John Adams (mutineers)

John Adams, 1829

John Adams (born November 4, 1766 , † March 5, 1829 on Pitcairn ), who hired as Alexander Smith on the Bounty , is next to Fletcher Christian the most famous of the mutineers on the Bounty and spiritual founding father of the Pitcairner community.

Life

In January 1790 John Adams came with eight other mutineers from the Bounty and six male and twelve Polynesian women from the island of Tahiti to Pitcairn , where they wanted to settle permanently. But lawlessness , jealousy and alcoholism led to numerous fights and murders, so that in 1799 only Adams and Edward Young were left alive. They began to take Christianity seriously and to guide the island population according to its principles. When Young died of asthma at Christmas 1800 , John Adams was the only surviving adult male on the island along with ten Polynesian women and 23 children. He continued to build a Christian community. When the island was rediscovered on the morning of September 17, 1814 by the crews of the two British frigates Briton and Tagus , the formation of this Christian, civilized society was recognized as an outstanding achievement by Adams and he was pardoned . After only a few hours, both frigates sailed away again. John Adams is considered the spiritual founding father of the island community.

He died of natural causes on March 5, 1829 on Pitcairn and was buried on the outskirts of Adamstown next to the Polynesian women.

The only settlement on Pitcairn, Adamstown , is named after him.

photos

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  John Adam's house and grave on Pitcairn
  watercolor by Edward Fanshawe, August 12, 1849

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  Grave of John Adams on Pitcairn

literature

• Max Engemann: Storm over the island. Life story of the bounty mutineer John Adams . St. Benno Verlag, Leipzig 1988, ISBN 3-7462-0295-7 .