"We continued our course westward till the evening of Thursday, the 2nd of July, when we discovered land to the northward of us. Upon approaching it the next day, it appeared like a giant rock rising out of the sea: it was not more than five miles in circumference, and seemed to be uninhabited; it was, however, covered with trees, and we saw a small stream of fresh water running down one side of it. I would have landed upon it, but the surf, which at this season broke upon it with great violence, rendered it impossible. It lies in latitude 20 degrees 2 minutes south; longitude 133 degrees 21 minutes west. It is so high that we saw it at the distance of more than fifteen leagues, and it having been discovered by a young gentleman, son to Major Pitcairn of the marines, we called it PITCAIRN’S ISLAND.

Pitcairn is one of the most remote islands in the world. It lies “in the middle of nowhere,” 4,650 miles from California, 4,000 miles from Chile, and 3,300 from New Zealand. The closest inhabited island is Mangareva in the Gambier group, 306 miles to the north-west. [Mangareva was not discovered until 1797 and no European is known to have landed there until 1825.]"

Hier, so schien es, könnten die Träume Christians sich erfüllen, eine Insel, auf die alles paßte: weit weg mit schwierigem Zugang, dicht bewachsen, anscheinend unbewohnt. Und ein besonderer Pluspunkt - was Christian zu der Zeit seines Plans, Pitcairn anzufahren, noch nicht wußte: Carteret hatte eine Position auf der Karte angegeben, die fast 200sm daneben lag!