THE GENERAL GRANT

Southland Times, Issue 17783, 12 July 1916, Page 2

THE GENERAL GRANT

•CATLING'S UXPKniTIOX RETURNS. J FAILURE TO FIND COLD, j PLUCKY- BUT UNLUCKY, j (By Our Own Reporter.) HUTI'T, July 11. General disappointment lias been cxj pressed on all sides at. the failure of Captain I*. V. Catling, of the Enterprise Expedition, to recover the gold of the I ship General Grant at the Auckland | Islands. This is the second attempt that ! the Enterprise lias made in two years, I and each effort was doomed to failure. I Any other result was regarded as very I improbable, but it was generally con--1 ceded that if anyone could possibly sucj ceed in the task it was Captain Catling, | and the fearless trio who accompanied • him in the little cutter Enterprise to [latitudes hearing the most sinister repu. I tation Known to those who "go down to I the sea in ships." Not once, but many ; times they took the most desperate risks, : and that the Enterprise ever returned to record their adventures is probably the most remarkable feature of the expedition. Ttie Enterprise returned to Halfmoon Bay last week, and during the course of a chat with a Southland Times reporter, Captain Catling gave some interesting features of what lie termed his •last and very last" visit to the desolate ■ Auckland Islands. NO LUCK. ••you didn't succeed this time, Captain Catling?" "No, worse luck, and we all feel very disappointed and downhearted about it. You see I expected to find the wreck just where she was lost in 1866, but no man living had any conception of the conditions existing under water at the spot where she was wrecked.” SITE OE TUB WRECK. "Why, what did you find ” “Well, in the first place,” replied Captain Catling, "the bottom is a mass of sharp pinnacles and boulders with jagged edges that will cut a rope like a knife. AVe lost one of our anchors and Tr> fathoms of new rope through this, and the rope was cut clean, and not frayed through. Then again there is a heavy surge which frequently carried me off my feet and dashed in against the boulders, which were sometimes 13 ft high. It was almost beyond human endurance. I persevered with clambering tactics —that is climbing over or getting round those obstacles —until 1 could do so no longer, and I then adopted the ruse of suspending myself like a sinker upon my life-line and was towed all over the safe area, hanging upon this line —suspended about Bft above the floor of the sea. This answered very well for the safe area, but 1 had to again take to shanks’ pony while operating in the actual cave where the General Grant was wrecked. I penetrated this cave and examined it thoroughly, and I am satisfied that neither the vessel nor the gold now exists." THE GOLD GONE. Then what is your opinion as to its fate?” •T am not merely expressing an opinion, but I am absolutely convinced that the vessel was pounded to pieces fully 30 years ago—perhaps 40 years,— and that the gold has been recovered. “Recovered?” "Yes, recovered,” said Captain Catling emphatically, and he spoke in a manner that showed that he meant what he said. THE DAPHNE THEORY. ‘‘But if she was smashed up 30 or 40 years ago how on earth could that be?” persisted the reporter. "By the Daphne in IS7o—that is four years after tlie wreck. It would have taken about ten years to completely break up the General Grant when not exposed to wave or tidal action. The surge Is a very strong one, but It would take time to pound her absolutely to pieces. lam certain from the conditions existing under water at the cave that the gold was still obtainable when the Daphne made her attempt in 1870. Ashworth, one of the survivors of the General Grant, was in the diving boat, and he was so sanguine of success that he actually expected to find his coat which had his private hoard of gold in the pocket. As I say, I haven’t the slightest doubt that the Daphne party got the I gold and that the gold was lost when 1 the whaleboat capsized and the party iof six drowned. 1 am equally certain that the Daphne’s boat capsized while 1 trying to enter Port Ross through the Rabbit Island passage where, unfortunl ately, the gold is quite beyond reach, i There Is a heavy break across this passage and also a fearful tide rip. Ohlsen and 1 were nearly swept to sea while trying to examine this 'spot." THE ONLY CLUES. ‘‘Summed up then, you found neither wreck nor gold?” "The only possibility is the timbers wc found in the cave on 23rd June — Umbers that were .lambed In between i boulders. They may have been the last vestiges of the General Grant, but then again they may have merely driftwood. I thought that 1 might come across the anchors and chains right up at the head of the cave, but there was such a whirlpool there that it was be- ' yond human possibility to penetrate it. As for the gold, if it were in bars, it would have remained where it was when the vessel broke up, because gold is twelve times heavier than water, and I would have found it. But, as I have already told you, I am absolutely convinced that the Daphne people got it. I thought that, having absolutely found the spot, all that I would have to do was jto step aboard. Instead 1 had to take my life in my hands and take risks which i trust I will never have to take again."

THE CAVERN OF DEATH. “What kind of a cave was if.'” “On June ?3rci we pulled the Enterprise right Into the cave. The weather (renditions were absolutely perfect, and 1 have never seen the sea so calm on the west coast of the Aucklands. We pulled the Enterprise right into the cavern and under the very roof which drove the masts of the General Grant through her bottom. The water usually falling from the roof into the sea was actually falling on the deck of the Enterprise just abaft her mast. That will give you some idea of the nature of the place. The interior of the cave is of great depth and we rowed a dingy right into it. At the far end there is a large chamber —a vault measuring approximately. 1 should say, 50ft rtiacircular in form and the roof about 7ft higher than the rest of the cave. I penetrated this to the full length of my life-line. There was a terrible surge under water, and I battled in as far as it was possible for me to go. 1 expected to find the anchors and 'chains at the end, but 1 could not reach them, the whirlpool being too strong. As for the cave, I have called it the Cavern of Death, for it looks it. and f knew that it was the means of the loss of so many lives half a century ago, A more weird spot it was impossible to imagine, and having satisfied myself that it was beyond human possibility to recover anything there, I lost no time in getting out of it." A STAUNCH CRAFT. “Don't you think you were over venturesome in undertaking such an expedition in such a tiny craft as the Enterprise v” “The Enterprise was, far more suited to the, job than many a bigger vessel. On my trip down last year I realised that the 5 li.p. engine was not powerful enough although it was a very fine engine, and so J got in a 11 h.p. Viking engine instead. That made all the difference. You sec, a small cutter like the Enterprise will ride the heaviest seas like a cork, while a larger craft would wallow in the trough of the setts. It is her very smallness that is her main protection. I am unite certain that had J used a schooner instead of a cutter 1 would not have been bore to tell the story to-day. No, I. am more than ever satisfied as to what wonderful craft the jittle JUuff fishing (titters arc in a heavy hf *'‘ WHERE THE GODD LIE*. “You have given up the idea of salvage for good?" “Ves, for good. If anyone else wants to have a try ho is welcome. I believe that it lies at the bottom of Rabbit Island Fassage where no one can ever layover it. It is for better to let the gold lie wiierc it is thtin suffer the same loss of life that befel the I>aphne party in 1870. 1 am going fishing for a few days to make a few pounds for my men who are worse than disappointed—they are ‘broke.’ ” A REMARKABLE PERSONALITY. As lie was about to step aboard his cutter, Captain Catling looked what he was—a. tali square-shouldered man of

middle-age, slightly nnnid shouldered, but broad and powerful, his features wearing the hall-mark of resource and determination. He had risked his life a hundred times in this mad enterprise, and one had only to speak to him to realise the stamp of man he really is. The whole adventure smacked of an old-time romance in an unromantic ago. "Is there anything else you would like to know?" lie asked in conclusion.

"Well, no thank you, Mr Catling, You have given me some very good copy." "Glad to have been able to oblige.yon with copy, old man, although sorry not to have produced the gold of the General Grant. Good-bye;"