Report written in 1814 by Captain Philip Pipon, HMS TAGUS, concerning settlement on Pitcairn Island of the mutineers from HMS BOUNTY (1789)

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Title
Report written in 1814 by Captain Philip Pipon, HMS TAGUS, concerning settlement on Pitcairn Island of the mutineers from HMS BOUNTY (1789)
Reference
HSR/C/19
Collection
  • National Maritime Museum, UK: Historical Records
Document Type
  • Memoirs and Narratives
Date
1814
Description
In September 1814 while hunting for the American frigate ESSEX, HM ships TAGUS (Captain Philip Pipon) and BRITON were the first British ships to visit Pitcairn island since the BOUNTY mutiny of 1789. They found one mutineer still living, John Adams. Pipon interviewed John Adams. His report records what happened to the mutineers, their settlement and society on Pitcairn island and a narrative of events since 1789, including the death of Fletcher Christian (the mutiny’s chief instigator). The report is the only contemporary documentary evidence of mutineer’s society on Pitcairn island, in addition to the Pitcairn Register of births and deaths kept by the Mutineers themselves (REC/61 which records the arrival of Pipon’s ships). Widely cited in newspapers in 1815, Pipon’s original report (to the Admiralty) has yet to be discovered at the National Archives. A second version with identical text is in the Mitchell Library in Sydney and has been digitized. The NMM version contains no annotations or corrections and no stamps to indicate it was ever sent or received. It is believed to be a contemporary copy of the report Pipon submitted to the Admiralty.
Theme
  • Women and the Sea
  • Mutiny