Editing Mutiny on the Bounty (section)

== Pitcairn ==
=== Settlement ===
[[File:Descendants of the mutineers, 1862.jpg|thumb|Descendants of the mutineers John Adams and Matthew Quintal on [[Norfolk Island]], 1862. From Left to right: John Adams 1827–1897 son of George Adams; John Quintal 1820–1912 son of Arthur Quintal; George Adams 1804–1873 son of John Adams; Arthur Quintal 1795–1873 son of Matthew Quintal]]

After leaving Tahiti on 22 September 1789, Christian sailed ''Bounty'' west in search of a safe haven. He then formed the idea of settling on [[Pitcairn Island]], far to the east of Tahiti; the island had been reported in 1767, but its exact location was never verified. After months of searching, Christian rediscovered the island on 15 January 1790, {{convert|188|nmi}} east of its recorded position.{{sfn|Government of Pitcairn|2000}} This longitudinal error contributed to the mutineers' decision to settle on Pitcairn.{{sfn|Stanley|2004|pp=288–296}}

On arrival the ship was unloaded and stripped of most of its masts and spars, for use on the island.{{sfn|Hough|1972|p=286}} It was set ablaze and destroyed on 23 January, either as an agreed upon precaution against discovery or as an unauthorised act by Quintal—in either case, there was now no means of escape.{{sfn|Alexander|2003|p=369}}

Pitcairn Island proved an ideal haven for the mutineers—uninhabited and virtually inaccessible, with plenty of food, water, and fertile land.{{sfn|Government of Pitcairn|2000}} For a while, the mutineers and Tahitians existed peaceably. Christian settled down with Mauatua; a son, [[Thursday October Christian I|Thursday October Christian]], was born, as were other children.{{sfn|Hough|1972|pp=243, 246}} Christian's authority as leader gradually diminished, and he became prone to long periods of brooding and introspection.{{sfn|Hough|1972|pp=245–246}}

Gradually, tensions and rivalries arose over the increasing extent to which the Europeans regarded the Tahitians as their property, in particular the women who, according to Alexander, were "passed around from one 'husband' to the other".{{sfn|Alexander|2003|p=369}} In September 1793 matters degenerated into extreme violence, when several of the mutineers—possibly including Christian, Williams, Martin, Mills, and Brown—were killed by Tahitians in a series of murders. Both Adams and one of the Tahitian women, Teehuteatuaonoa, later claimed that Christian was killed in this massacre.{{sfn|Christian|2021|p=280}} However, Adams' stories were inconsistent; over the years he also claimed that Christian had died of sickness or [[suicide]]. At any rate, his gravesite has never been found.{{sfn|Christian|2021|p=290}} According to Teehuteatuaonoa, Christian was shot and killed from behind while in the act of "clearing away some ground for a garden".{{sfn|Christian|2021|p=282}}

In-fighting continued thereafter, and by 1794 the six Tahitian men were all dead, killed either by the widows of the murdered mutineers or by each other.{{sfn|Guttridge|2006|p=86}} Two of the four surviving mutineers, Young and Adams, assumed leadership and secured a tenuous calm, which was disrupted by the drunkenness of McCoy and Quintal after the former distilled an alcoholic beverage from a local plant.{{sfn|Government of Pitcairn|2000}} Some of the women attempted to leave the island in a makeshift boat but could not launch it successfully. Life continued uneasily until McCoy's [[suicide]] in 1798. A year later, after Quintal threatened fresh murder and mayhem, Adams and Young killed him and were able to restore peace.{{sfn|Hough|1972|pp=266–267}}

<gallery widths="200px" heights="160px">
File:Pitcairnlanding.jpg|[[Bounty Bay]] on [[Pitcairn Island]], where HMS ''Bounty'' was burned on 23&nbsp;January 1790
File:Fletcher Christian's house.jpg|Fletcher Christian's House
File:John Adams house2.PNG|An 1831 engraving of John Adams Wooden house on Pitcairn Island
File:FMIB 36498 Wooden House Built by the Mutineers of the 'Bounty,' Pitcairn Island.jpeg|A 1908 photograph of Wooden House built by the mutineers of the ''Bounty'' on Pitcairn Island
</gallery>

=== Discovery ===
After Young succumbed to [[asthma]] in 1800, Adams took responsibility for the education and well-being of the nine remaining women and nineteen children. Using the [[Bounty Bible|ship's Bible]] from ''Bounty'', he taught literacy and Christianity, and kept peace on the island.{{sfn|Stanley|2004|pp=288–296}} This was the situation in February 1808, when the American sealer ''Topaz'' came unexpectedly upon Pitcairn, landed, and discovered the by-then thriving community.{{sfn|Alexander|2003|pp=347–348}}{{sfn|Young|1894|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ph5EAQAAMAAJ&dq=Mayhew+Folger++son&pg=PA34 36–40]}} Adams gave ''Bounty''{{'}}s [[Azimuth compass]] and [[Marine chronometer]] to ''Topaz''{{'}}s captain, [[Mayhew Folger]]. News of the discovery did not reach Britain until 1810, when it was overlooked by an Admiralty preoccupied by [[Napoleonic Wars|war with France]].

In 1814, two British warships, [[HMS Briton (1812)|HMS ''Briton'']] and HMS ''Tagus'', chanced upon Pitcairn. Among those who greeted them were Thursday October Christian and George Young (Edward Young's son).{{sfn|Alexander|2003|pp=351–352}} The captains, [[Thomas Staines|Sir Thomas Staines]] and Philip Pipon, reported that Christian's son displayed "in his benevolent countenance, all the features of an honest English face".{{sfn|Barrow|1831|pp=285–289}} On shore they found a population of 46–mainly young islanders led by Adams,{{sfn|Barrow|1831|pp=285–289}} upon whom the islanders' welfare was wholly dependent, according to the captains' report.{{sfn|Alexander|2003|p=355}} After receiving Staines and Pipon's report, the Admiralty decided to take no action.

In the following years, many ships called at Pitcairn Island and heard Adams' various stories of the foundation of the Pitcairn settlement.{{sfn|Alexander|2003|p=355}} Adams died in 1829, honoured as the founder and father of a community that became celebrated over the next century as an exemplar of [[Victorian period|Victorian]] morality.{{sfn|Government of Pitcairn|2000}} 

Explorer [[Luis Marden]] rediscovered the remains of ''Bounty'' in January 1957.<ref>Pitcairn Miscellany https/www.miscellany.pn</ref> After spotting remains of the rudder<ref name="life">
{{cite magazine
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zFUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA38
|title=The 'Bounty's' Last Relics
|magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]]
|date=10 February 1958
|volume=44
|number=6
|access-date=2012-10-31
|pages=38–41
}}</ref> (which had been found in 1933 by Parkin Christian, and is still displayed in the [[Fiji Museum]] in [[Suva]]) he persuaded his editors and writers to let him dive off Pitcairn Island. After several days of dangerous diving, Marden found the remains of the ship: a rudder pin, nails, a ships boat oarlock, fittings and a ''Bounty'' anchor that he raised.<ref name="life" /><ref>
{{cite web
 |url         = http://home.comcast.net/~maclark661/Pitcairn/Slide25.htm
 |title       = Bounty anchor at the town square
 |access-date  = 2012-10-31
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20121026041631/http://home.comcast.net/~maclark661/Pitcairn/Slide25.htm
 |archive-date = 26 October 2012}}</ref> Later in life, Marden wore [[cuff links]] made of nails from ''Bounty''. He also dived to the wreck of ''Pandora'' and left a ''Bounty'' nail with that vessel. Some of the ''Bounty''{{'}}s remains, such as the [[Sailing ballast|ballast stones]], are still partially visible in the waters of Bounty Bay. The last of ''Bounty''{{'}}s four-pounder cannon was recovered in 1998 by an archaeological team from [[James Cook University]] and was sent to the Queensland Museum in [[Townsville, Queensland]], Australia, to be stabilised through lengthy conservation treatment via [[electrolysis]] over a period of nearly forty months. The gun was subsequently returned to Pitcairn Island, where it has been placed on display in a new community hall.

Over the years, many recovered ''Bounty'' artefacts have been sold by islanders as souvenirs; in 1999, the Pitcairn Project was established by a consortium of Australian academic and historical bodies to survey and document all the remaining material, as part of a detailed study of the settlement's development.{{sfn|Erskine|1999}}

<gallery widths=200 heights=145>
File:BOUNTY RUDDER FROM THE FIJI MUSEUM. SUVA, FIJI ISLANDS.jpg|Parts of ''Bounty''{{'}}s rudder, recovered from Pitcairn Island and preserved in a Fiji museum
File:HMAS "Bounty" bell - panoramio.jpg|HMAS ''Bounty'' bell
File:Ballast Iron from HMAS "Bounty" - panoramio.jpg|HMAS ''Bounty'' ballast bar
</gallery>