ISLAND ROMANCE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 9 April 1927, Page 11

ISLAND ROMANCE.

* JpERHAPS the most tragic but ro mantic story associated with the desolate islands lying south of New Zealand was recalled a few days ago in a rather strange manner when the Norwegian whaling steamer Sir James Clark Ross dropped anchor at Stewart Island, after her five months' cruise in the Ross Sea. During her voyage from the Ross Sea, the whaling fleet called at Camp bell Island for the purpose of coaling*. While there some of the crew gathered heather from a grave, alleged to be that of a French Princess who was exiled to the Island about 1823. j The story, as told by one of the New Zealanders on the Sir James Clark j Ross, and published in the “Southland Times,” is that the beautiful Princess was rescued from the French revolutionaries by a young Prince of th<House of Stuart. Together they plotted to overthrow the House of Hanover, then reigning in England, and to seize, the reins of power from the revolutionaries in France. A large army of. royalist Scots and Frenchmen were gathered, but before the plotters had time to strike, their plans were betray yd by a traitor, and the Prince was seized while out hunting, and executed. The Princess was at a nearby castle,'' and before she had time to flee, sh_also was captured and imprisoned. It was decided to exile her to the most terrible and inaccessible land then known. The choice fell on Campbell Island, and the Princess was brought secretly to New Zealand. At some southerly port, probably at Bluff, she was placed on board a sealing schooner, and spirited away to the Antarctic. With her she took some sprigs of Scotch heather in remembrance of her gallant Scottish Prince, and these she planted near the dwelling erected fo.her by the sealers. The little plot of flowers did not spread, and has not spread to this day. Before the year was over the Princess escaped from her barbarous punishment—a party of sealers found her skeleton lying on the floor of the cottage. In her lianas was a bunch of heather. The sealers buried her beside t’.i? plot at her doorway. Close to the grave the men from the . Sir James Clark Ross saw marks oif | the bleak hillside above Perseverance i Harbour where the Princess’s dwelling and storehouse had been. Apart from the tragic fate of this mysterious lady, the island has had a sinister history as a graveyard for sailors. The whalers viewed the simple tomb, marked by an iron cross, of a seaman who died from injuries received while a French astronomical expedition was lying in Perseverance Harbour. Another weird and terrible story was told to the visitors by the present inhabitants of the island. Many years ago a sealing boat visited the island, and her crew found a man’s skeleton lying between two rough graves. A party of three unknown sailors had evidently met their fate, and the last surviving member had buried his companions before he himself succumbed. The skeleton was buried by the sealers and the inscription: “Remember Thy Sleeping Brdther” was carved above his tombstone. Captain Frederick Hasselbourg, who discovered the island, and a young man named George Allright, were also drowned near Campbell Island, and their skeletons still lie on the sea floor ii: Perseverance Harbour. The island is now used as a sheep run by a Dunedin syndicate. Mr. Warren, his nephew, and five shepherds, live on the island for the purpose of looking after 6,000 edd shee.j. There was great excitement on shortwhen the big 13,000 ton ship and her fleet of chasers steamed slowly into Perseverance Harbour. The New Zealanders on board the Sir James Clark Ross were given permission to go ashore until mid-night. They re ceived a pathetically warm welcome from the inhabitants, and were regaled on biscuits, home-made beer, and apple dumplings. Needless to say, the visit of the whalers was a red-letter day for the residents and they listened eagerly to the news of the outside world, although the whalers themselves had been lost to civilisation for five gionths and news of only a few events had trickled to them over the wireless.