Seven locks of hair found stuffed in a rusty tobacco tin could belong to the sailors behind the most infamous mutiny in British history, experts believe.
The severed pigtails could have been taken from the traitorous crew of the HMS Bounty, who joined with first mate Fletcher Christian to overthrow Captain William Bligh on April 28, 1789.
Christian and 17 crew members seized the ship, casting Bligh and 18 loyal shipmates adrift in the Pacific before heading for Tahiti.
Are these the severed locks of the Bounty mutineers? DNA tests on ten pigtails found stuffed in a dirty old tobacco tin will unlock the last secret of the 1789 rebellion
HMS Bounty sailors mutinied against Captain William Bligh in 1789
Some evaded British justice on Pitcairn island in the south Pacific
Experts will test whether locks of hair belonged to these mutineers
DNA tests require them to trace the female descendants of the sailors
By Stephanie Linning for MailOnline
22 August 2016
Daily Mail
Seven locks of hair found stuffed in a rusty tobacco tin could belong to the sailors behind the most infamous mutiny in British history, experts believe.
The severed pigtails could have been taken from the traitorous crew of the HMS Bounty, who joined with first mate Fletcher Christian to overthrow Captain William Bligh on April 28, 1789.
Christian and 17 crew members seized the ship, casting Bligh and 18 loyal shipmates adrift in the Pacific before heading for Tahiti.
Mystery: The pigtails could have been taken from the crew of the HMS Bounty, who joined with first mate Fletcher Christian to overthrow Captain William Bligh on April 28, 1789
Mutiny: First mate Fletcher Christian and 17 crew members seized the HMS Bountyand cast Bligh and 18 loyal shipmates adrift in the Pacific, left, before sailing to Tahiti
Settled: A group of mutineers then hid from the Royal Navy with their Polynesian ‘wives’ on Pitcairn Island in the south Pacific, pictured, which their descendants still inhabit today
Most of the inhabitants of the British Overseas Territory of the Pictairn Islands in the south Pacific are descended from the Bounty mutineers
A group of mutineers then hid from the Royal Navy with their Polynesian ‘wives’ on Pitcairn island in the south Pacific, which their descendants still inhabit today.
Ten locks of hair will be tested. It is believed seven belong to mutineers while the other three belonged to their Tahitian wives who sailed with them to Pictairn.
Experts from King's College London will now carry out DNA tests to try and establish the origin of the pigtails.
Herbert Ford, director of the Pitcairn Islands Study Center, told The Times: 'We need to know the truth - as much as humanly possible - about these locks of hair.
'If the tests and genealogical studies of this hair authenticates that it is of seven of the nine mutineers who hid out from British justice on Pitcairn Island in 1790, it will be the only tangible physical evidence of their having existed.'
Denise Syndercombe-Court, reader in forensic genetics at King’s College, said the team will first try to establish whether the hairs are from Europeans or Polynesians.
At loggerheads: Captain Bligh, left, was dragged from his cabin in the middle of the night by first mate Fletcher Christian, right, and his band of mutineers
She told MailOnline: 'This would go some way to verifying this story that they belong to mutineers.'
After that, the research becomes much more challenging as scientists would have to trace back through the female line of each suspected mutineer to try and find a living relative to test against.
'It would be painstaking research,' Dr Syndercombe-Court said.
She added: 'We have no idea about how much viable DNA we are going to get from 250 year old hair.We will try and clean off any contaminating DNA.
'If they have been sitting in a tin for all this time then that might help.'
TREASON ON THE HIGH SEAS: MUTINY OF HMS BOUNTY
Fed up with Bligh's floggings and hungry to return to the kind of idyllic life they had enjoyed in Tahiti, Christian and his mutineers seized the HMS Bounty on April 28, 1789.
They lowered the deposed captain and his loyalists into a rowing boat and left them for dead in the Pacific Ocean.
The mutineers first sailed to Tahiti, dropping off 16 of their number.
Fletcher, eight mutineers and 18 Tahitians then set sail to avoid apprehension, landing on Pitcairn in 1790.They set fire to the Bounty to cover their tracks.
Fletcher and the mutineers lowered the deposed captain and his loyalists into a rowing boat (right) and left them for dead in the Pacific Ocean
Meanwhile, Captain Bligh was able to complete a remarkable 47-day voyage to Timor in the Dutch East Indies, where he was received by the governor.
The crimes of the mutineers caught up with them two years later when, after news reached Britain, a ship was dispatched to arrest them.
Fourteen of the 23 mutineers were rounded up and imprisoned in a makeshift cell on the deck of HMS Pandora.
Four died along with 31 crewmen when the ship ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef, but the remaining ten prisoners were returned to Britain to face court martial in Portsmouth.
Some of the remaining mutineers continued to live on Pictairn, with the last dying in 1808. Their descendants remain on the islands.
The severed pigtails could have been taken from the traitorous crew of the HMS Bounty, who joined with first mate Fletcher Christian to overthrow Captain William Bligh on April 28, 1789.
Christian and 17 crew members seized the ship, casting Bligh and 18 loyal shipmates adrift in the Pacific before heading for Tahiti.
Are these the severed locks of the Bounty mutineers? DNA tests on ten pigtails found stuffed in a dirty old tobacco tin will unlock the last secret of the 1789 rebellion
HMS Bounty sailors mutinied against Captain William Bligh in 1789
Some evaded British justice on Pitcairn island in the south Pacific
Experts will test whether locks of hair belonged to these mutineers
DNA tests require them to trace the female descendants of the sailors
By Stephanie Linning for MailOnline
22 August 2016
Daily Mail
Seven locks of hair found stuffed in a rusty tobacco tin could belong to the sailors behind the most infamous mutiny in British history, experts believe.
The severed pigtails could have been taken from the traitorous crew of the HMS Bounty, who joined with first mate Fletcher Christian to overthrow Captain William Bligh on April 28, 1789.
Christian and 17 crew members seized the ship, casting Bligh and 18 loyal shipmates adrift in the Pacific before heading for Tahiti.
Mystery: The pigtails could have been taken from the crew of the HMS Bounty, who joined with first mate Fletcher Christian to overthrow Captain William Bligh on April 28, 1789
Mutiny: First mate Fletcher Christian and 17 crew members seized the HMS Bountyand cast Bligh and 18 loyal shipmates adrift in the Pacific, left, before sailing to Tahiti
Settled: A group of mutineers then hid from the Royal Navy with their Polynesian ‘wives’ on Pitcairn Island in the south Pacific, pictured, which their descendants still inhabit today
Most of the inhabitants of the British Overseas Territory of the Pictairn Islands in the south Pacific are descended from the Bounty mutineers
A group of mutineers then hid from the Royal Navy with their Polynesian ‘wives’ on Pitcairn island in the south Pacific, which their descendants still inhabit today.
Ten locks of hair will be tested. It is believed seven belong to mutineers while the other three belonged to their Tahitian wives who sailed with them to Pictairn.
Experts from King's College London will now carry out DNA tests to try and establish the origin of the pigtails.
Herbert Ford, director of the Pitcairn Islands Study Center, told The Times: 'We need to know the truth - as much as humanly possible - about these locks of hair.
'If the tests and genealogical studies of this hair authenticates that it is of seven of the nine mutineers who hid out from British justice on Pitcairn Island in 1790, it will be the only tangible physical evidence of their having existed.'
Denise Syndercombe-Court, reader in forensic genetics at King’s College, said the team will first try to establish whether the hairs are from Europeans or Polynesians.
At loggerheads: Captain Bligh, left, was dragged from his cabin in the middle of the night by first mate Fletcher Christian, right, and his band of mutineers
She told MailOnline: 'This would go some way to verifying this story that they belong to mutineers.'
After that, the research becomes much more challenging as scientists would have to trace back through the female line of each suspected mutineer to try and find a living relative to test against.
'It would be painstaking research,' Dr Syndercombe-Court said.
She added: 'We have no idea about how much viable DNA we are going to get from 250 year old hair.We will try and clean off any contaminating DNA.
'If they have been sitting in a tin for all this time then that might help.'
TREASON ON THE HIGH SEAS: MUTINY OF HMS BOUNTY
Fed up with Bligh's floggings and hungry to return to the kind of idyllic life they had enjoyed in Tahiti, Christian and his mutineers seized the HMS Bounty on April 28, 1789.
They lowered the deposed captain and his loyalists into a rowing boat and left them for dead in the Pacific Ocean.
The mutineers first sailed to Tahiti, dropping off 16 of their number.
Fletcher, eight mutineers and 18 Tahitians then set sail to avoid apprehension, landing on Pitcairn in 1790.They set fire to the Bounty to cover their tracks.
Fletcher and the mutineers lowered the deposed captain and his loyalists into a rowing boat (right) and left them for dead in the Pacific Ocean
Meanwhile, Captain Bligh was able to complete a remarkable 47-day voyage to Timor in the Dutch East Indies, where he was received by the governor.
The crimes of the mutineers caught up with them two years later when, after news reached Britain, a ship was dispatched to arrest them.
Fourteen of the 23 mutineers were rounded up and imprisoned in a makeshift cell on the deck of HMS Pandora.
Four died along with 31 crewmen when the ship ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef, but the remaining ten prisoners were returned to Britain to face court martial in Portsmouth.
Some of the remaining mutineers continued to live on Pictairn, with the last dying in 1808. Their descendants remain on the islands.