THE Pitcairn Islands, way out in the Pacific Ocean, are Britain's most isolated inhabited possession, but this week they've been making headlines in the heart of the old Empire with the lurid court case involving half of the islands' males.

A Briton called Pitcairn first spotted the islands in 1767 from a passing boat, but it wasn't until 23 years later that anyone bothered to have a proper look - and he was Fletcher Christian, the leader of the mutineers from the Bounty, whose direct descendants are currently on trial.

The Bounty was captained by William Bligh, a navigator who sailed HMS Resolution home after Captain James Cook had been killed in Hawaii.

The Bounty's mission was to sail breadfruit from Tahiti to the West Indies where they would provide cheap food for slaves.

But Bligh had a torturous journey reaching Tahiti, and then had to wait six months for the plants to grow. During the delay, discipline among the crew slipped. Some deserted; others developed relationships with native women.

The Bounty left Tahiti on April 6, 1789. She was a small vessel, crammed to the gunwales with 1,015 breadfruit plants, her deck covered with an elaborate plant-watering system. After three weeks, the lack of room and the lure of the Tahitian women provoked a mutiny led by Christian.

With 18 others, Bligh was set adrift in the Bounty's 23ft long launch.

Christian sailed back to Tahiti, where he and nine co-conspirators picked up six Polynesian men, 12 women and one baby. They set off in search of a home with the nagging fear of arrest driving them deeper and deeper into the Pacific. Eventually, on January 15, 1790, they stumbled upon the uninhabited Pitcairn Islands which looked like paradise.

But it wasn't. The Polynesian men found themselves cast as slaves without any consolation from the womenfolk. On September 20, 1793, they set upon the mutineers, killing five of them, including Christian. But in the brawl, all six Polynesian men died.

After the brutality, life settled down until, in 1799, one mutineer created a potent concoction from the roots of the ti plant. In the ensuing drunken melee, one mutineer was murdered, another drowned and a third had a fatal asthma attack.

Which left, as the leader of ten women and 23 children, John Adams. He had been sailing on the Bounty under the assumed name of Alexander Smith to escape the law. He had a violent past, but had now found the Bible and matured into a decent man who became known to all as "Father" (the current court case is being heard in the islands' only settlement, which is called Adamstown in his honour).

Meanwhile, poor Capt Bligh was bobbing about in his boat. He sailed 3,618 nautical miles in 48 days back to civilisation at Timor - an extraordinary feat. He returned to England, cleared his name and by the time Christian was brutally killed by the islanders, Bligh was back in the Pacific sailing breadfruit plants from Tahiti.

And this time he was successful. His breadfruit reached the West Indies, and took root. But the slaves hated the taste and refused to eat them.

So the whole, remarkable adventure turned out to be a complete waste of time.