PITCAIRN ISLANDS

PITCAIRN ISLANDS / PITKERN AILEN.

Christian's Cave, Gannets Ridge.
Third stamp in a set of 5, issued on 22.01.1981.
Face value: 20 cents of New Zealand dollar.
Printed by Rosenbaum, Brüder, Druckerei in Wien.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Size: 49 x 32 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 203.
- Scott No. 200.
- Seven Seas Stamps No. 199.
- StampWorld No. 203.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 213.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 196.

Gannet Ridge runs through the northwestern part of the Pitcairn Island. Christian's Cave, more commonly referred to as the Fletcher Christian's Cave, is a historic place where seaman Fletcher Christian was watching ships approaching the island where he found his home. It is located to the western side of the capital town of Adamstown. Christian, leader of the Bounty mutineers, landed on the island in March 1790 and burned the ship, so that he and the other crew members (British and Tahitian slaves) were isolated there and managed to survive, although the quarrels between them caused the death of most of them (Christian is also believed to have been killed).

PITCAIRN ISLANDS

PITCAIRN ISLANDS / PITKERN AILEN.

Landscapes: Big George.
Second stamp in a set of 5, issued on 22.01.1981.
Face value: 9 cents of New Zealand dollar.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Size: 49 x 32 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 202.
- Scott No. 199.
- Seven Seas Stamps No. 198.
- StampWorld No. 202.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 212.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 195.

Big George is the westernmost point on the coast of Pitcairn Island, at the tip of the volcanic peninsula of Pulawana. The coastal stretch is characterized by a series of small reefs, visible on the stamp.

PITCAIRN ISLANDS

PITCAIRN ISLANDS / PITKERN AILEN.

Landscapes. Tatrimoa Cape.
Last stamp in a set of 5, issued on 22.01.1981.
Face value: 70 cents of New Zealand dollar.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Size: 49 x 32 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 205.
- Scott No. 202.
- Seven Seas Stamps No. 201.
- StampWorld No. 205.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 215.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 198.

The Archipelago of the Pitcairn Islands (in Pitkern: Pitkern Ailen) is officially a British Overseas Territory. It includes the Pitcairn (the only inhabited), Oeno, Henderson and Ducie islands. Its capital is Adamstown, where the only settlement of the islands is located, located in the north-central part of Pitcairn, The islands of Henderson, Ducie and Pitcairn were discovered by a Spanish expedition under the command of the Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandes de Quirós and his crew on January 26, 1606. A century and a half later, the islands were rediscovered by English sailors: Pitcairn in 1767, Ducie in 1791, Henderson in 1819 and Oeno in 1824. Pitcairn is known to be the home of descendants the mutineers on the Bounty ship and the Tahitians who accompanied them in 1790. With only 56 inhabitants from nine families, it is the least populated country in the world, although it is not a sovereign nation.

Tatrimoa is the Polynesian name for the Big Fence headland and cape, on the eastern shore of Pitcairn Island.