Bounty Bible facts for kids
The Bounty Bible is a special Bible believed to have been used on HMS Bounty. This ship is famous for the Mutiny on the Bounty, a well-known event in history.
Contents
The Bounty Bible's Story
Life on Pitcairn Island
In January 1790, nine of the sailors who took over the ship, along with their Tahitian friends (six men, eleven women, and a baby), settled on Pitcairn Island. They had sailed HMS Bounty into a small bay on the north side of the island. After taking everything useful off the ship, they set it on fire. Pitcairn Island was a good place to live, with plenty of food, water, land, and a mild climate.
However, after four years, the community faced many problems. This led to the deaths of all but two of the original sailors: Ned Young and John Adams (also known as Alexander Smith).
Ned Young was an educated man and became the leader of the island. John Adams was his close friend and helper. Young taught Adams to read using a Bible from HMS Bounty. This Bible had been given to the ship by the Naval and Military Bible Society before it sailed from England.
When Young died six years later, Adams became the leader of the community. There were 11 women and 23 children living there. Adams guided them to live a Christian life, following the teachings in the Bible. They observed the rules of the Church of England. Adams even built a school and used the Bible to teach the children how to read and write.
In September 1808, a sealing ship from New England called the Topaz arrived at Pitcairn. Its captain, Mayhew Folger, landed to get water. He was surprised to find that the people on the island spoke English.
Adams passed away on March 23, 1829, at the age of 63. The Bounty Bible was reportedly taken from the island on July 17, 1839. Adams's grandson had given it to a carpenter named Levi Hayton from the whaling ship Cyrus. Hayton took the Bible home to Windsor, Connecticut. Later, in 1876, all the people on the Pitcairn Islands became Seventh Day Adventists after a successful mission. The Bible was given to the Connecticut Historical Society in 1896.
The Bible's Journey Home
A Pitcairn school teacher named A.W. Moverley asked for the Bible to be returned. So, after 110 years in the United States, the Connecticut Historical Society gave it to Sir Oliver Franks. He was the British Ambassador in Washington, D.C., in March 1949.
The Bible was then repaired and rebound in London. The Colonial Office arranged for it to be sent back to Pitcairn. It traveled through Fiji, where a special wooden case was made for it. In February 1950, 160 years after the sailors settled on Pitcairn, the Bible was given back to the islanders.
The Bible was kept at the Church in Adamstown, Pitcairn, which was built in 1954. It stayed there until a museum opened in 2006. Today, the Bible is in the museum. It is kept safe under glass, along with a copy of William and Elizabeth Bligh's marriage certificate, a prayer book, and other old items.
A Stamp of History
On October 15, 1940, the Pitcairn Islands Post Office opened. They released their first postage stamps. One of these stamps, issued on September 1, 1951, shows a picture of the Bounty Bible. This stamp had a value of 4d (fourpence).
See also
- Descendants of the Bounty Mutineers
- History of the Pitcairn Islands
