#mutineerrs

[scotianostra]

On April 28th 1789 The mutiny on the Bounty took place in the South Seas.

One of the mutineers was a Scotsman named William McCoy, although not one of the main mutineers led by Fletcher Christian he certainly had reason to be involved in the mutiny against the brutality of Captain Bligh as on one occasion he pointed a pistol at the head of McCoy and threatened to shoot him for not paying attention.

Here is a description of McCoy from Bligh himself…

[WILLIAM MICKOY] seaman, aged 25 years, 5 feet 6 inches high, fair complexion, light brown hair, strong made; a scar where he has been stabbed in the belly, and a small scar under his chin; is tatowed in different parts of his body.

Following the mutiny Fletcher Christian headed for Tahiti where they stayed for a few days before being compelled to set sail. McCoy, Christian and seven other mutineers took eleven Tahitian women and six men with them. After months at sea, the mutineers discovered the uninhabited island, Pitcairn and settled there in 1790.

McCoy had one consort, Teio, and fathered two children, Daniel and Catherine. After three years, a conflict broke out between the Tahitian men and the mutineers, resulting in the deaths of all the Tahitian men and five of the Englishmen. McCoy was one of the survivors.

And of course it was the Scot, McCoy who is said to be the the one who discovered how to distill alcohol from one of the island fruits on Pitcairn. Before becoming a sailor he was said to have worked in a Glasgow brewery.

He is said to have became an alcoholic along with a Matthew Quintal and finally ended his life by either falling or jumping off a cliff in a drunken frenzy, however, a Tahitian woman on Pitcairn claimed that when McCoy’s body washed ashore, he was discovered with his hands and feet bound with rope, suggesting that his “suicide” was really the work of other mutineers.

Most of the mutineers fathered several children, McCoy included, their descendants and their Tahitan consorts include the modern day Pitcairn Islanders as well as most of the population of Norfolk Island. Their descendants also live in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States. Because of the scarcity of people on the island, many of the mutineers’ children and grandchildren intermarried, with some marrying cousins and second cousins. Occasionally a new person would arrive on the island bringing with them a new surname.

Here are some of the decedents through the years….

Daniel McCoy son of William McCoy by Sarah Quintal daughter of Matthew Quintal

William McCoy (1812 – 17 February 1849) unmarried

Daniel McCoy (1814 – 27 June 1831) married Peggy Christian granddaughter of Fletcher Christian

Hugh McCoy (1816 – 27 June 1831) unmarried

Matthew McCoy (1819 – 31 January 1853) married Margaret Christian granddaughter ofFletcher Christiann

Jane McCoy (1822 – 4 June 1831) unmarried

Sarah McCoy (23 July 1824 – 9 May 1833) unmarried

Samuel McCoy (23 October 1826 – 7 September 1876) married 1) Ruth Quintal granddaughter of Matthew Quintal 2) Polly Christian great-granddaughter of Fletcher Christian

Albina McCoy (28 November 1828 – 12 June 1908) married Moses Young grandson of Ned Young

Daniel McCoy (28 December 1832 – 7 April 1855) married Lydia Young granddaughter of Ned Young.

The telephone books of the islands are littered with these names and many can trace their ancestry back to the mutineers.

If you want to know more history on the subject you can read a lot more here

https://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/bounty/crew3.shtml

[eighthwholove]

Paul McGann: Changing every woman’s life... one step at a time...

Paul McGann as Percy Toplis in The Monocled Mutineer (1986).