Happy National Day, today 23 January, to the Pitcairn Islands, located in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Pitcairn Islands are one of the 14 British Overseas Territories. Bounty Day commemorates this day in 1790 when Fletcher Christian and the remaining mutineers, after having decided to stay on Pitcairn (there are another 3 islands), burned the ship in an attempt to avoid detection and anyones possible escape. The Flag of the Pitcairn Islands includes its Coat of Arms which features a shield depicting the anchor and the Holy Bible from HMS Bounty. While Fletcher Christian gets all the publicity, the extraordinary survival of Captain Bligh and the 18 others who were cast adrift from the Bounty is seldom recounted. Bligh, navigating his small craft without charts, but only by the stars, a quadrant and a compass, brought his men to safety, arriving at Timor near Java, the nearest European settlement, 47 days later, having sailed for 4,164 miles, with the loss of one seaman, John Norton, in a clash with hostile natives. Bligh was to go on to become Governor of New South Wales in 1805. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office flies the flag on the National Day of every British Overseas Territory. It would be a good idea for every public and private building, with a flagpole, to fly the relevant flag on these days too and for people to know more about the strategic Overseas Territories of Britain – which would all be lost to Scotland with separation. (Pic of Pitcairn from underveis.net/Pages/English/Production/articles/e2008-6.html ) ---------- Follow us at ==> British Together
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 12:04:36 +0000
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