Revised Jun 22 2021
Very many persons in this country had learned to feel a deep interest in Pitcairn's Island and its Pastor; and when they coinsidered the uncertainty of the passage between London and Pitcairn—a distance of more than thirteen thousand miles—they could not but be anxious to hear of Mr. Nobbs's safe return to the scene of his labour. They therefore sympathised not only with him, but with the energetic and disinterested Admiral Moresby, when it became known that the valuable deposit, entrusted by the Islanders to that officer's care, had, under Divine Providence, been happily restored to them.
The following is an extract from a letter from Mr. M. Fortescue Moresby, son and Secretary of the Commander-in-Chief, dated H.M.S. Portland, 25th June, 1853:—
"On Friday, the 15th of April, 1853, we sailed from Valparaiso, having Mr. Nobbs, and his children Reuben and Jane, on board, in order to return them all to their island home. On Saturday, the 14th of May, we sighted Pitcairn, about 50 miles distant: on Sunday, at sunrise, it was looming large from the deck. Just before we went to morning service we fired three guns, to let them know we had three passengers on board. After church we were close enough to see people on the island; and we observed them all come out of church, and launch their whale-boat. Of course, this was a most anxious time for Mr. Nobbs. In about half-an-hour they came alongside, followed by a canoe, in which were old John Adams's son and grandson. They manifested the same honest genuine feeling of delight at Mr. Nobbs's return, as they did of sorrow at his departure. Of course, they were delighted to see us also once more. We observed that all the men looked ill and poor; which, they told us, was the effect of the long drought having disappointed them in their crops. This had caused not quite a famine, but so near it, that for months they had been reduced to pumpkins, berries, cocoa-nuts, and beans, for their existence. When we got on shore, the effect of so low a diet was plainly visible; they were not nearly the same gay people that they were before; one and all looked thin and careworn. The Admiral, with Mr. Nobbs, Reuben, Jane, and myself, immediately landed in the cutter, and got rather wet in the surf. Every soul was on the beach to receive us; and it would be a task my pen is totally unequal to, were I to attempt describing their delight at again receiving amongst them their old and beloved pastor. We at once proceeded in a body to the village; and they then told us how dreadfully close they were, and how they had been pushed for food. The officers and crew of the Virago had handomely presented them with all their savings of provisions. But for this timely supply, their distress would have been much more sharply felt. They made the best of their narration, trying to say that they generally fared so well, that the least privation seemed to them a great hardship; but their thin figures and low spirits told the truth.
"We staid from Monday until Thursday morning, and passed our time in much the same manner as before, taking walks over the Island, sketching, talking, and singing: truly a more innocent and delightful race could not exist. The Admiral was, with much reason, pleased with the progress made by Jane Nobbs. Whilst she was at Valparaiso we saw very little of her, in order that she might apply closely to her studies; but on our passage we had time to form a correct opinion of her. She had learnt to sew neatly, with many other useful domestic accomlishments, and all this without losing in the least her pristine simplicity and modesty. I truth she will prove a useful member of the community.
"On Thursday we left, and shaped our course for the Gambier Islands; we sighted them the same evening; but the weather was so bad, we dared not attempt to pass through the narrow entrance of the reef. For some days the weather was worse; and as it was a fair wind for Pitcairn, we bore up, and soon sighted the Island again. It was thick dirty weather, and as we stood in, no boat came off; so we thought they could not communicate. We stood off and on for a few hours, thinking that the weather would moderate, and then bore round, intending to fire a gun or two, and then away. But just then I caught the flash of an oar, and said, 'There's the boat, Sir.' For some time the flag-lieutenant and others wanted to persuade us it was a rock; but as it rose on each wave, I said that 'it was a living rock, then.'
"At last they were convinced; so we hove to, and five of them came on board in their whale-boat. They had a sad tale to tell; all were sick on shore, having been attacked, the day after we sailed, with the influenza. As it was bad dirty weather, we hoisted the boat in, and stood off and on for the night. We gave the poor fellows a good supper, and they related all their woes. It was decided that early the next morning, the Captain, Doctor Palmer, and myself, should land, and see what was to be done. In the mean time we got ready a quantity of tea, sugar, biscuit, &c. for them. On Sunday morning we landed, and found most of the poor things in bed. Some, not so bad as the others, got up to receive us. The Doctor visited. and did all he could to relieve them; three or four of the cases he found very bad, and he would willingly have remained three or four days; but as he had given directions, and done all he could, the Admiral decided to leave.
"You can hardly think how sad it was, seeing four-fifths of them so ill. We visited each house, and spoke a word of comfort here and there to those most desponding. Tea was their great want, and they seemed so thankful for the little I took for them; some immediately made a large kettle full, and said they felt better. Mr. Nobbs, Reuben, and Jane were nearly the only ones entirely free from sickness; showing that the strong food they had been living on was their medicine; for the poor Islanders, famine-struck and weak, had no strength left to resist the disease. At 4 P.M. on Sunday, we were compelled to leave them once more; and so all our distress came over again, because we left them all ill, and were anxious for their future state.
"Now we are fairly off, I suppose. Never more shall I see Pitcairn; but if I never see it again, I can never forget it. To me it will ever be the gem of all the places I have ever see, or shall see, in the varied roamings of a sailor's life."
Thus vividly, with a rapid pen, did the youthful sailor, the Admiral's youngest son, describe the events in which he had borne a part in an interesting period of his life. Afterwards, in another clime, and amidst other scenes and duties, his thoughts often recurred to Pitcairn; but he little imagined that it would be his happy privilege to see the same friends again, though on a totally different spot.