British Naval Officer. As a Midshipman on the HMS Swallow, he discovered Pitcairn Island on July 3, 1767. It was named in his honor by Captain Philip Carteret, the Swallow's commander. Trying to pinpoint the site without a chronometer, Carteret charted the island 188 nautical miles west of its actual location; this miscalculation would lead Fletcher Christian and the mutineers of the Bounty to settle there in 1790. Pitcairn himself did not live to see how famous his little island would become. On December 29, 1769, the 17 year-old discoverer set sail aboard the HMS Aurora on a voyage from the Cape of Good Hope to India. Neither the Aurora nor its crew were ever seen again, and it was assumed that the ship went down in a storm in the Indian Ocean.
British Naval Officer. As a Midshipman on the HMS Swallow, he discovered Pitcairn Island on July 3, 1767. It was named in his honor by Captain Philip Carteret, the Swallow's commander. Trying to pinpoint the site without a chronometer, Carteret charted the island 188 nautical miles west of its actual location; this miscalculation would lead Fletcher Christian and the mutineers of the Bounty to settle there in 1790. Pitcairn himself did not live to see how famous his little island would become. On December 29, 1769, the 17 year-old discoverer set sail aboard the HMS Aurora on a voyage from the Cape of Good Hope to India. Neither the Aurora nor its crew were ever seen again, and it was assumed that the ship went down in a storm in the Indian Ocean.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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