Fletcher Christian
Mutiny on the Bounty
Pitcairn Island...
Years after the mutiny on the Bounty, is it possible that
Fletcher Christian escaped from Pitcairn Island and returned to England?
The answer is yes!
Over the years, a handful of boats had approached the island of Pitcairn.
The inhabitants had even found evidence one morning that a small boat had actually landed on the island.
In all probability, the men on that boat were afraid to continue up the cliffs.
Perhaps they realized that there were people living on the island, perhaps not.
But the fact remains that sometimes boats would travel past the island unseen by the mutineers and their families.
Other authors have speculated on Fletcher escaping but they have never thought it through.
Here's how it could have happened...
"Fletcher wake up".
Maimiti, his wife, woke Fletcher early one morning.
"Fletcher, there's a ship".
Fletcher runs to where he can see the ocean. There it was, a ship a mile off the coast.
He looks at Mainmast. She looks at him.
"Fletcher, you must go". She knew how unhappy her husband was.
He was riddled with guilt and saddled with the knowledge that so much was his fault.
He kisses her, he kisses the sleeping children. Then he makes his way to a canoe and the ocean. He rows to the boat.
"Permission to come aboard". The captain welcomes him aboard.
The crew gathers around him, everyone questioning what an English speaking man is doing at an island that is not showing on any charts.
Whether the boat was British, American or otherwise,
Fletcher told the story that he was an English sailor in Saigon (or anywhere),
where he got drunk and woke up to find that he had been shanghaied by a scurrilous group of rabble.
Their boat had crashed on the rocks of Pitcairn
and for a couple of years they have all been living here.
"You're best off not trying to take on fresh fruit. Those scalawags will attack you."
Fletcher asks permission to work his way to wherever the ship is going.
His services are welcome. He's probably invited to eat at the captain's table.
He probably impresses the crew.
After a couple of years, Fletcher Christian manages to make it back to England.
There were no photographs in those days. It would only be people who had known him that could recognize him in the streets.
Meanwhile, back on Pitcairn,
Maimiti tells the others that she thinks Fletcher killed himself by jumping off a cliff.
The fact is, different people were told different versions of just what had happened on Pitcairn. Perhaps that's why John Adams, the only survivor of the mutineers, told different versions of Fletcher's death. He was just never quite sure of what had really happened.
In 1807, the American ship, the Topaz, found the island and the people living there.
When Captain Folger and the Topaz made it to civilization they reported their findings.
In London, Peter Heywood heard about it.
Peter had been on the Bounty. Most people felt that he was involved with the mutiny.
Many years later, he would talk of an incident that took place one day.
He deliberately kept quiet about it as it was bound to open the proverbial can of worms.
Peter was walking near the docks. He undoubtedly was thinking about the news of Pitcairn.
He must have been wondering what Adams had said about him.
He found himself walking behind another man. This was a tall man.
Peter thought to himself that from behind, the guy was walking and looking like Fletcher Christian.
But of course, that was impossible. But he couldn't get it out of his mind. He began to walk faster.
The man in front, realizing that someone was following him and walking faster,
turned his head to look at who was following him.
It was Fletcher Christian! He saw Peter and took off running.
Peter chased after him but eventually lost him.
Peter did not tell this story for many years.
He certainly didn't want people looking for Fletcher and the entire mutiny once again coming to light.
He didn't want to have to defend his innocence again, to a British public
who had always questioned if Peter was as innocent as he had always claimed.
Also, Fletcher had been a friend. If Fletcher had managed to return to England,
Peter wasn't going to be the person to turn him in.
There had always been stories that Fletcher had returned to Britain but most people didn't believe them.
He is reported to have visited an aunt in the area. But these were generally just stories that people would tell.
However, there was another story concerning a man walking in a park with his daughter.
Two men on horses rode by, followed by their dog. The man said to his daughter,
"That one man sure looks like Fletcher Christian."
Later, it was found that the dog had lost its collar.
The collar identified the dog, as belonging to the Christian family...
There are too many contradictions and different versions
of what happened on Pitcairn Island.
I believe it is indeed possible that Fletcher did manage to return to England,
but I question him taking a stroll along the wharf,
where someone from his past sailing days might see him.
In any event, it does make for an interesting theory.
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