'sails' again
p. 27 · Read in the full issue
The Yankee 'sails' again
When the world-famous 29.45 m steel-hulled brigantine, Yankee, was wrecked on Rarotonga’s reef in July, 1964, many people said her sailing days were over. They were right, but 13 years later, at the end of July, the once-beautiful vessel made news again.
A team from South Pacific Televi sion (TV 2) of Auckland was in the Cooks to film the story of the lives of the Bounty mutineers in Pitcairn.
Rarotonga and Atiu were chosen for the filming because of Pitcairn’s isolation by sea and air.
Part of the script called for the burning of the Bounty by the mutineers after their arrival at Pit cairn and this was done by rigging the wreck of the Yankee with dum my masts and filling the deck with dry banana leaves and coconut fronds.
The scene was shot after dark at Avarua and showed the mutineers and their women leaving the blazing vessel. The fire only blackened the Yankee’s rusting hull in fact, the flames removed the rust!
The burning of the "Yankee"/"Bounty".