Pitcairners deny mutiny make-up

A Pitcairn descendant of Fletcher Christian has laughed off reports of a symbolic reconciliation with the Bligh family 225 years after the legendary mutiny on the Bounty.

There have been reports in overseas media that Pitcairner Jacqui Christian would be returning Captain Bligh’s bible to one of his descendants, who would hand it straight back as a way of putting an end to a so-called feud between the families.

Christian says a bible does exist and is one of the Pitcairn Islanders’ proudest possessions and she says there is no such plan for it to leave the island.

“We heard it was Fletcher Christian’s, given to Fletcher Christian by his mother and found in his sea chest, so I’m not quite sure whether it was Bligh’s actually at all. The Pitcairners certainly don’t want this bible leaving the island. That’s not part of a plan that I’m aware of.”

Christian says the idea of a symbolic reconciliation between the Christian and Bligh families is a good one but it’s not really necessary so long after the 1789 mutiny.