roving disposition, a sea life especially possessing a peculiar fascination for him, he left his early trade to serve on board His Majesty’s ship Penelope, and again on the Impregnable. He was shipwrecked in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and afterwards cast away on the coast of California, where he was received and cared for in the kindest manner by an old Spanish comandante in the place. The latter made every effort to persuade Buffett to make his home in California, but he decided not to do so, and from thence he made his way to Honolulu, in the Sandwich Islands, where he joined the Cyrus. At last, after his many adventures, he arrived at Pitcairn Island, where, accepting his captain’s proposal, he resolved to end his days among the people with whom his lot was now cast.
Among his shipmates on board the Cyrus was a youth about nineteen years of age, named John Evans, a native of London. For love of Buffett, he determined to remain on the island, and for this purpose he ran away from the ship. Being of very small build, he contrived to hide himself in the hollow stump of a tree until the vessel had sailed, and it was safe for him to make his appearance. As there was no help for it, Evans also was allowed to become a member of the community.
Not many months passed before both Buffett and Evans sought in marriage the hands of two of the island maidens. Buffett met with no opposition to his suit, and, in due time, was united in marriage to Dorothy, a daughter of Edward Young. Evans did not obtain such ready favor when he requested of John Adams the hand of his daughter Rachel. The old man did not approve of the young people’s entering the marriage relation at too early an age, and Evans was barely nineteen; besides, the disparity in age of the two young persons was another obstacle in the father’s view, the young woman being the older by some years. However, the matter was referred to the daughter for decision. Her answer came, quick, short, and decided, “Try it, daddy.” He at length consented, but not without misgivings regarding her future happiness, and his paternal blessing was not withheld when the twain stood up to be made one, being wedded with a ring formed of the outer circle of a limpet shell.
THE CHAPEL.
It may prove interesting to some readers to know the names of those others whom John Adams united in the bonds of matrimony. The service was performed according to the rites of the Church of England. The parties were, of course, the sons and daughters of all the mutineers who left children, and their names are as follows: Matthew Quintall to Elizabeth Mills, Arthur Quintall to Katharine McCoy, Daniel McCoy to Sarah Quintall. These two last mentioned young men one day swam off to a rock at a considerable distance from the shore, and there agreed to seek each one the other’s sister for a wife. The rock received, from that incident, its name, Táné M’á, i. e., “The place of the men’s agreement.” Thursday October Christian, son of Fletcher Christian, and the first born on the island, married Susan, the girl of fifteen who came in the Bounty. The others were: Charles Christian, married to Sarah McCoy; Edward Quintall, to Dinah Adams; George Young, to Hannah Adams; William Young, to Elizabeth Mills, widow of Matthew Quintall, who met his death in some unknown manner. Most of the young men went out one day in their canoes to fish. They were mostly within speaking distance of each other, but as Matthew, or Matt, as he was called, was not seen tending his canoe, the others supposed that he was lying down in it. It was afterwards discovered that the canoe was, and had been no one knew how long, floating about without an occupant. The body had sunk, and was never again seen.
The following story is told to show the binding force with which a promise was regarded in those early days: George Adams, the only son of John Adams, had, when quite a youth, “conceived an attachment for Polly Young, but she declared that she would never marry George.” On Captain Beechy’s visit to the island, Adams referred the case to him and the other officers. Their opinion was that the young girl’s determination was made before she was old enough to know her own mind, and would be more “honored in the breach than the observance.” Polly, however, viewed the matter in a different light, but confessed that her opinion of her lover was considerably altered since she declared she would not have him. Subsequently they were married, perhaps not “in haste,” but Polly repented “in a hurry,” for she discovered all too soon that a home with George did not mean a “woman’s paradise.”
One gold ring, the property of Edward Young, played an important part in the wedding services performed in those days, and continued to be used until somewhere in the forties.