MS Amadea

On Thursday the German cruise ship Amadea stopped by for a visit. The radio started chattering around 7.30am with communications between the ship and the island organising ETA, good anchoring locations and that sort of thing.

Not long later, the bell started ringing five peals in a row to indicate that is was time for people to head down to Bounty Bay (or the landing) to get the longboat ready to head out to the ship.

Just a quick explanation on the bell:
There are a couple of large ships bells that are located in the middle of town. Back in the day when all locals lived in the centre of Adamstown, literally everyone could hear the bell if it was rung. So the bell was a means of communication ie, 5 rings meant ‘get down to the landing for a ship’ 3 rings meant ‘everyone gather for public work’ (Pitcairn is one of the worlds few tax havens, because of this, the community has something called ‘public work’ to keep the main roads clear and that sort of thing), the bell used to be rung to signal the start of church, also, if someone had passed away, once for every year of the deceased age. There are more situations in which the bell was used, but thats all I can think of at the moment. Ringing the bell as a means of communication is more of a formality now-a-days as public announcements are made using radio, but still,the old ships bell is a nice touch of yesteryear.

Back to the Amadea…
Down the landing, the boat was efficiently launched from the boatshed,

then quickly loaded with everyones wares to sell.

Soon it was time to jump into Tub and head around to the other side of the island where the ship was waiting. A cruise ship is a magnificent looking vessel, especially when you are approaching in a tiny boat, and the Amadea is no exception.


Same story as the Saga Ruby, everyone quickly boarded, baskets and gear loaded onto the ship, and setup for the passenger’s perusal and shopping pleasure.

Check out some of the wares…



After a couple of hours of selling, we were invited to the onboard restaurant area for lunch. After a tasty lunch, it was back down to the selling area where the place had turned into a photo shoot.
This is a photo of the ships captain along with the vast majority of the islands population (yes Pitcairn only has a population of 51 people!)


The longboat was quickly loaded and everyone bundled in, time to go home.