The “Bounty” Mu

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 168, 12 July 1888, Page 1

The “Bounty” Mu

The mutiny on board H. M. S. Bounty in 1789, the remarkable career of the enuvivors on the Pitcairn Islands, and the subsequent exodus of those people to Norfolk Island, are matters of his* tory,—but the following new feature deserves special mention. It brings one of the ringleaders of the Bounty mutiny and the patriarch of the Pitcairn Islands into a new light, and furnishes one of the most curious instances of good fortune which has come to our knowledge for many years. The facts, too, are . nuthenicated by the most reliable authority. John Adams, when a younger man, and before he served in the' Bounty, was a seaman on board a man-of-war, and while so serving a midshipman fell overboard. John Adams was then Alexander Smith—which was his real name, as he' only adopted the name Adams when on the Bounty—bravelv jumped overboard and saved the lire of the midshipman. The young fellow, on his arrival in England, or course mentioned his narrow escape, and the heroic conduct of the brave seaman Alexander Smith, who had saved his life. Smith could not be found, but the relatives of the young man, desirous of rewarding, him, placed £lOO to his credit in the Yank, the interest ■ to. accumulate until the reward was claimed. Many Smiths have claimed thereward, but were unable to establish tho claims or indentify themselves with the man-of-war or the incident. It .appears that John Adams, the mutineer, or Alexander Smith, as he actually was, has left three grandsons in Norfolk Island. John, the oldest grandson, who is now 60 years of age, being informed of the circumstances, proceeded recently to Sydney to establish the claim of the family. He finds that the claim is a very substantial one indeed. It is said that he has succeeded in proving the claim of the family to the bequest, thoroughly succeeding in identifying his grandfather with the plucky seaman who rescued this officer from a watery grave, and after placing the affair in the hands of a respectable firm of solicitors in Sydney, has now returned to Norfolk Island. Will it be believed that that investment of £lOO for the sailor Smith, some time prior to 1789, hqs now accumulated by interest and compound interest to the vast snip of of £98,000 P and yet that is the sum said to be now available for subdivision amongst the descendants of John Adams, the leader in the JBodnty mutiny, The facts as connected with the mutiny of the Bounty are so much matters or history that it is hardly necessary to refer to them. When Pitcairn Island was visited by the British frigates Briton and Tagus in 1811 there was a population of 48, but only two of the original mutineers were survivors, and of these Alexander Smith, who had assumed the name of John Adams, was one. He was at the head of the colony, and was looked up to with great reverence, and not undeservedly, as his character had undergone A thorough change, and he had not only long Ted a moral and religious life, but xuMacded in imbuing hi« little company with similar habits. He died in 1829, at the age of Q 3.