Revised Jun 22 2021
A letter from Admiral Moresby, dated Portland, at sea, lat. 25° 25′ S., long. 126° 29′ W. August 12, 1852, informed the authorities at the Admiralty that he had reached Pitcairn's Island early on Sunday, the 8th August. From that time to the period of his departure, on the 11th, he had remained on shore. The following important testimony was borne by him as to the religious and moral state of the island, and to the character of the pastor:—
"It is impossible to do justice to the spirit of order and decency that animates the whole community, whose number amounts to 170, strictly brought up in the Protestant faith, according to the Established Church of England, by Mr. Nobbs, their pastor and surgeon, who has for twenty-four years zealously and successfully, by precept and example, raised them to a state of the highest moral conduct and feeling.
"Of all the eventful periods which have chequered my life, none have surpassed in interest, and (I trust and hope) in future good, our visit to Pitcairn: and surely the hand of God has been in all this; for by chances the most unexpected, and by favourable winds out of the usual course of the trades, we were carried in eleven days to Pitcairn's from Borobora. It is impossible to describe the charm that the society of the islanders throws around them, under the providence of God. The hour and the occasion served, and I have brought away their pastor and teacher, for the purpose of sending him to England to be ordained, and one of his daughters, who will be placed at the English clergyman's at Valparaiso, until her father's return. The islanders depend principally for their necessary supplies on the whaling-ships, which are generally American. Greatly to their credit, the men behave in the most exemplary manner, very differently from what I expected. One rough seaman, whom I spoke to in praise of such conduct, said, 'Sir, I expect if one of our fellows was to misbehave himself here, we should not leave him alive.' They are guileless and unsophisticated beyond description. The time had arrived when preparation for partial removal was necessary, and especially for the ordination of their pastor, or the appointment of a clergyman of the Established Church."