A Cruise in the Hinemoa.

Free Lance, Volume XIX, Issue 1029, 18 February 1920, Page 26

A Cruise in the Hinemoa.

i CHAPTER IV. .Port Pegasus to the Auckland Islands. TTIARLY on Friday morning, 14th JCi November, we found our anchor <3£itted, and the Hinemoa .under easy steam for the Snares, at /which grim •outpost of the South Pacific an arrival was made at 8 o'clock in the morning. This small irregular shaped island, ■about two miles long, with only one accessible landing-place on the whole of its wicked-looking coast line, some - 80 to 90 miles from t'iie Bluff, was sighted by Vancouver and Broughton in H.MiS. Chatham, and Daedalus, in but really obtained its_ name from Captain "Riven, of the Britannia, a'j little earlier. There have fortunately Tjeen no wrecks on its wild turbulent ■coast, for the only • landing is hard to find, and only disaster and . death would attend a ; loss oil this beachless rock. - * •* * Tfee Castaways Depot. . : The surf-boat was' landed, and after alheavy pull against tide and rough sea the island was reached by taking •a: short'cut through a cave. At the mouth of the cave we . were welcomed by three hair seals, who" followed the "boat until a landing was made; . The - passage through the cave was about 10jJ feet, and the ,colours of the roof a most delightful blend of blue, red and green, most appealin<r to an artis- ; tic * ©ye. On disembarking near the ■Castaways Depot (which included a whaleboat) an inspection of the stores /■was; made, and all found 'intact, the last , visitor "being the New Zealand ; : two years ago. "Near the hut a fair . number of. u sea 'lions were discovered, .;some of which were of great size, weighing consider-. . ably over a ton. Along the rocksi were penguins by the hundred, and. quite "tame, too.' • ■ ' v: 'v*' Adjacent to> the hut ,is a small cottagej built at the, time. the joint New" South . Wales, Tasinanian, and New Zealand v Governments contemplated ■erecting a lighthouse. However-, New South Wales eventually withdrew, and the proposal fell to the ground l —, rightly so, for the day of the sailing ' ship has passed, and now there is very little traffic in this once busy sailing track. After taking aboard; several sacks of soil to be utilised by the Agriv cultural Department for testing, purposes, the Hinemoa, which was cruising around, ' for no safe anchorage •could be found, was - boarded, and a start made for the long-distant Auckland Islands, some 256 miles south of the Bluff. , * •* *' . ■ The Ancklands. Before giving details of the visit to this interesting group of solitary islands on tlie direct route Ho .the ;South Antarctic ice barrier, some 1700 miles farther on, it may be interesting . to sketch a few incidents inseparably connected with them. The Aucklands were discovered by Abrham Bristowj master of the whaleship Ocean, in 1806, and named after the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Auckland. Many wrecks have occurred on this desolate strand, some with tragic loss of life, others carrying with them elements of romance, -and later adventures, for who can forget the passenger ship General Grant, of 1200 tons, which, left Hobaon's Bay in May, 186*6, bound for London with / wool, wheat and bullion. She was sup- \ posed, to have struck a bold hea'dland on the mainland and nosed into a rift •or cleft of the rocks. Several expeditions have been fitted, out since those ,old days, for recovery of the gold, for love of the "auri jsacra" was as much a- watchword witfi the 1860"folk as to-day, but nothing could ever be traced of the wreck, to say nothing of the hidden treasure. *. * *' * Other weeks were: The barque Invercauld,' Melbourne to Valparaiso, in 1864, with heavy loss , of life; the Compadre, a Frencli ship, Calcutta to Chile, in 1891, all saved; the ill-fated Derry Castle, 1400 tons, March. 1887, eighteen lost, seven sa.ved, after terri- • "ble suffering; the French"barque Marie Alice, Christmas, 1895, with a total loss of the crew; the Anjou, another French ship, 2069 tons, January, 1905, on her voyage .from Sydney to Falmouth, crew all saved; and the lasts, "which is within the^.memory of many

LOOKING FOR CASTAWAYS IN THE SNJIRES AND AUCKLAND ISLANDS.

(By F* WHAYBITTLE. for the New Zealand Free Lance.)

New Zealand colonists, the ship Dundonald, from Geelonjg to London, 6th March, 1907; .with a loss of 12 of the crew, including the captain. The survivors numbered the mate and. fourteen seamen. The wreck occurred at Disappointment Island, about three miles off the mainland, a desperatelooking place for a ship to strike. The survivors hung- on to this place for some days, then three of these .hardy navigators ventured forth in a coracle, built of stretched sealskins over a framework of timber, and, wonderful to relate, made Port Ross and found the Depot and boat. They, soon returned to their comrades, and at the shed in Erebus -Cove, Port Ross, they all put in eight months before being rescued /by the Hinemoa on one of her solitary trips. This briefly is a record of. marine disasters" of importance, for which the deadly Aucklands are responsible. . -» * " .;■«• * . ■ A Pathetic Little Cemetery. ( On Friday, 15th November, after a very uncomfortable night, the little boat rolling heavily in a- beam sear, found lis cruising slowly off Disappointment Island, at wEich there ia a depot containing a . boat. Amidships, about two miles" v away, is a jutting cliff on the mainland,-the scene-of the wreck of the. gold ship, General Grant, already referred to. ■ An inspection of the boat in its- shed was made, and found in order, "and the ■, cruise '> was then continued until we anchored in Erebus Gove, Port Ross, in which the Castaway Depot could be easily ; discerned. The afternoon was spent ashore, and, of course, the interior of the shed and its contents were inspected. Some sealers had abstracted a; few articles, but otherwise the stores were* intact. Not many penguins, seals or sea lions >yere found here, and "the only other point that attracted us was the; pathetic little cemetery, well looked after" by the Amokura. boys on their annual or bi-annual visits. There are five graves in all—one, of the mate of the Dundonald; three of the crew of the Invercauld, who "died of starvation," and one "to an unknown sea-! man." 1 W; * -A- * Sunday,, 16th November, was a quiet day passed in and : around Erebus Cove. ■ -x- * .. . # n ■ Monday, 17th, the Hinemoa continued her run down to the southern limits, and there 'entered a splendid sound known as Carnley Harbour. Thick mists obscured the tops of the low hills, and the scene ' was much akin to that of some of the large lochs ori the Caledonian Canal near Inverness. The depots at Adams Island and Camp Cove were todied up and replenished.. No sign of castaways, or illicit sealers had yet been discovered, and the expedition from the passengers' point of view was robbed of much excitement and interest. (To be continued.)