NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
On finding Pitcairn
From: Doug Royer
Date: 2004 Sep 17, 17:31 -0700
From: Doug Royer
Date: 2004 Sep 17, 17:31 -0700
From the books I've read on this subject it is clear that it was a "chance" rediscovery. In atleast one of these books there are general tracklines drawn on the charts of the voyage by the Bounty after leaving Tahiti.As the Bounty searched through the archepelagoes in the South Pacific for suitable refuge the trackline appears as a drunken man staggering about.Flectcher Christian knew of the rumors of Pitcairn as did some of his Polynesian members in general terms only.After searching areas to the west and north of Tahiti and finding none that suited their purpose they headed in the direction where Pitcairn was thought to be.When they got into this area the trackline looks like a "box" search untill they did find it. Most of the Polynesians taken by Christian with the Bounty were younger men and women.Not a great deal of off shore sailing experiance or knowledge to be tapped by the mutineers. It is true that it is written there was evidence of previous encampments on Pitcairn when the Bounty finally came to rest there.
