Pitcairn Island—Field Studies Blog
Our island is so tiny, encircled by the sea.
Its shoreline is so rugged, as you so well can see.
Yet we so dearly love it, our homes are also there.
And if you come our way again, we’ll welcome you and share.
—Pitcairn Islanders’ Goodbye Song
What a gift it is to visit an island home to forty-six people smack-dab in the middle of the Pacific. Sørlandet’s stay on Pitcairn Island was exceptional. The ship approached anchorage under full sail with great fanfare.
From their verandas, islanders watched the oldest fully rigged tall ship in the world appear from the horizon. On deck, students faculty and crew demonstrated their seamanship— bracing, tacking, hauling halyards, setting sail.
Once taken ashore in longboats and carted off by islanders on golf carts and ATVS, the ship’s crew nearly doubled the population of the island. For the first time, students and teachers enjoyed homestays for the full duration of their time in a port of call. Pitcairners, descendants of the mutineers of the HMS Bounty, hosted crew at six separate homes, each of which offered a different taste of secluded island life.
Highlights over the four days and three nights included: a snorkel at St. Paul’s Pool, a wondrous tidal basin carved out by the Pacific, home to fish and crustaceans; a much spoken of talent show in Town Square in which students shared poetry, song and dance; a joyful, tiring afternoon game of soccer (or football); a lesson on Maori chants from the island’s police officer, Terry, on rotation from New Zealand; feeding a giant tortoise, Ms. T., brought to Pitcairn by Irving Johnston; a communal fish fry; and a scenic hike to Christian’s Cave, where Fletcher, the leader of the mutiny on the Bounty is said to have isolated himself to look over Adamstown and contemplate his betrayal of Captain Bligh.
History came alive. Prior to arrival, A+ World Academy studied closely the expedition of the HMS Bounty, its mutiny and the settling of Pitcairn Island. Onshore, students had the opportunity to visit John Adams’ Grave and the Pitcairn Museum, home to a number of Bounty documents and artifacts.
But perhaps most enriching were conversations shared with Pitcairners themselves. Each student is at work on an extended research essay that weaves together his or her findings from A+ ports of call in “the field." Food source depletion, economics and sustainability are but a few of the larger topics researched. In this respect, Pitcairn Island was most fruitful.
And Pitcairn was literally fruitful. If there is one thing Sørlandet has learned of the Pacific islands, it is that they have produce aplenty. The crew consumed banana, passion fruit and avocado with abandon. Locals also offered up surplus fruit for Sørlandet’s sail.
A+ World Academy did not leave Pitcairn Island hungry. When the crew set off through the surf on the longboat to Sørlandet, it was not just with full bellies and tales of adventure on far away rocky shores, but a deeper understanding of and connection to Pitcairn’s history and uniquely generous people.
