Mutiny of the Bounty and story of Pitcairn Island, 1790-1894

by Rosalind Amelia Young

AS was to be expected, the first weeks that followed the arrival of the second party were very busy weeks indeed. They were housed as well as could be managed in the two small dwellings of the families that first came. But the inconveniences attendant on such crowded accommodations were cheerfully borne. In a short time a temporary abode for each family of the newcomers had been erected, into which they removed until their permanent homes should have been built. As all the men and boys took hold of the work, willingly and cheerfully helping each other, the building business progressed rapidly.

A pleasant break in the busy weeks was the visit of Admiral Sir John Kingcome in his flagship, the Sutlej, on the 29th of March, 1864. The day was perfect, with scarce a ripple on the sea, and the sky was wearing its loveliest blue. The sight of the large boats crowded with men going and returning between the shore and the ship, was greatly enjoyed by the islanders. A large crowd both of officers and men landed, and all seemed to enjoy their visit much, and they gladly availed themselves of the privilege of taking free whatever the island produced. The young gentlemen manifested a great deal of interest in the preparation of a dinner gotten up for them in the island style, especially that part of it which consisted of the dressing of a pig and cooking it in the primitive under-ground oven, a favorite mode of cooking meat among the people.

In the afternoon, as the people had been kindly invited to visit the ship, nearly all went on board, and had a delightful time visiting the different parts of the large vessel, and listening with thrilling pleasure to the band as it discoursed sweetest music. The visit of the Sutlej was opportune as regarded one young man, at least. He had a wound in the right knee which threatened to prove fatal, but the surgeon of the ship, having examined it, probed the wound and applied the proper remedies. The cure that followed was rapid and complete. In the long interval that followed the admiral’s coming, when the islanders seemed to have been shut completely out from the rest of the world, the pleasure that his visit gave still remained as a bright spot in the round of their monotonous lives.

At this time the chief concern of the people was to build a suitable house for public worship. Services were held in one of the dwelling houses, which, although there was room enough to accommodate comfortably the two families that had first come, was now too small for the increased number of worshipers. As soon, then, as these later arrivals had been settled with some degree of comfort, the work of building the church and schoolhouse combined began. Willing hands made light work, and, notwithstanding the lack of workers, the plain wooden structure, with thatched roof, was duly finished and consecrated to divine service. It was a glad day when the small congregation met for the first time within its humble walls to worship God, nor was the worship less fervent because above them there was only a bare, thatched roof. Simon Young now stood as leader of the people, and, in addition to his services for the spiritual welfare of the people, took upon himself the task of instructing, to the best of his ability, the youth and children in the “three R’s”—reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic. Having brought from Norfolk Island a small supply of schoolbooks, he was able with their help to guide the young and ignorant minds into the pursuit of something higher than the searching for hens’ eggs and their own self-pleasing.

SIMON YOUNG AND WIFE.

Possessing a fair knowledge of simple music, he also, with the small means at command, taught the children to sing. After leading them through the simplest airs, he taught them, and with great success, to sing in four parts, and the fact that out of a class of fifteen ten were able to read music by sight, gave him great encouragement in that branch of his work. Beginning life anew, house building and cultivating the ground for the support of a large family left him scarcely any leisure for self-improvement, but what he was able to do he did faithfully. In cultivating the land, wife and children assisted, thus lightening the heavy duties of the husband and father. No work was allowed to supersede that which was the dearest aim and object of his whole life, namely, seeking to instill knowledge into the minds of the young, and helping to train them to love what is good and pure and true, and to inspire them to search for themselves the treasures of knowledge that may be obtained in the works of other men, some few volumes of which he possessed. He also organized a Sunday school, at first taking all the labor upon himself, and, as the necessity arose, appointing others to assist him.

In December of 1864 six of the young people—three of the older settlers and three of the others—were united in the bonds of matrimony, the wedding taking place on Christmas day. To the younger portion of the community, at least, the excitement of a triple wedding was a very pleasant thing to happen to break the monotony of their quiet and secluded lives.

In 1866 a man-of-war, the Mutine, called at the island, bringing letters from relatives and friends on Norfolk Island, the first word that had been received from them since the parting, nearly three years before. The day was a stormy one in November—so stormy that the ship was delayed only long enough to deliver the mail, one canoe with two men in it having successfully passed through the heavy breakers and the tossing sea to reach the ship. The news brought was mostly sad, for the deaths of several dear friends were recorded, but that which more than any other affected the people deeply was the tidings of the death of Edwin Nobbs and Fisher Young, who had been shot by the natives of Santa Cruz, when, with the bishop of Melanesia, they visited that place. Although the two young men had been dead two years before the tidings reached them, the loss of their firstborn son came upon the parents of Fisher Young with all the shock of a sudden and unexpected bereavement, and the heartrending cries of the mother bespoke the grief felt for her son. He had been consecrated to God before his birth, and his chosen path was that of a missionary, nor was it small comfort to his parents that his last dying message was, “Tell my father that I died in the path of duty.” Great sorrow prevailed among the little community when the sad news was received, and many tears were shed for those who had gone, especially for the two young men, who were loved and respected by all.