Editing Pitcairn Islands (section)

=== European arrival===
[[File:Pitcairn Island In The Distance.jpg|thumb|West side of Pitcairn Island]]
[[File:Pitcairnlanding.jpg|thumb|Pitcairn landing]]

Portuguese sailor [[Pedro Fernandes de Queirós]] came upon Ducie and Henderson Islands while sailing for the Spanish Crown, arriving on 26 January 1606. He named them La Encarnación ("[[Incarnation (Christianity)|The Incarnation]]") and San Juan Bautista ("Saint [[John the Baptist]]"), respectively. However, some sources express doubt about exactly which of the islands were visited and named by Queirós, suggesting that La Encarnación may actually have been Henderson Island, and San Juan Bautista may have been Pitcairn Island.<ref name=histgovtlaws>{{cite web |url=http://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/pitcairn/govt-history15.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141211081408/http://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/pitcairn/govt-history15.shtml |archive-date=11 December 2014 |title=History of Government and Laws, Part 15 ''History of Pitcairn Island'' |publisher=Pitcairn Islands Study Centre |access-date=4 July 2015 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

Pitcairn Island was sighted on 3 July 1767 <!-- actual date versus [[ship’s time]] -->by the crew of the British [[sloop-of-war|sloop]] [[HMS Swallow (1745)|HMS ''Swallow'']], commanded by Captain [[Philip Carteret]]. The island was named after midshipman [[Robert Pitcairn (Royal Navy officer)|Robert Pitcairn]], a 15-year-old crew member who was the first to sight the island. Robert Pitcairn was a son of British Marine Major [[John Pitcairn]], who was later killed at the 1775 [[Battle of Bunker Hill]] in the [[American Revolution|American War of Independence]].

Carteret, who sailed without the newly invented [[marine chronometer]], charted the island at {{Coord|25|02|S|133|21|W|display=inline}}, and although the [[latitude]] was reasonably accurate, his recorded longitude was incorrect by about 3°, putting his coordinates {{convert|330|km|abbr=on}} to the west of the actual island. This made Pitcairn difficult to find, as highlighted by the failure of captain [[James Cook]] to locate the island in July 1773.<ref>{{cite web |first=Brian |last=Hooker |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100526223133/http://findingnz.co.nz/al/gal1_bounty.htm |archive-date=26 May 2010 |url=http://findingnz.co.nz/al/gal1_bounty.htm |title=Down with Bligh: hurrah for Tahiti |work=Finding New Zealand |access-date=4 July 2015 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Mark |last=Winthrop |url=http://www.lareau.org/chrono.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090905165026/http://lareau.org/chrono.html |archive-date=5 September 2009 |title=The Story of the Bounty Chronometer |publisher=Lareau Web Parlour |access-date=4 July 2015 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>