LOST TREASURE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 50, 28 February 1935, Page 5

LOST TREASURE.

AUCKLAND ISLAND. THE GENERAL GRANT'S GOLD. EXPEDITIONS THAT FAILED.

(By TANGIYVAI.)

A search 2or hidden treasure is ever so much more engrossing that a mere commercial enterprise, and any project for bringing to light long-lost gold or precious stones enlists "good luck" wishes at any rate, if not more substantial support. The latest proposal to search for the Australian gold lost in the wrecked ship General Grant at Auckland Island, in 1806, seems an extremely sanguine adventure; there have been so many unsuccessful treasure-hunts in that storm-swept desolation* Fifty south latitude. The General Grant came to grief on the terrible western cliffs of Auckland Island, which are eternally pounded by seas that have an uninterrupted sweep round the southern part of the globe, and previous expeditions have found it extremely difficult to carry out salvage work in such exposed and perilous waters. Previous Expeditions. The first of many lost endeavours on that forlorn coast was in 1860, when a party of searchers from the Bluff went to the Aucklands in the paddle-wheel tug Southland. The expedition, under the direction of Mr. J. Tier, found the great cove into which the wreck was believed to have been driven by the force of the seas; the locality is now known as the General Grant Cove. But bad weather compelled the efforts of the searchers to be abandoned.

In 1870 the topsail schooner Daphne went down to the island. The boat ent out with the diver capsized, and all the six men in it were drowned. There were only three men left in the

hooner, and these brought her back u> Xew Zealand. The diver's boat was lost when returning Ross from

the scene of the wrcck in a gale of wind, and it was never known whether the lost ship was located or not, and any of the gold recovered.

In 1877 an expedition in the Gazelle made a long and careful search. There were several experienced nautical men at the head of this party, but they failed to recover anything, though they located what they believed to be the site of the wreck. The seas were too rough to allow of any diving being done. In 1893 a company was formed in Invercargill to make another attempt, but it failed to get a vessel away. In 1913 a syndicate was formed iji New Zealand and the United States, called the "American Deep-Sea Exploration Company of Arizona," to search for lost treasure in the South Sea Islands and also the General Grant gold, but so far as Auckland Island was concerned nothing was done.

Captain Catling's Search. Then, in 1915, Captain P. Catling, of the Bluff, with several companions in the 14-ton auxiliary screw cutter Enterprise, made a long and careful hunt for the wreck, and the gold, under circumstances of great difficulty and danger. Many times he and his mates were nearly overwhelmed in the terrific seas that batter the western cliffs. Catling was a skilled diver and made many descents, but without success. He found a bare, rocky bottom and great boulders everywhere he searched, including the enormous cave into wliich the wreck was said to have been driven. All he discovered was two pieces of timber jammed between some boulders. When Captain Catling returned to the Bluff he said his candid opinion was that the wreck must have been broken up completely long ago. Had the gold been in bars, he said, it would still have been there between the boulders, and he would liave got it. If it was in dust it would all have been scattered and lost. If it was in bars, he believed it was probably recovered by the illfated members of the Daphne expedition in 1870 and lost with them when their whaleboat capsized in tr .Y in ? to enter Port Ross, through the Rabbit Inland passage, where anything would be quite beyond recovery. "Coming J nto that storm-swept passage with half a toil or "■old aboard," he said, "was an impossibility; they did not have a ghost of a ch? nee of 1- ing through it. Catling sank over £1000 of his own money in

two attempts to recover tlio historic gold. "It may bo a land of fabulous gold treasure, but I have had enough trials and facc-to-face talks with death in those latitudes to last me for the rest of mv life."

That is the story of the General Grant gold search down to date. As to the actual quantity of gold in the ship when she sailed from Melbourne for London, there are varying accounts.

A statement was made by one of the ofiieials of the Commercial Bank in Melbourne that £150,000 worth of gold was shipped from his office alone, and was not shown in the- manifest, a precaution frequent in those days.

Gold Ships of the 'Sixties. Very large quantities of gold from the Victoria diggings were sent to London in the sailing ships of the 'fifties and 'sixties. The late Captain M. T. Clayton, of Auckland, wiio eoninianded the celebrated Blaekwall liner Kent, a ship of a thousand tons, for some years in that trade, told me that oil one voyage in 1800, he had nearly half a million in gold bars on board. On a later voyage ho had about £350.000 worth under his charge. The gold was stowed under his cabin, in a specially constructed gold room. This was locked, and the deck-hatch caulked down for the voyage. Besides these shipments the passengers usually carried a good deal of gold themselves;-many of them were lucky diggers returning to their old homes.