John Adams, the assumed name of Alexander Smith, one of the mutineers of the British ship Bounty, born in London in 1764, died on Pitcairn island, March 29, 1829. In 1787 he joined the Bounty as a common sailor, and was one of those who revolted against Lieut. Bligh on April 28, 1789. (See Bligii, William.) On Jan. 23, 1790, after various adventures, Adams landed with the other mutineers and a number of Tahitian men and women on Pitcairn island, where he spent the rest of his life. In 1800 he found himself the sole surviving Englishman, and the only guardian and teacher of a community of women and children. He organized divine service according to the forms of the church of England, and acted also as a schoolmaster. In 1808, when Capt. Maybew Folger, of the American ship Topaz, landed on the island, Adams gave him an account of the feuds among his companions and the Tahitian men and women, ending in the violent death of all except himself and Young. Capt. Folger, in return, gave him a rapid sketch of the great events of the preceding 20 years, all of which were entirely new to him.

The captain's report of this extraordinary meeting with Adams bore testimony to the excellent moral and religious training of the little community, and was accompanied by the chronometer and azimuth compass of the Bounty, presented to him by Adams. It was after the visit of Capt. Folger that he changed his real name of Alexander Smith to John Adams, to avoid recognition and conviction for mutiny in England. The island was visited only two or three times afterward during Adams's life. In 1825 a man named Buffett was permitted to settle there, and, being well educated, relieved Adams of the business of teaching. Lady Belcher, in her work on the "Mutineers of the Bounty" (London, 1871), says: "By the mercy of God and by the aid of his Bible and prayer book, which he had so earnestly studied, John Adams succeeded in establishing such a community as has been the dream of poets and the aspiration of philosophers." (See Pitcaien Island.)