1.
GV Ramsgate Harbour, Kent
0.03

2.
SV PAN DOWN Vessel "The Christian Bach" moored at quayside (2 shots)
0.14

3.
TV Stern of Christian Bach PAN ACROSS deck and ZOOM INTO engine of boat
0.27

4.
SV People on quayside wave as ship weighs anchor
0.31

5.
TILT SHOT FROM Crew member on mainmast TO vows heading out to sea
0.38

6.
SV TP Bow wave PAN TO bowsprit
0.45

7.
SV & CU Crewmen hosting sails (3 shots)
1.16

8.
GV Christian Bach under full sail in open sea
1.25

9.
TILT SHOT FROM Sails TO bows of vessel
1.39

10.
GV Vessel under full sail
1.49


Pitcairn Island has a population of about seventy people -- most of them descendants of Fletcher Christian and the other county mutineers. The island is a British colony and local inhabitants obtain most of their income from selling postage stamps and curious to passing ships.




Initials BB/



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: A sailing ship has left the shores of England, bound for the Pacific island of Pitcairn -- which was originally settled by mutineers from the ship, H.M.S. Bounty, in the eighteenth century. The Bounty mutiny caught the imaginations of millions and has formed the subject of several films, biographies and novels.

SYNOPSIS: Ramsgate Harbour in Kent ... where the sailing vessel Christian Bach was moored before leaving to follow the route taken by the celebrated H.M.S. Bounty nearly two hundred years ago.

The Christian Bach was built in 1953 and although it has a displacement of 270 tons -- about fifty less than that of the Bounty -- it is well-equipped for the long voyage to the South pacific.

Leader of the expedition is Glyn Christian -- great, great, great grandson of Fletcher Christian, the master's mate who led the Bounty mutiny on April the 28th, 1979.

The Bounty was transporting breadfruit plants from Tahiti to the West Indies when Fletcher Christian seized command. Captain William Bligh and eighteen others were turned adrift in the longboat. Bligh eventually reached Timor, in the West Indies, after a remarkable voyage of about four thousand miles (about 6,500 kilometres). Fletcher Christian and eight other mutineers took the Bounty to the remote island of Pitcairn. There they established a small colony which remained undiscovered until 1808.

Some of the mutineers later went to Tahiti. Three of them were arrested, taken to England and hanged -- but the fate of Fletcher Christian has never been clear. His descendant. Glyn Christian, has lived in London for fourteen years where he is a well-known writer of cookery books. Glyn Christian and his companions hope to unravel the mystery surrounding the Bounty mutineers -- and write a book about their stay on Pitcairn Island.