I have met some of the ancestors of Fletcher Christian when I visited several islands in the South Pacific Descendants of the Bounty mutineers The descendants of the Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian consorts include the modern-day Pitcairn Islanders as well as a little less than half of the population of Norfolk Island. Their descendants also live in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States. Because of the scarcity of people on the island, many of the mutineers' children and grandchildren intermarried, with some marrying first and second cousins. Occasionally a new person would arrive on the island bringing with them a new surname.
I just looked. The Pitcairn Islands have a population of 43 permanent inhabitants. Pitcairn is the least populous national jurisdiction in the world. Fascinating that you met some of these folks. I assume by the title that you watched the most recent 1980s movie and not the Charles Laughton classic. Regarding first cousin baby-making, it was discovered a while ago that the chances of "complications" are about the same as a woman in her late 30s (or maybe it's early 40s) carrying a baby to full-term. Not as safe as the population at large, but only incrementally less so.
It's been a long time since I've seen either, but am more familiar with the original. When I was a kid, I watched those old movies on network TV all the time. I'm getting fiber internet next year. I've got some catching up to do.
You don't often find a true story better than anything you could dream up as fiction.Mutiny On The Bounty is one. On my mother's side, to the poor dirt and tobacco farmers of our family, first cousin marriage was commonplace. My mother left high school.and escaped at a young age to work and live in Norfolk, VA to avoid the attentions of her cousins. I suspect it's so in many other rural areas in the country. The higher incidence of autism, mental illness, lower IQ, etc. just go unnoticed.