ZECO TRAVEL TALK

Huge anticipation preceded our day on Pitcairn—the easternmost island group in Polynesia—and the place many of us on board this voyage had specifically come to visit. With no natural harbor or surrounding reef to offer guaranteed landing protection, this isolated speck on the map is more often than not inaccessible. But as the moon peeked out from among the patchwork of clouds we dropped anchor on the western, leeward, side of the island, and a longboat came out to greet us with a half-dozen guests—resident Pitcairners—who honored us aboard with their company for dinner and regaled us with history, lore, and their hopes for the future. Excitement for our landing the next morning reached a level of near frenzy!

Earlier in the day, Zegrahm Cofounder, Jack Grove, presented an onboard lecture describing his long association with Pitcairn, which reaches back nearly 25 years. In 1989, on a return visit, when he and fellow staff were scouting landing and dive sites just off the rocky shores, Jack spotted a rusted windlass and, free-diving to take a closer look, he quickly realized he was looking at an uncharted shipwreck… the Acadia, which ran aground on June 5, 1881.

The details of the astonishing story, and of how the Acadia’s anchor was eventually raised, had us all on the edge of our seats in the Odyssey lounge. When Jack found the dead-eye (used on old sailing ships and freighters to hoist lines and/or secure the mast), he brought it up from its sandy resting place to present in person to Millie Flora Christian–the 90-year-old daughter of Phillip Coffin (a surviving crew member on the Acadia) and Mary Jane Warren. In 1943 Millie married Warren Clive Christian, descendant of Fletcher, of Bounty fame.

When the anchor was hoisted onto the hill overlooking Bounty Bay in 1990—on Pitcairn’s bicentenary—Millie Christian came to stand beside Jack at the ceremony and whispered to him: “My father’s ship has finally come home.”

Among our island guests on board the Odyssey this evening was Jacqui Christian, the granddaughter of Millie. Joining Jack and Paulina at dinner she shared her own experiences of life on the island, how she had moved to Australia to become a pharmacist, and of her recent return to Pitcairn with the plans to create a comprehensive Web site to be able to give the outside world accurate information on the nature, history, culture, and lifestyle of her beloved island. When Jack brought out his laptop computer and showed Jacqui his photos from the wreck of the Acadia and the commemoration of the anchor, he was also able to tell her, at long last in person, the words her grandmother had spoken to him 18 years ago. To say she was moved doesn’t dignify the occasion… It was, simply, one of those rare instances when time, place, and distance distill into the present moment… and when personal history can begin its journey through future generations.

NEXT TIME: We all go ashore for the day and discover an amazing world of natural beauty and a welcome that will long be remembered…