COVER N. 428 - BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORIES - PITCAIRN

Postmark: Pitcairn Islands Post Office 27.12.2023 

Posted on the 27th December 2023; received on the 18th March 2024

_________________________________________________________________________________

Pitcairn islands… 

Lost in the pacific, its closest neighbour, French Polynesia, lying some 700 km to the West, Pitcairn Island, a volcanic stretch of land of with an area of about 5 km2, became a British colony in 1838. About a century later, the territory grew in size to reach the current 47 km2 with the annexation into the colony of three other deserted islands  Henderson, Ducie and Oeno.

Pitcairn is one of those places whose remoteness and isolation would probably prevent it spilling into everybody’s atlases, if truly extraordinary circumstances would not ensure it  becoming one of those name’s which sound at least familiar, even if why this is so may be open to perennial doubt.

Enter Marlon Brando (some three decades after Clark Gable, that is…) playing the role of Fletcher Christian, the young lieutenant who, in 1790, led the mutiny on Her Majesty’s Ship Bounty,  commanded by Captain William Bligh…. And in all truth who wouldn’t mutiny at the prospect of months and months of strict navy discipline at sea, after having tasted the sweet venom in Tahiti… paradise… of all places….

And so Pitcairn became a familiar name, but not always for the best of reasons…. Child abuse, incest.... the ways of tradition, it was argued.... but not all traditions are worth keeping, though....

Be it as it is, Pitcairn is not an easy place to live it. In 2021, it's total resident population numbered 47 people, and weather permitting there is a boat coming from New Zealand every fortnight, it seems.... Not the best place to forget something in your last trip to the supermarket....

Thanks a lot, Mr. Phantom, for letting me add this beautiful cover and another uncommon origin to my collection. Danke sehr Alex!

Lionfish  (Pterois sp.) are as beautiful as deadly and an ever growing nuissance due to its invasise character exponetiated by global warming. Themselves being top predators, because of their toxicity they have no known predators and reproduce rather constantly throughout the year, their distribution area having in later years expanded to include Southeast U.S. and Caribbean coastal waters, the coast of brazil and even the Mediterranean.

The solution seems to be a culinary one... for even if the spikes are deadly, the flesh is quite tasty, it is said, and as long as fishing them helps keep things in balance "under the sea", I have nothing against a good fillet of Lionfish "au Meunier"....

The beautiful souvenir sheet featuring three 2 NZ Dollars stamps graced with images of the Red Lionfish (Pterois volitans) was issued on 26FEB2015.

The very neat and clear postmark as issued at the only Post Office in town, I presume, located, also prsumably, in Adamstown, the only town in Pitcairn.