By Roger Stuart-Andrews
Does he lie here...
or here?
PITCAIRN ORIGIN
SOURCES OF RUMOURS
All reports of his death originate from two sources:
 Teehuteatuaonoa – called Jenny
 John Adams – alias Alexander Smith
PITCAIRN ORIGIN
“JENNY” AS SOURCE
 Consistent
 Newspaper report from 1819
 Four of the Otaheitian men “studied revenge” and shot
Christian
 Published 1826 and 1829 but “interpreted”
PITCAIRN ORIGIN
VISITORS TO THE ISLAND
 1808
TOPAZ MAYHEW FOLGER
 1809
FOLGERS REPORT REACHES
ADMIRALTY AND IS IGNORED
 1814
HMS BRITON SIR THOMAS STAINES
HMS TAGUS CAPT PHILLIP PIPPON
 1819
AMASA DELANO PUBLISHES BOOK
PITCAIRN ORIGIN
VISITORS TO THE ISLAND
 1821
HMS SURRY
CAPT RAINE
 1825-1828 HMS BLOSSUM LT GEORGE PEARD
 1831
CAPT F W BEECHEY PUBLISHES BOOK
PITCAIRN ORIGIN
GRAVE SITES
 Beechey
1825
 Bennet
1834
 Waldegrave
1830
 Why only one?
PITCAIRN ORIGIN
TIME AND METHOD OF DEATH
 HE DIED AFTER ARRIVAL :
 six or eight months
 eleven months
 about four years
 about six years
 HE WAS KILLED BY :
 “became insane and jumped into the sea”
 “shot in the back, then bludgeoned”
 “a natural death”
 “shot in the back without bludgeoning”
PITCAIRN ORIGIN
FLETCHER’S CHARACTER
 “sullen and morose”
 “always cheerful”
 “sexually indulgent”
 “the height of probity”
 “caring about the welfare of his men”
 “treated men capriciously and brutally”
PITCAIRN ORIGIN
A KNOWN OR AN UNKNOWN?
 Contradiction breeds suspicion
 Suspicion breeds uncertainty
 Uncertainty breeds rumour
 Hence my presentation today
PITCAIRN ORIGIN
CUTTER
PITCAIRN ORIGIN
CUTTER
 Cutter was on island in 1791
 Cutter not on island April 1794
 Massacre in October 1793
PITCAIRN ORIGIN
CUTTER
 “Is it possible the wretch can be at Cadiz?”
 Why pick Spain?
 Logical to a fellow seafarer?
PITCAIRN ORIGIN
SNAPPY TITLE FOR A FRAUDULENT
BOOK
‘Letters of Mr Fletcher Christian containing the
narratives of the Transactions on Board His Majesty’s
Ship Bounty Before and After the Mutiny with his
subsequent Voyages and Travels in South America’.
 Published in 1796
 Fraudulent, yes - but South America?
UK ORIGIN
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
SIGNED
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
UK ORIGIN
A BOOK FOREWORD
"So much was this region considered out of the way
until a late period that persons who had fled from
justice used often to resort thither for concealment,
and some were so bold as not infrequently to make
excursions from the place of their retreat for the
purpose of committing fresh offences".
Guide to the Lakes
1841
Etchings
UK ORIGIN
DEAR DIARY
“I explained the real state of Christian’s mutiny to
Southey and Barry who both seemed much struck by
it”
Diary of James Losh
1798
UK ORIGIN
EARLY WORKS OF FAMOUS MEN
1797 Lyrical Ballards, featuring:
 “The Borderers” by Wordsworth
 “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Coleridge
UK ORIGIN
THE ANCYENT MARINERE
 Wordsworth gave Coleridge the subject and
protagonists
 Coleridge had read the so-called “Letters of Fletcher
Christian”
UK ORIGIN
THE ANCYENT MARINERE
His protagonist and Fletcher share :
 mood swings
 depression and thoughts of suicide
 a desire to return to their home country
UK ORIGIN
THE ANCYENT MARINERE
The argument from the first printing
How a Ship having passed the Line was driven by
Storms to the cold Country towards the South Pole; and
how from thence she made her course to the tropical
Latitude of the Great Pacific Ocean; and of the strange
things that befell; and in what manner the Ancyent
Marinere came back to his own Country.
UK ORIGIN
THE BORDERERS
 “The Borderers” written late 1795 and through 1796
 Not published until 1841
 Major revision in late 1796 changed focus entirely –
why?
 What attracts our interest?
UK ORIGIN
THE BORDERERS
 Tormented young man rises against a tyrant but is
riven with remorse.
 A good man knows when he is doing wrong.
 His torment is greater than any punishment.
UK ORIGIN
THE BORDERERS
 Second drafting brings in new version of protagonists
 Psychological interaction
 Highlights consequences of clash of personalities
UK ORIGIN
THE BORDERERS
 Wordsworth’s notebooks missing two thirds of their
pages!
 suspicious?
 another coincidence?
UK ORIGIN
THE BORDERERS
 Wordsworth’s essay on play
 Apparently motiveless actions can be seen as
intelligible
 His villain has quarrelled with his world
 Pictures a society where his crimes are no longer
crimes
UK ORIGIN
THE BORDERERS
 Hero’s motives based in character and pride
 Our moral sentiments should not measure others’
conduct
 Criminal action may be minimised in the mind of the
perpetrator
UK ORIGIN
THE BORDERERS
 Marooned captain has an imperious temper
 Crew insist he stays alive
 Lines echo Bligh’s expulsion from bounty
 Less emphasis on his guilt and more on the deceit
wrought upon him
UK ORIGIN
THE BORDERERS
 Hero drag an admission from his protagonist using the
words “I am in hell”
 Echoes Christian’s response to Bligh
 Why wait 44 years to publish? Why were the 1840s OK
when the 1790s were not?
UK ORIGIN
THE BORDERERS
 Wordsworth’s background reading goes astray.
 Rev Mavor’s work annotated by Coleridge?
UK ORIGIN
“ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE”.
 First England sighting by Heywood in Fore Street,
Plymouth Dock.
 Concurrent reports from Barrow of other sightings.
UK ORIGIN
“IF YOU GO DOWN IN THE WOODS TODAY,
YOU’RE SURE OF A BIG SURPRISE”
 1876-77 William Fletcher, cousin, writes in a
Cumberland magazine.
UK ORIGIN
A THIRD EMINENT MAN OF LETTERS
 Robert Southey left some interesting copies of letters
to a close friend.
 Written in 1809 but not published until 1965 – why?
 1807 – interesting hint at what could have been
revealed.
UK ORIGIN
SOUTHEY’S FIRST EPISTLE
UK ORIGIN
SOUTHEY’S SECOND EPISTLE
UK ORIGIN
SOUTHEY SUMMARY
 Why should Southey’s letters be given any credence?
 These letters were written same time as sightings
 1803-4 abroad in Cumberland?
UK ORIGIN
LETTERS FROM A SECRETARY
 1809 Barrow personally vouches for sightings.
 Why can he vouch for their authenticity?
UK ORIGIN
COMPLETING THE CIRCLE
 Finally, a link to complete a chain of evidence ?
 Wilkinson’s scrapbook and James Losh
UK ORIGIN
COMPLETING THE CIRCLE
UK ORIGIN
WHERE THERE’S A WILL.....
 An added problem of no wills
 unique in this family
 again, why?
 coincidence or suspicious?
FINALLY
In My Opinion...
The Answer
is