History of the Pitcairn Islands It was rediscovered by the British on 3 July 1767 on a voyage led by Captain Philip Carteret, and named after Robert Pitcairn, the crew member who first spotted the island. Pitcairn was one of the sons of John Pitcairn. On January 15, 1790, the mutineers of "Bounty" and their Tahitian companions arrived on the island. The group consisted of Fletcher Christian and eight other mutineers from the Bounty. These were Ned Young, John Adams, Matthew Quintal, William McCoy, William Brown, Isaac Martin, John Mills and John Williams. Also with them were six Polynesian men (Manarii/Menalee, Niau/Nehou, and Teirnua/Te Moa
Raine Island and waters of the Wuthathi people, who shared their interests in the area with the Erubam Le (Darnley Island), the Ugarem Le (Stephen Island) and Meriam Le ( Murray Island) Torres Strait Islanders During the 1890s the island was mined for guano. The waters around the island were treacherous for early European navigators. More than thirty shipwrecks can be found off the coast of the island including HMS "Pandora", a vessel that in 1791 was involved in the capture of a group of mutineers from the HMS "Bounty". As a consequence, the beacon was built by convict labour in 1844,