Pitcairn Islands Research Station
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11875/3188
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Browsing Pitcairn Islands Research Station by Author "Albert, Donald Patrick"
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Item The Bounty's Primogeniture and the Thursday-Friday Conundrum Brief(The Pitcairn Log, 2020-04) Albert, Donald PatrickOne page summary of the research article "The Bounty's Primogeniture and the Thursday-Friday Conundrum" published in Athens Journal of Humanities & Arts in April 2020Item Charles Christian and His Contributions to Pitcairn History(The Pitcairn Log, 2019-04) Albert, Donald PatrickWhile Fletcher Christian has become widely known as the chief mutineer of the H.M.A.S. Bounty and subsequent leader of a nascent community on the remote and isolated Pitcairn Island, his progenies no less have enjoyed their 15 minutes, give or take, of fame. Thursday October Christian (1790-1831) appeared often in the diaries, journals, and reports greeting and entertaining sea captains visiting Pitcairn Island. He is the focus of an amusing anecdote involving a name change from Thursday to Friday or Friday to Thursday, depending on the arguments one way or another. Mary Ann Christian (1793) attained worldwide fame as heroine of Mary Russell Mitford’s (1811) Christina: The Maid of the South Seas. She gifted Levi Hayden a Bible from the Bounty during the visit of the Cyrus in 1839 (Ford, 1996, 21-22). Known as the Pitcairn Bible, it resides at the Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room for Rare Books and Manuscripts of the New York Public Library. Charles Christian, (1791 or 1792-1842), the middle child, has received less attention, but careful review of the historic record finds that he too, like his older brother and younger sister, distinguished himself. He became an antagonist of Joshua Hill, the dictator or per Nechtman (2018) the pretender of Pitcairn Island who resided there from 1832-1837. Hill exerted a harsh, cruel, and brutal control over the political, social and religious affairs of the Pitcairners. His treatment toward three “outsiders,” Nobbs, Buffett, and Evans, reached unforgiving proportions, even though he was a foreigner himself.Item Did or Could Seabirds “Halo” Pitcairn Island for Fletcher Christian?(Terrae Incognitae, 2018) Albert, Donald PatrickHow did Fletcher Christian, leader of the mutiny on the Bounty, find Pitcairn Island when the supposed location was 342 kilometers west its actual location? This study in applied historical geography explores whether seabirds were potential navigational beacons pointing to the whereabouts of Pitcairn Island. Flight distances were extracted from seabird foraging range studies that employed global positioning system (GPS) with tracking devices. These data were used to construct foraging range buffers around Pitcairn and the other three islands of the Pitcairn Islands (Oneo, Henderson, and Ducie). The results indicated that seabirds extend island sighting distance and perhaps guided Christian to Pitcairn Island.Item "Flying Through History: Aircraft Encounters and Pitcairn Island"; Abstract(The 2024 IBII International Conferences Program, 2024-03-28) Solomon, Mason; Albert, Donald PatrickDescription of a session presented by Donald Albert and Mason Solomon at the 2024 International Conference on Social Science, Humanities and Interdisciplinary Studies.Item The Jenny Interviews and Other Sightings: Needle(s) in the Proverbial Haystack(s)(The Pitcairn Log, 2021-07) Albert, Donald PatrickOn April 28, 1789, acting Lieutenant Fletcher Christian disposed “Captain” William Bligh and 18 crew from the HMAV Bounty just of Tofua, South Pacific Ocean. Bligh’s successful open-boat journey to Timor ranks amongst the greatest survival stories in naval history. Christian’s returned to Tahiti, failed settlement at Tubuai, and eventual “rediscovery” of Pitcairn Island are well known among Bounty enthusiasts. Hundreds, if not thousands, of books and articles have been written on the Bounty/Pitcairn Island Saga over the last 230 years including those written by naval officers, early visitors, descendants (Rosalind Amelia Young, Glynn Christian), journalists, and scholars from most notably history, but also those with credentials in anthropology, sociology, geography, and even psychology. Prior to Henry Evans Maude’s (1958) article published in The Journal of the Polynesian Society (volume 11, 1964) titled “In search of a home: From the mutiny to Pitcairn Island (1789-1790),” the Bounty’s post-mutiny peregrinations from its return to Matavia Bay, Tahiti, on 6 June 1789 and the "rediscovery” of Pitcairn Island on January 15, 1790, were sketchy at best. Maude, a former colonial administrator and subsequent research fellow at the Australian National University, located two “lost” newspaper articles pertaining to the Bounty and Pitcairn Island. These articles contained interviews with Teehuteatuaona (aka Jenny), the consort initially of mutineers Alexander Smith (John Adams) then Isaac Martin. In these interviews Jenny provided geographic references and clues that elucidated the Bounty’s path post mutiny. Jenny’s accounts also illuminated life on Pitcairn Island, especially the violence that occurred during its first ten years.Item John Buffett and Time-space Compression: A 19th Century Adventure(Pennsylvania Geographer, 2023) Albert, Donald PatrickJohn Buffett was a fascinating individual who was able to crisscross the Atlantic and Pacific oceans over seven decades in the 1800s with little financial resources. Buffett’s main claim to fame is as Pitcairn Island’s first immigrant in 1823 to the settlement established there by HMAV Bounty mutineers and their Polynesian companions. This study examines Buffett’s oceanic peregrinations beginning in 1815 and ending in 1872. Primary sources from Buffett, and images and distance measurements from Google Earth Pro allowed me to track and analyze his journeys. The discussion focuses on the actors (such as traders, whalers, and missionaries) and colonial empires that enabled his movement across large expanses of bays, seas, and oceans. The intertwined effects of the Industrial Revolution and Eurocentrism were shrinking the world (time-space compression); these factors help understand Buffett’s ability to traverse the oceans with little except his own knowledge, skills, and a desire to wander.Item John Buffett's Diary Entries While Visiting Pitcairn(2024-04) Albert, Donald PatrickJohn Buffett was the first immigrant to settle among the descendants of HMAV Bounty mutineers and their Polynesian wives on Pitcairn Island in 1823. Originally from England (b. July 16, 1797, d. May 5, 1891), he became the island’s schoolmaster and diarist of the Pitcairn Island Register (Lucas 1929).Item "John Buffett’s Diary Entries While “Visiting” Pitcairn 1868 to 1872"; Abstract(The 2024 IBII International Conferences Program, 2024-03-28) Albert, Donald PatrickDescription of a session presented by Donald Albert at the 2024 International Conference on Social Science, Humanities and Interdisciplinary Studies.Item Member Profile: Don Albert(The Pitcairn Log, 2018-10) Albert, Donald PatrickAs a new member of the Pitcairn Islands Study Group (PISG), I would like to take an opportunity to introduce myself. I spent my youth in historic Salem, Massachusetts, living within view of Salem Harbor. Salem was an important port during the 18th and 19th centuries and site of Derby Wharf, Custom House, and the House of Seven Gables.Item PISG Member Awarded 2024 Fellowship with the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia(2024-04) Albert, Donald PatrickThis is a description of a 2024 RGSSA Library Fellowship Award in Adelaide, Australia, to PISG member Donald Albert.Item PISG Members Promote Pitcairn Research and Memorabilia(The Pitcairn Log, 2024-01) Albert, Donald PatrickPitcairn Islands Study Group members Mason Solomon and Don Albert, together with Susan Elkins promoted the Pitcairn Islands Research Station on September 26, 2023, at the Scholarly Innovation Research Fair. The Office of Research & Sponsored Programs of Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas, organized this campus-wide event. Mr. Mason (left) is an undergraduate history major, Dr. Elkins (not shown) is the Head of Digital Initiatives, Newton Gresham Library, and Dr. Albert (right) is a professor of geography in the Department of Environmental and Geosciences, all from Sam Houston State University.Item Pitcairn Islands Research Station Poster(2023-09) Albert, Donald Patrick; Elkins, Susan; Solomon, Mason; Purifoy, MatthewThe Pitcairn Islands Research Station (PIRS) functions as a portal for our studies involving the mutiny on the HMAV Bounty (April 28, 1789) and its aftermath. Our affiliate investigators include Donald Albert (Department of Environmental & Geosciences), Susan Elkins (Newton Gresham Library), Matthew Purifoy (Geography Major), and Mason Solomon (History Major). The purpose of PIRS is to disseminate our studies (abstracts, posters, magazine and journal articles) online through Scholarly Works @ SHSU to Bounty/Pitcairn enthusiasts worldwide.Item Repositioning Pitcairn’s Tapa: Detecting the Voices of the Forgotten Women of Bounty(Okinawan Journal of Island Studies, 2023-05) Albert, Donald Patrick; Purifoy, MatthewPitcairn Island tapa inventories, created by Ted Cookson and Pauline Reynolds, were merged, cross-referenced, and verified via online searches for a more comprehensive listing of tapa-holding institutions. Close examination of tapa artifacts created by Pitcairn’s original women settlers and their female descendants (1790 to approximately 1856) allow enthusiasts and scholars the opportunity to hear the voices of their ancestors. The current number of tapa artifacts, which includes garments, cloth fragments, and wooden and whalebone tapa beaters, is low at sixty items. Geographically, these artifacts are housed at institutions located mostly in the United Kingdom. The British Museum has the largest collection Pitcairn tapa, with twenty (33%) of all Pitcairn artifacts in public institutions worldwide. The authors suggest that an electronic atlas of tapa artifacts be developed and updated as possible items from private collections become public. This will allow descendants of this Anglo-Polynesian settlement to learn more about their female ancestors. In 2023, less than fifty people reside on Pitcairn Island, not all descendants. Thousands of descendants, however, dwelling on Norfolk Island, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere, trace their ancestry through this isolated oceanic outpost.