News Release

New Pitcairner(s?) Expected

Angwin (Napa County) Calif., July 17, 2003—The first baby to be born in 17 years on tiny Pitcairn Island is expected to arrive in September. And “it” may be twins!

Pitcairner Nadine Christian, the mother-to-be, has told the Pitcairn Islands Study Center here that in a recent medical examination two different rates of heartbeat were heard, indicating the possibility of twins. But without equipment available on the remote island that can provide pictures, only the act of birth might reveal whether she gives birth to a child or children.

The last Pitcairn baby was born in 1986, and the island is planning a big welcome for the upcoming, special occasion. An international baby shower is now under way for Mrs.Christian with well-wishers sending money to one of her Pitcairn friends in New Zealand. The combined gift will then be sent to Mrs. Christian on a supply ship due to call at Pitcairn in September.

Those wishing to shower gifts on Pitcairn’s first baby (or babies) in 17 years may send gifts of any currency to Mrs. Kari Boye Young, 4 Sophora Place, Manukau, Auckland, New Zealand.

The majority of the fewer than 50 inhabitants of Pitcairn Island are descendants of the British sailors who mutinied against Captain William Bligh on H.M.S. Bounty in 1789. In an effort to hide from British efforts to find them the mutineers sailed to and settled on Pitcairn Island.

The “mutiny on the Bounty” has been depicted in five major motion pictures, and written about in thousands of books and magazine articles.

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Pitcairn Islands Study Center, 1 Angwin Ave., Angwin, CA, USA. Herbert Ford, 707-965-6625, 707-965-2047, Fax: 707-965-6504, Email: hford@puc.edu, Website: http://library.puc.edu/pitcairn