English naval officer Frederick William Beechey came from a family of artists. In 1825, while in command of HMS Blossom, Beechey was en route to explore the Bering Strait when he stopped at remote Pitcairn Island in the Southern Ocean. The crew of the HMS Bounty, notorious for the mutiny against Captain William Bligh led by Fletcher Christian, had settled on Pitcairn Island in 1790. Beechey met John Adams, the last surviving member of William Bligh’s crew.

Beechey’s dramatic painting shows the difficult landing through the heavy surf at Bounty Bay where, 35 years earlier, the mutineers had burnt and destroyed the HMS Bounty in an effort to avoid detection.