John Adams (mutineer) John Adams (mutineer) John Adams, known as Jack Adams (4 December 1767 – 5 March 1829), was the last survivor of the HMS "Bounty" mutineers who settled on Pitcairn Island in January 1790, the year after the mutiny. His real name was John Adams, but he used the name Alexander Smith until he was discovered in 1808 by Captain Mayhew Folger of the American whaling ship "Topaz". His children used the surname "Adams". The mutineers of HMS "Bounty" and their Tahitian companions settled on the island and set fire to the "Bounty". Only the ballast stone remains of the wreck
Mutiny on the Bounty and Valentine—19 men were crowded into the launch, leaving it dangerously low in the water with only seven inches of freeboard. The 25 men remaining on "Bounty" included the committed mutineers who had taken up arms, the loyalists detained against their will, and others for whom there was no room in the launch. At around 10:00 the line holding the launch to the ship was cut; a little later, Bligh ordered a sail to be raised. Their immediate destination was the nearby island of Tofua, clearly marked on the horizon by the plume of smoke rising from its volcano. Bligh