“Trying
To Resolve The Question: Did Bounty Mutineer, Edward Young,
Have A Singular Influence On Pitcairn Island Creole”
Richard Kleiner
The Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages
Spring, 2021.
I suspect instances of a book review alone producing fresh insights isn’t common, but that’s what occurred when I read Ian Hancock’s review of “Norfolk Island, history, people, environment, language”, by Peter Mühlhäusler and Joshua Nash.1. Perspectives are relative, of course, and Hancock’s different take contained in that review on the origins of the Pitcairn Island and Norfolk Island creole languages was new to me. I am not a linguist. My research interest in these two islands is primarily historical and I was unaware of the existence of a debate until I read Hancock’s work in August of last year. As a non-linguist, I can only participate in this discussion with caution. That said, I would like to add some biographical information and personal observations which I believe are pertinent to the conversation.
By
way of a brief historical background,2. in January, 1790, after
seizing the HMAV Bounty from Captain William Bligh, nine mutineers, along
with six Polynesian men, 12 Polynesian women and an infant girl, landed on remote
and tiny Pitcairn Island to avoid capture by the British navy. The mutineers were a diverse group, geographically
and linguistically: two reasonably well-educated midshipmen, one from Cumbria,
the other from St. Kitts, West Indies; a Londoner; a Scot; someone from East
Midlands; one from French-speaking Guernsey, and an American.3. The Polynesians were mostly, but not all,
from the island of Tahiti. In October of
that year, the first child was born and more children followed, and this
disparate amalgam of individuals in utter isolation settled into the task of trying
to live together. In 1793, through
internecine warfare, every Polynesian man and all but four of the mutineers,
including Fletcher Christian, were murdered.
The remaining four adult males fell into opposing camps of two, with one
camp prevailing over the other in 1798.
Of
the two surviving men, Midshipman Edward Young had been teaching the growing
number of children to speak a standard English quite understandable by the first
ship’s captain to later discover the community.4./5. When Young died in 1800, it left his
compatriot John Adams as the sole adult male, with—by then—nine Polynesian
women and 25 children, the oldest child only 10 years old. Thus was formed, I would imagine, one of the
few societies to be bilingual – Tahitian and English – from its very inception,
or more accurately tri-lingual, given the multiple dialects that melded within
the Bounty crew. It is clear that
at least some of the Pitcairners were still speaking all three languages, English,
Tahitian and their own emergent creole, into the 1850s.6.
In
1856, the entire population of 194, their customs and creole language relocated
6,300 kms west to larger Norfolk Island. By 1864, some 20% of the population had returned
to Pitcairn Island. Since that time and
only until the last few decades, the two populations have lived largely removed
from each other. The language of the two
communities, however, pronounced in both places “Pitkern” and “Norfuk”, has
remained mutually intelligible, with some explicable differences which have
developed over time.
Peter Mühlhäusler has led the development of the idea that Pitkern creole and by extension Norfuk was inordinately influenced by one mutineer, Edward Young. I have been interested in Edward Young’s genealogy for a number of decades, he is my grandfather seven-generations removed, and have been discussing that subject with Professor Mühlhäusler since 2008.
Edward Young was born in St. Kitts, West Indies, around
the year 1766.7. Mühlhäusler &
Baker in a paper published in 2013 reported over 50 words in the Pitkern
vocabulary thought to derive from St. Kittian creole.8. Since Young was the only person on the HMAV Bounty
who would have likely known St. Kittian creole, the logical assumption is he
was the source of those words. As a
consequence, Mühlhäusler postulates that one must look to St. Kitts as a
primary source of Pitcairnese. Hancock in
his review expresses scepticism that a single individual among many could have
such a disproportionate effect on the development of a language. I must say I coincidentally have shared that
scepticism these years, for the following reasons.
From a personal standpoint, I have spent the past 23
years listening to Norfuk being spoken on Norfolk Island and am struck by the
great similarities with the dialects of maritime England. I know of native-speaking Norfolk Islanders
having the experience of holding extended, meaningful conversations with older
persons in Somerset, England, each speaking their respective languages. Conversely, I’ve heard similar impressions by
visitors to Norfolk Island from Devon and Cornwall who could easily recognize the
accents and some of the phraseology of the Islanders. This neglected element of the linguistic puzzle
requires more exposition.
Moreover, for Mühlhäusler’s premise to be correct
essentially requires that Edward Young spoke St. Kittian creole as his first or
preferred language and that he held a singularly influential position among the
first-generation of Pitcairn Island youth, presumably as the community’s first de
facto teacher. How otherwise could
the perceived influence of that West Indian creole emerge in the nascent
Pitkern language? For Young to be fluent
in St. Kittian creole, the argument would be further supported if he were of mixed-ancestry
and, in this particular context, that his mother were African, presumably a
slave, and his father in a position to provide his West Indian “mulatto,” creole-speaking
son an education and entrée into English society sufficient to produce a
midshipman’s commission in the British navy of the late-18th-century. Indeed, Mühlhäusler
and Baker make the claim that Young was the offspring of the influential
Admiral Sir George Young and a plantation-slave mother.9. This is based entirely on the fact that the
Admiral, then Lieutenant George Young, is known to have been in the West Indies
(Antigua) in October, 1766, the year Edward Young is thought to have been born
in St. Kitts, 100 kms away. It is
possible. But given the birth years of
Lieut. Young’s first three children in England – 1764, 1766 and 1767 – a nine-month
gestation period and the two- to three-month voyage each way, finding the required
time from a strictly logistical standpoint to then make his way to St. Kitts to
impregnate a slave seems unlikely.10.
So
little is known of Young’s pedigree that we’re faced with deducing what he was based,
in part, on what we know he was not.11. All that is documented, in addition to his
birth place and age (21) when he signed-on to the Bounty in 1787, is an Edward
Young was known to Admiral Sir George Young prior to the Admiral’s recommending
him to Captain Bligh. Admiralty records
show an Edward Young, age 18 and born in St. Kitts, who worked under the
Admiral for six weeks in 1785 on the royal yacht Catherine, two years
before the Bounty sailed.12.
We also know that he was dark-complexioned. This is based on Bligh’s log kept after
the mutiny, in which he is describing the physical characteristics of each mutineer
in preparation for his, and possibly their, court martial.13. But Bligh never ascribes African features to Young,
neither in his log nor during his court martial. Intending to characterize each mutineer in as
discredited a light as possible, had Young had African features of any sort, in
the prejudice of that time, Bligh would have undoubtedly pointed them out.
(Fletcher Christian is also described as dark-complexioned in the same
proceedings.) Furthermore, within the
excerpts of a diary that Young kept on Pitcairn, transcribed by Captain F.W. Beechey
during his two-week visit to Pitcairn Island in 1825, whether the diary was for
private use or public record, there is not one instance of his using a
non-standard English word to infer a creole language was a part of his regular vocabulary.14. As for Young’s influence on the Pitcairn
language, he would have needed to be significantly more influential than the
other eight mutineers who landed on Pitcairn in 1790 and, more specifically,
since 1793, the other three surviving mutineers, one (Adams) who would
outlive Young by another 29 years.
The
historical record doesn’t assist in ascertaining to what extent Young was
familiar with St. Kittian creole. For
example, we don’t know how old he was when he reached England. That he was born in St. Kitts certainly implies
he was familiar with the local language.
But there is nothing to indicate it was his first- or most commonly used
language.
The
biography of Admiral Sir George Young, written by his grandson, Sir George
Young, 3rd, Bt., and published in 1927, contains an appendix of an
extended Young family tree produced in 1882 by a distant relation.15. The author of the appendix speculatively
places Edward Young in this family tree and where he does would make him a
descendant of the Admiral’s first cousin, James Young. What is remarkable about this placement are the
names listed as Edward Young’s prospective father, aunt and three uncles are to
a person the names he gave his children on Pitcairn Island.16. Equally telling are the notes of a Doctor
Collie, the medical officer who visited Pitcairn Island with Captain Beechey in
1825. It is not clear who is speaking to
him, presumably John Adams, but the note states that Young’s father, in line
with the aforementioned Young family tree “… was either a planter or clerk to
one and cousin of Admiral Sir Geo. Young, who at one time commanded one of
H.M.'s Yachts”.17. That is not to say an Englishman in the West
Indies at that time would not know creole, but the information overall suggests
that Edward Young was probably not of mixed-English/African ancestry and certainly
that creole was likely to have not been his first language. It does, however, fit well with the scenario
described above: a third-cousin to the Admiral; not a son or nephew as supposed
by others, but close enough to be asked a favour by a relation.
Acknowledgments:
I would like to thank Pauline Reynolds, University of
New England, Australia, for her helpful review of this article.
References:
1. Hancock, Ian F., “Review
of Mühlhäusler, Peter & Joshua Nash (2012) Norfolk Island, history, people,
environment, language”. Journal of
Pidgin and Creole Languages 32:2, 433-437 (2017).
2. Of the many historical works published about Pitcairn Island,
the most concise and precise remains for me, “The Pitcairners”, by Robert
Nicholson (Angus&Robertson Ltd.; 1965).
3. See, “Bounty’s Crew
Encyclopaedia”, Pitcairn Island Study Center, Pacific Union College (https://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/bounty/crew.shtml). The birth places of the remaining two mutineers
who landed on Pitcairn are uncertain.
4. Captain Mayhew Folger of
the American sealing ship, Topaz, unexpectedly comes across Pitcairn
Island on 6 February, 1808. See, “Log of
the Topaz 1807-1809”, Nantucket Whaling Museum, MS220 Log 105.
5. Edward Young and later
John Adams would also teach the first-generation Pitcairn children reading,
some numeracy, but because of the scarcity of paper and ink, only a modicum of
writing.
6. There was considerable
interest among some British religious societies, such as the Society for the
Promotion of Christian Knowledge as late as 1854, to employ selected Pitcairn
Islanders as South Pacific missionaries for their knowledge of both Church of
England doctrine and the Tahitian language.
In
addition, Pauline Reynolds, a Doctoral Candidate at the University of New
England, Australia, who is knowledgeable of the Tahitian language,
mentioned in personal communications she viewed a letter held at the British
Museum written in 1853 by Hannah Young, a first-generation Pitcairn Islander,
in which she translates Tahitian phrases into English.
10. Admiralty records note
that then Lieut. George Young’s was discharged at Jamaica in March, 1763, and he
next appears on the muster of the HMS Phoenix at the Leeward Islands Station
(Antigua) in October, 1766 (ADM 36/6285 & ADM 1/7466). There is no known record of Lieut. George
Young visiting St. Kitts. What is known,
however, according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, is George
Young returned to England in 1763, married that year, and had children in
relatively quick succession: 1764, 1766, 1767 and 1768. (Precise birthdates aren’t provided.)
11. Much of the literature
uses the lack of any record of an Edward Young in St. Kitts in this time period
as an indication he was “unregistered”, i.e., the son of a slave. It is the experience of St. Kitts National
Archivist, Victoria Borg-O’Flaherty and St. Kitts genealogist, Hazel Brookes, that
loss of records due to the number of hurricanes and other natural calamities to
have hit the island over the centuries is an equally plausible explanation. (Personal communications.)
12. Peacock, Erica, The
National Archives, UK; personal communication citing ADM 35/447 Catherine
(Yacht): 1Feb.1785-6Nov. 1794. Edward
Young is listed on the Catherine’s muster, but not its payroll,
suggesting he is working for the Admiral in a personal, unpaid capacity.
13. Bligh, William, “Notebook and list
of mutineers, 1789”, Item 2, National Library of Australia [MS 5393].
16. In Appendix III of “Young
of Formosa”, Edward Young’s prospective father is named, George, and the
father’s siblings named Dolly (or Dorothy), Robert, William and James. Young’s children on Pitcairn were named, in
chronological order, Polly (presumably Edward’s mother, not included in the
Young family tree), Dorothy, George, Edward (after himself), Robert, William
and James.
17. The West Australian, “DR. COLLIE
AND THE BOUNTY-His Visit to Pitcairn Island in 1825”; Thu, 3 Sept 1936, p. 21.
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