THE CORACLE IN THE MUSEUM

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22319, 5 February 1938, Page 19

THE CORACLE IN THE MUSEUM

How and Why it was Built: A Daring Attempt Recalled

SUSPENDED from the ceiling of the Canterbury Museum is the framework of a coracle, with bare details of the fact that it had been made by the crew of the sailing ship Dundonald, which was wrecked < \ Disappointment Island in 1907. To the average person this framework seems a very poor piece of work to be placed on a position of honour in the museum, but there is a story attached to it that is almost without equal in British sea history. Cast ashore on Disappointment Island with nothing but what they wore, 16 survivors of the crew of 26 were faced with rocky cliffs and scrub-clad hills. To make thensituation more unpleasant a bitter wind blew from the open sea, chilling them to the bone with its breath of the South Pole. With two of the party supporting Mr Peters, the first mate, who had been severely injured, the castaways searched the island for the Government supply huts which they knew were on Auckland . Isla- ' Hour

after hour they persevered with this heartbreaking hunt, to be rewarded in the end with the knowledge that they were not on Auckland Island, which could be seen six miles away, but on one of the smaller islands with which the sea is so liberally strewn. After four months which seemed to stretch into eternity,- during which the injured mate died, the party was faced with the possibility of starvation, because their only source of food supply was being gradually depleted as the seals and birds on which they had been living became more wary and harder to, capture. July came with its storms, snow, and icy winds, while the battered and weatherbeaten castaways were still searching for some means of gaining the “island of dreams,” where they knew there were all manner of luxuries awaiting them. First Piece of Wood Found At last one of the men, Santiago Marino, returned from a walk over the island, carryir a piece of wood. The effect on the men can' but be expressed in the words of Mr Charles Eyre, one of the survivors: “Wood—l wonder if you can form any idea of our feelings. The whole crowd of us hung oyer it, handled it, and expressed our feelings. Onty a rough piece of wood, but we would

rather have had that, and some more like it, than all the wealth in the Bank of England.” This scrap of wood formed the nucleus of the boat that now hangs in the museum. Eagerly they searched the island, until near the camp was assembled a pile of rough twisted branches of all shapes and sizes. There was no chance of the men displaying their handiness with tools or of fitting the component parts. The only tool in their possession was a pocket knife with one blade, which had to be fixed to the handle by means of a length of twine. To this band of desperate men the timber that they had collected meant the difference between life and death, and with the limited means at their disposal they set about building the boat. The building operations took 10 days, for each length of timber had to be lashed in position with the stranded rope which had been salvaged from the wreck. To quote Mr Eyre once again: “Old rope, and

waste wood, and some old canvas. Thai was all we had to stand between our lives and lonely graves out on that dreary island. . . . When at last we had finished the framework of our boat, I must say that even the boldest of us felt some nervous qualms; it looked such a rough, crazy thing and it wanted, most careful handling.” The frame finished, they set about covering it with the remains of the sail that they had brought ashore a few days after the wreck. The difficult task of sewing the canvas to the frame was accomplished with stranded rope and needles made from the bones of birds. At last d was finished and ready for the launching. There were no planks in this crazy canvas-covered basket, no floor boards, nothing for the men who were to make the trip to Auckland Island, to kneel or sit on, except the rough thorny wood. A Dangerous Voyage Begun On July 28 she was launched and found to leak very little, although baling was necessary all the time that she was in the water. Paddles were made from forked sticks wound with canvas and all that remained was to choose a fine day for ike trip. Weather conditions were favourable on the morning of July 31, and three men, Santiago Marino,

Bob Ellis, and Michael Pul, set off on the six-mile trip to the much discussed “island of dreams.” All that day those left behind watched for the promised smoke signals. As midday came and went, and afternoon waned into evening, the watchers gradually lost heart and sought their huts with sad hearts. “They must have gone down,” they whispered to each other. “The boat was not strong enough, and it has foundered.” The next day they set about building the frames of two more boats. Stolidly they went on building, and on the seventh of August they had the two frames completed. On that day for the first time they saw a column of smoke arising from the big island toward which Ellis and his companions had paddled. Although the men were hopeful that their companions on Auckland Island would secure a boat at the depot, work on the two boats was carried on. The canvas covering presented a problem, as a good deal of it had been used to make sorelyneeded clothes. However, this difficulty was surmounted as they took the clothes to pieces and fitted the fragments to the crazy structure of twigs. Late in the afternoon of August 10 the boat was seen making its way from the big island. Dejection and exhaustion were shown in every movement of the three men as they neared the island, and it was all too plain as they were assisted ashore that they had been unsuccessful in their search for the depot. A Second Attempt In spite of this terrible set-back, some intrepid spirits decided to make the attempt once again, as nothing but a slow death by starvation faced them in their position. On August 24 a vessel was seen close to the island, but in spite of the fact that a large signal fire was lighted she sailed on. Then, at last, the weather calmed sufficiently for the second attempt to be made, and the crews of the two boats which had been finished last made their way to the rocky creek and launched their ill-found vessels. 111-luck attended them from the start, as a roller upset one boat as she was launched and before anything could be done she was smashed on the rocks, while the precious canvas covering was torn to ribbons.

At daybreak on October 7 Mr Knudson, the sole surviving officer, Messrs H. Walters, J. Gratton, and C. Eyre set out on a further attempt to find the food depot on Auckland Island. After almost incredible hardships they found the depots. Food, clothes, and tobacco were there in abundance, and to cap it all there was a well-found whaler. Dragging themselves away from all the luxuries that they had never expected to see again, they set off to Disappointment Island and before very long had all the castaways settled comfortably in the warmth of the depot. There they stayed until the Government supply ship Hinemoa took them aboard and landed them at Invercargill.