The ''Bounty'' Bible is a

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

that is thought to have been used on HMS ''Bounty'',Bounty Bible at Pitcairn Island Council 30 November 2011
. Retrieved 26 January 2014 the ship famed for the Mutiny on the ''Bounty''.

History

In January 1790, nine of the mutineers from the ship and their

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

an companions (six men, eleven women and a baby) settled on

Pitcairn Island Pitcairn Island is the only inhabited island of the Pitcairn Islands, in the southern Pacific Ocean, of which many inhabitants are descendants of mutineers of HMS ''Bounty''. Geography The island is of volcanic origin, with a rugged cliff ...

, having anchored HMS ''Bounty'' in a small bay on the northern side of the island and set her on fire after everything of utility was landed. Pitcairn had ample food, water and land for everyone and a mild climate. However after four years the community was in turmoil due to discontent and disorder fuelled by home-distilled alcohol and disputes over women that eventually led to the deaths of all but two of the mutineers; the survivors being

Ned Young The complement of , the Royal Navy ship on which a historic mutiny occurred in the south Pacific on 28 April 1789, comprised 46 men on its departure from England in December 1787 and 44 at the time of the mutiny, including her commander Lieut ...

and

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...

(also known as Alexander Smith).John Adams Story at Fateful Voyage
Retrieved 26 January 2014 Young was an educated man and had been accepted as the leader of the island with Adams as his friend and deputy. He taught Adams to read using a Bible from HMS ''Bounty'', which had been presented to the ship by the Naval and Military Bible Society (now the Naval Military & Air Force Bible Society) prior to sailing from England. When Young died of asthma six years later Adams ruled the community of 11 women and 23 children and had them follow a Christian way of life, as described in the Bible, observing the rules of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. He built a school and educated the children, using the Bible to teach them to read and write a little. How Christianity Came To Pitcairn
Retrieved 21 January 2014Pitcairn religion
Retrieved 21 January 2014 In September 1808 the crew of a sealing ship from

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

named the ''Topaz'' captained by

Mayhew Folger Mayhew Folger (March 9, 1774 – September 1, 1828) was an American whaler who captained the sealing ship ''Topaz'' that rediscovered the Pitcairn Islands in 1808, whilst one of 's mutineers was still living. Early life and family Mayhew was born ...

landed on Pitcairn to take on water and they found that the inhabitants spoke English. Adams died aged 63 on 23 March 1829 and the ''Bounty'' Bible was reportedly taken from the island on 17 July 1839, having been bequeathed by a grandson to a carpenter named Levi Hayton from the whaling ship ''

Cyrus Cyrus () is a Persian-language masculine given name. It is historically best known as the name of several List of monarchs of Iran, Persian kings, most notably including Cyrus the Great, who founded the Achaemenid Empire in 550 BC. It remains wid ...

'', who took it home to

Windsor, Connecticut Windsor is a New England town, town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, and was the first English settlement in the state. It lies on the northern border of Connecticut's capital, Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The town is part of ...

.''NY Times'' abstract
Retrieved 25 January 2014 In 1876 all the inhabitants of the Pitcairn Islands became Seventh Day Adventists after a successful Adventist mission.Pitcairn Islands at Credo reference
Retrieved 25 January 2014 The Bible was presented to the

Connecticut Historical Society The Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, formerly the Connecticut Historical Society, is a private, non-profit organization that serves as the official state historical society of Connecticut. Established in Hartford in 1825, the Connecticu ...

in 1896.

Return of the Bible to Pitcairn

Following a request for the return of the Bible by Pitcairn school teacher A.W. Moverley, after 110 years in the United States the Connecticut Historical Society passed it to Sir

Oliver Franks Oliver Shewell Franks, Baron Franks, (16 February 1905 – 15 October 1992), was an English civil servant and philosopher who has been described as 'one of the founders of the postwar world'. Franks was involved in Britain's recovery after the ...

, the British Ambassador in Washington, D.C., in March 1949. It was then restored and rebound in London and the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created in 1768 from the Southern Department to deal with colonial affairs in North America (particularly the Thirteen Colo ...

had it transported back to PitcairnSpectator Archive 21 January 1949
Retrieved 21 January 2014Geraldton Guardian Saturday 4 June 1949 at National Library of Australia
Trove Digitised Newspapers. Retrieved 25 January 2014 via

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

, where a wooden case was made for it, and it was presented to the people of the islands in February 1950, 160 years after the mutineers settled on Pitcairn. The Bible was held at the Church in Adamstown, Pitcairn, which was built in 1954, until a museum was opened in 2006. The Bible is now in the museum, preserved under glass with a facsimile of William and Elizabeth Bligh's marriage certificate, a prayer book, and other artifacts.

Postage stamp

On 15 October 1940 the Pitcairn Islands Post Office opened with the release of the first Pitcairn Islands postage stamps; the 4d (fourpence) value issued on 1 September 1951 features an illustration of the Bible.Definitive additions at Pitcairn Philatelic Bureau
Retrieved 26 January 2014

References

External links

John Adams's Story (1825)
at Fateful Voyage {{DEFAULTSORT:Bounty Bible

History of the Pitcairn Islands Individual Bibles Adamstown, Pitcairn Islands

History

Return of the Bible to Pitcairn

Postage stamp

See also

References

External links