THE GENERAL GRANT

Southland Times, Issue 21263, 9 December 1930, Page 16

THE GENERAL GRANT

WRECK RECALLED RESCUERS STILL LIVING IN BLUFF. MR. J. WESLEY’S GRAPHIC NARRATIVE. / (From Our Correspondent.) The sailing ship General Grant, bound from Melbourne for London, was lost on Auckland Island in the year 1866. The wreck was a terrible tragedy, about GO lives being lost. The vessel carried at least £10,500 worth of gold, and probably much more —though how much only a successful salvage expedition could determine. Several attempts to recover the lost treasure have been made without result. In at least one of these, tragedy attended the enterprise. It has been reported throughout the Press of Australia and New Zealand that still another attempt will be made to locate and raise the General Grant’s gold. Sixty-four years is a big span of time; yet there are living in Bluff to-day two members of the sealing party which rescued the survivors of the wreck. These men are John Wesley (familiarly known as “Ben Moses”) and John Edwards. In the following article Mr Wesley, whose memory remains unimpaired despite his 80 odd years, tells of the rescue, and of the account of the wreck given by the General Grant’s survivors.

“It has been stated that a Government steamer went to the Auckland Islands and picked up the survivors of the General Grant,” said Mr Wesley. “This is not so. They wefe found in ’BB (18 months after the vessel was lost) by a sealing party, of which John Edwards and I were members, on the brig Amethyst commanded by the famous Captain “Paddy” Gilroy. After we returned to Bluff the Government tug Southland was sent to the islands to look for further possible survivors, but, of course, found none. That explains why she is nowadays credited with the discovery. The Southland’s cruise was also in ’BB, about the end of the year. It has been said also that 16 were rescued out of 60 passengers and crew, but as a matter of fact only 14 reached land after the wreck, and of these 10, including one woman, lived to return with us to Bluff.

“At that time we knew nothing about the wreck of the General Grant. We were going sealing to the McQuarries, but owing to bad weather put into Port Ross at the Aucklands, and there we found the survivors on Enderby Island. We were as surprised as they were. I will never forget their delight at being found. They looked a strange crowd, too, all being clad in sealskins. Eighteen months as castaways had accounted for their European clothes. There were 10 of them left out of the 14. One of their number had died on the island, while the mate of the General Grant and two seamen had left in the longboat to try to reach New Zealand. The others told us the mate had no navigating instruments, and, besides, it had blown a hurricane soon after the boat left. She and her three occupants were never sighted again. We were also told by these people that there were well over 70 all told on the General Grant and that as many of the passengers, mostly successful diggers returning to England, kept their gold about them, it was hard to calculate how much was really on board. I know that two of the ten, a sailor named Jewel and his wife, the latter the only woman saved, had about £4OO with them when we brought them back. Panic Among Passengers. “The General Grant, it appears, went in near the cliffs just after dark, but the skipper would not allow a boat to be lowered till 2 o’clock in the morning, 'then the small boat was sent out with a kedge to try to stop the drift of the ship. This failed. When the General Grant’s masts crashed into the cliffs a large rock fell on to the deck where the passengers were crowded together. Many were killed by it and this alone was sufficient to account for the panic that followed. The order was given to lower the long boat and immediately a mad rush was made for it by the frenzied passengers. Just how many piled into it .will never be known; for on reaching the water she turned over and all, save one, were lost. That one was Mrs Jewel, the stewardess, whose husband, a miner, had signed on as a seaman for the trip Home. Mrs Jewel was hauled into the boat after it had been raised again and another load taken in. The second time, the boat was also provisioned, and navigating instruments taken on board, and also, the survivors believed, a large amount of gold. A heartrending scene followed. There were many swimming in the icy waters, and these swam round the boat calling for help and clutching at the gunwale. As she was already heavily laden it was impossible to help those in the water and their hands were brushed from the side. Perhaps because her husband, who was in the boat, recognized her, the risk was taken of lifting Mrs Jewel in. The sea soon claimed the others. The ship’s captain refused to leave the vessel. When last seen he was in the rigging from which no entreaties could persuade him to descend. One pathetic case was that of a French lady passenger who swam to the smaller boat and tried to clamber aboard. She was repulsed and fell back into the sea.

“The two boats made for Disappointment Island, about three miles to the north-west. At this island a wave overturned the long boat again and though no lives were lost this time, provisions, instruments and, possibly, gold went to the bottom. The boat was righted and the two hung about till daylight, then went along the coast through the passage to Port Ross, about 14 miles away. . It was from there that the mate and his companions made their attempt to reach New Zealand in the long boat, and the other survivors lived in hope they would succeed, but, as we know, the venture failed, and it is likely the boat went down soon after setting out. Of those who returned with us at least one later .met death by drowning. This was a man named Janies Teares who lost his life in Jackson’s Bay on the West. Coast. “It is sad to think of all those people meeting such a terrible death when they might easily have got ashore had the captain known that a good landing place was at hand. When we returned to Bluff a chart of the Aucklands was produced and survivors pointed out to us the place where the General Grant struck. I have been nine times to the islands and have stood on the cliffs above the spot often. From where I stood it was plain that had the boats been sent off earlier on the port side of the ship towards Red Rock a good landing would have been found. Red Rock, a wellknown spot to those who knew the Aucklands, is about a mile from wjiere the General Grant went in. Attempt at Salvage. “One of the survivors was an Irish sailor known as Con. Not very long after the news reached Australia, a Mr Stephens, ot Adelaide, financed an expedition to try to recover the General Grant’s gold, and Con was taken as pilot. The expedition went south in the steamer Gazelle and the schooner Flora. An engineer was taken along by Mr Stephens to advise as to the feasibility of an attempt to recover the treasure from the land. The engineer considered it was. the best way, after he examined the place, and he decided on a plan of action which meant blowing down the overhanging cliffs beneath which the General Grant was wrecked. His idea was that the big cliffs would fall outside the vessel and so form a protecting wall behind which salvage operations could be carried out without danger from the sea. It was a big scheme, tunnelling and blasting the cliffs. He had already thought out the plan in Australia and a large amount of explosives had been brought south for the purpose. But Con, the Irish sailor, wrecked the plan. He believed the vessel would be hopelessly buried beneath thousands of tons of rock if the engineer had his way, and while the others were elsewhere he heaved the explosives into the sea from the cliffs.

‘The two vessels thereupon returned with the salvage party, except Stevens, who stayed on alone to fully investigate all possible means of recovering the treasure. Afterwards he too was brought, back by a sealing party under the leadership of Tamati To Au. (The late Walter Joss and Taoka Whaitiri were among the members of the party. Their descendants are wellknown in Bluff to-day). It was to these people Mr Stephens told of Con’s action, which the former believed, robbed them of success.”

Mr Wesley produced a chart of the islands and pointed out the place where the General Grant was lost. “It is easy to find,” he said in conclusion. “There is no difficulty at all in locating the place where the survivors said she struck. Of course, I have only their word for it, but they were very confident, their statement, was correct. Perhaps the gold will yet. be recovered; on that point I can pass no opinion. But like all others I wish any salvage expedition the best of luck.”