8 September 1993 10c, 90c,
$1.20,
$1.50,
$1.80
Mint and CTO $5.50
FDC
$6.00
Release
Date:
8 September 1993
Tablet
Values:
10c, 90c, $1.20, $1.50, $1.80
Artist:
Ernest Nisbet of Garden Studio
Printer:
The House of Questa Ltd
Process:
Lithography
Paper:
CA Watermark
Stamp
Size:
31.75 x 48.26 mm
Perforation
Gauge:
14 per 2 cm
Pane
Format:
50 (2 x 25)
Mint and
CTO:
$5.50
First Day
Cover:
$6.00
In earlier years it was frequently used as a vantage point by those waiting to sight north bound ships from New Zealand. Once sighted an estimate of the likely arrival time could be made and a decision taken on when the longboats should be launched.
A pandanus palm with lichen encrusted branches fills the left foreground.
90c stamp: St Pauls: Between the massive rocks at St Pauls Point on the left and the headland on the right lies Big Pool, a popular swimming and fishing place.
One the wild windswept south-east corner of the island it is not unusual for the giant Pacific breakers to almost envelope the Finger Rock with surf. On one such occasion (4 March 1910), Harold Christian (17) and Louis Johnston (26) were washed off the rocks while fishing. Sadly both drowned and their bodies were not found for several days - just one of the many such tragedies in the history of Pitcairn.
In the top right hand corner of this view (and also on the $1.50
stamp)
can be seen an area known as Red Dirt. Dedicated attempts to
control
wind erosion here have met with limited success.
$1.20 stamp: Matts Rocks form Water
Valley: To some, Young's Rocks (after mutineer Edward Young), but
more
frequently known in latter years as Matts Rocks (after mutineer Matthew
Quintal). Two hundred yards or so off shore, they are a likely
spot
for fishing from canoes. Older residents talk of hardy souls who
swam out to the rocks but this practice is now uncommon. Water
Valley,
so named because it has a permanent fresh water stream, is close by the
site of the island's secondary landing place at West Harbour.
When
heavy seas pound into Bounty Bay this tiny indent in the coastline can
provide a relatively safe landing place - though not for the
faint-hearted.
$1.50 stamp: Ridge Rope to St Pauls: So precipitous the coastline at the point from which this view can be seen a visitor with no head for heights had to crawl forward on hands and knees to glimpse the surging sea 207 metres blow. Immediately beneath, unsighted in this view, are the petroglyphs or Polynesian rock carvings which provide evidence of earlier inhabitants. Ugly Name, is the dark-shadowed bulging promontory and beyond it Red Dirt, a bare, wind eroded area which looks down on the normally sheltered water of Big Pool.
$1.80 stamp: Ship Landing
Point:
(or Ship Landing), 209 metres, looks almost vertically down on Bounty
Bay.
The buildings which house the aluminium launches and the privately
owned
canoes can be seen at the water's edge towards the right. To the
right of that again, sharp eyes will pick out the jetty and perhaps the
road leading up the Hill of Difficulty to the Edge. What little
is
left of the Bounty lies in shallow water closed inshore beneath
Ship Landing Point.