To request a reservation, please print, complete, scan or picture and email back the Registration Form, indicating your preferences. When we confirm holding a cabin in your name, to make the reservation a deposit for 25% of the fare would be required by a bank transfer, or by check payable to Maris USA Ltd. in USD (copy via email, we’d process it electronically).
The Pitcairn Story
Located halfway between Australia and South America, the Pitcairn island remains one of the most remote and undiscovered tourism destinations in the world.
It is a British Overseas Territory that has some legal autonomy and is often considered the world’s smallest country by population of approx. 50 descendants of the HMS Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian companions.
Bounty Bay, where the remains of the HMS Bounty lie
After all possessions were removed and lugged up the aptly named Hill Of Difficulty, the vessel was run ashore and set alight so that no trace of her would remain visible from the sea.
A village was established on the lower plateau, situated above the bay, and named Adamstown, after the last surviving settler, while Fletcher Christian is fondly remembered as the founder and first leader.
Fletcher Christian’s 1789 uprising against Captain William Bligh on the HMS Bounty inspired a 1932 novel Mutiny on the Bounty, several movies, and even a musical. Clark Gable played Christian in the 1935 film, Marlon Brando in 1962, and the star-studded cast of 1984’s The Bounty featured Anthony Hopkins as William Bligh, Daniel Day Lewis as John Fryer, Laurence Olivier as Admiral Hood, Liam Neeson as seaman Charles Churchill and a young Mel Gibson as Christian.
Pitcairn Island was sighted on July 3, 1767 by the crew of the British sloop HMS Swallow, commanded by Captain Philip Carteret. It was named after Midshipman Robert Pitcairn, a fifteen-year-old crew member who was the first to sight the island.
Two decades later, after overthrowing Captain Bligh and sailing first back to Tahiti where 16 out of the 25 sailors and mutineers decided to stay on the island, Christian then sailed with the remaining eight crewmen, their Tahitian wives and several Tahitian men, and arrived on Pitcairn in January 1790. The island’s location had been charted inaccurately, making it an attractive hideaway option. A British navy ship searched for months for the rogue crew to no avail. However, the mutineers who stayed on Tahiti were captured and brought back to England to face justice.
The Pitcairn settlers weren’t discovered until 1808, but by that time they were only survived by mutineer John Adams. The island’s early history was bloody, with many feuds and violent deaths. Now Pitcairn Island is peaceful and its fifty families, many of them descendants of that infamous Bounty crew, welcome visitors to their idyllic tropical home.
To request a reservation, please print, complete, scan or picture and email back the Registration Form, indicating your preferences. When we confirm holding a cabin in your name, to make the reservation a deposit for 25% of the fare would be required by a bank transfer, or by check payable to Maris USA Ltd. in USD (copy via email, we’d process it electronically).
Thanks to the support received from our customers, as well as from the steamship lines and media, including the following comments, today's Maris is one of the leading independent freighter cruise specialists:
"Maris is sailing with fair winds and following seas under your command."
John Carrick
Editorial writer
Sydney, Australia
Sep/1999
"Q: It has always been my dream to take a long voyage on a cargo ship. Can you tell me if this is possible any more? - A: Maris in New York offers such voyages on a daily basis."
Sunday Times
London
Jul/2001
"Maris Freighter Cruises website, as well as the newsletter which illustrates itineraries, ships, prices etc., is a good place to learn about this type of cruise and travel."
New York Times
May/2003
"We are very appreciative of the work you have undertaken on our behalf for many years and the effort you have put into making our passenger service a success ... Our sincere and grateful thanks."
Richard Mellor
P&O Nedlloyd
London
Jan/2005
"As a faithful reader of your Seaworthy News publication, I wish to compliment you and your staff on the informativeness and thoroughness, setting forth in honest and detailed manner descriptions of this means of travel."
Martin Ems
Retired Manager Passenger Services,
American President Lines - Feb/2007
"I just wanted to send you my thanks for the beautiful news publication you produce all these years. I hope you'll keep freighter travel as your primary focus always, as it sets you apart."
Alison Senter
(Member since '95)
New Lisbon, NJ
Jan/2010
"Since 1971, when my three young children and I travelled up the West Coast of Africa, I have had the pleasure of occasional freighter voyage. A wonderful way to see, and enjoy the peace of the watery parts of, our world. Thank you so much and your family for choosing to run your freighter cruise agency."
Jean Washington
San Diego, CA
Apr/2016
"Hopefully, when the dust (and Covid) has settled, we'll be able to envisage a new adventure. With renewed gratitude for your unfailing support and guidance, kindest regards."
Jacques Carrio
Vienna, Austria
Oct/2020
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Marquesas, Tuamotu and Society Islands brochure and itinerary.
Pitcairn, Tuamotu and Gambier Islands brochure and itinerary
Austral and Cook Islands brochure and itinerary
Bounty Bay, where the remains of the HMS Bounty lie
