The Anniversary of the Burning of HMAV Bounty 236 years

23 January 1790 is recorded as the anniversary date in which the ship HMAV Bounty was burnt at Bounty Bay on Pitcairn Island. The Bounty mutineers had arrived on Pitcairn Island

in January 1790 and fearing they would be discovered, the HMAV Bounty was burnt on the 23 January 1790, at Bounty Bay on Pitcairn Island to prevent detection.

This week the Pitcairn Islanders celebrate “Bounty Day”, this is in commemorative day,  remembering the “Burning of the Bounty”. During the day of celebrations, the Pitcairn Islanders build a replica model of the bounty ship, and it is burnt as part of the day’s events,  as long as the weather conditions are settled so they can safely burn the ship.

Melva Warren Evans shared images from 2022 Bounty Day on Pitcairn  Island and has given permission to share her photos of the Bounty cardboard model. Thank you, Melva.

This internet link also has images of Bounty Day on Pitcairn Island

https://2f.ru/2012/10/08/bounty-day/

After arriving at Pitcairn Island on January 15, 1790, the mutineers feared they would  be found, so once they removed all the livestock and other provisions. To prevent the  ship's detection, the ship was burnt on 23 January 1790 in what is now called Bounty Bay. The burning of the ship meant that the Bounty Mutineers were unable  to leave Pitcairn Island there was no way they could possibly escape if they found on  this remote island.

They then settled into life on Pitcairn Island. The island proved an  ideal haven for the mutineers—uninhabited, virtually inaccessible, with plenty of  food, water and fertile land. The mutineers remained undetected on Pitcairn until  February 1808, when sole remaining mutineer John Adams and the surviving Tahitian  women and their children were discovered by the Boston sealer Topaz, commanded  by Captain Mayhew Folger of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

I have read that some of the items from the HMAV Bounty, such as her ballast stones, are  still partially visible in its waters at Bounty Bay. Her rudder is displayed in the Fiji Museum  in Suva. An anchor of HMAV Bounty was recovered by Luis Marden in Bounty Bay in 1957.

https://statelibrarynsw.tumblr.com/post/108107585637/on-this-day-15th-january-1790- the-mutineers-of

This painting is from the collections of the State Library of New South Wales. The library  holds several manuscripts and photographs relating to the history of Pitcairn Island.  HMAV Bounty: “HMAV - His/Her Majesty's Armed Vessel (Great Britain)”

If you would like to learn about the “HMAV Bounty” and its stories visit the “Norfolk  Island Museum, Pier Store” at Kingston and you can read more and see the wonderful  model of the HMAV Bounty, the Bounty cannon and the ship’s cooking pot which are on display in glass cabinets. Here are a couple of my photos from the “HMVA Bounty” Display at the Pier Store Museum at Kingston, Norfolk Island.

There is also another Bounty cannon on display at the Norfolk Island RLS Memorial Club museum in town. I am also incredibly pleased to also have a copy of my brother’s photographs from his visit to Pitcairn Island in 2012

Betty Matthews

23 January 2026