CASTAWAYS.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 September 1924, Page 16

CASTAWAYS.

AN OLD-TIME SEARCH. AROUND AUCKLAND ISLANDS. STORIES' OF THE SEA. The story of a search for castaways on the Auckland and. other islands in the eighteen-sixties is outlined in a little publication from the offiiee of the Victorian Government Printer of the day. This comprises the “Journals of the Voyage and Proceedings of H.M.C.S. Victoria,” compiled by iGaptain W. H. Norman, commander of that colonial steam sloop, and Thomas Musgrave, formerly captain of the schooner Grafton. The publication contains a map of the Auckland Islands, the instructions from the Victorian Government through Mr. J. G. Francis, Commissioner of Trade and Customs, to Captains Norman and Musgrave, and the reports of the two officers. The New South Wales and Queensland Governments shared in the cost of the expedition, wltieb was the result of Captain Musgrave’s representations that, from his own experience its a castaway, lie believed that other shipwrecked f.ailoie were on the islands. The expedition left Hobson’s Bay on October 4, 1865. and reached the islands on October 10. The circumstances which led up to this expedition are told in E. Keble Chatterton’s absorbing book, “Seamen AU.” The writer’s notable Mirk. “The Mercantile Marine,” was published last year. The theme of , “Stamen All” is “adventure by sea in all kinds of ship? by all kinds of seamen during the period of the last 250 years.” Mr. Keble Chatterton has developed a fine piee.e of work from this theme. The book is filled with stories of the great days of sail, and many of them are of a special interest to Australia from their connection with its early history.

The Auckland Islands, he writes, are a group of one main island and several small ones separated by narrow channels. ’Uninhabited, mountainous, volcanic, wooded, they are al>out I'Bo tniles soqith of New Zealand. It was only in 1806 that they were discovered by Captain Bristow in the Ocean. Along the western side rocky cliffs from 100 to 750 feet high extend, with deep water right up to the shore. There are tWo good harbours—‘Port Ross in the north and Carnley Harbour in the south. From the shores of the harbours, low forest covers rising ground, and there is a belt of undergrowth, and above this grassy slopes rise to the hills. The region is notorious for its weather, and there have been several historic wrecks here, such as the Grafton in 1863. WRECK OF THE GRAFTON. The Grafton was a topsail schooner under the command of Captain Musgrave, and she sailed from Sydney for the South Sea Islands on November 12, 1863. On December 30 she made the Aucklands; the weather was unsettled, but she still held oa. On the following day it was blowing a gale, with a dangerous, confused sea running, which broke on board in all directions, causing the ship to labour and strain so badly that she began to leak, so t-<at Captain Musgrave eventually went into Carnley Harbour. The Grafton beat in against the westerly wind on the afternoon of New Year’s Day. but, finding no bottom even <4ose to the rocks, kept under way all night. In the morning she sent off her lx»at to look for an anchorage, but found none.

'l'hroiighnut the next day it blew a very heavy gale. Musgrave sailed the schooner up the unsurveyed harliour for several miles, am! let go the anchors. At last he began to realise that he was in a tight corner, especially if the wind should go )>ack to the south-west. He thought of slipping the cable and running out to sea, but he could see that he would never be able to clear the point. At every heave of the swell the schooner was dragging her anchor home, and at midnight, when the gale had .reached its height, she struck the shore at low water. Presently she lay broadside on to the beach; she was leaking badly. On the beach the surf was so heavy that Musgrave decided that it was not safe to land till the morning. This was finally done by means of the ship’s boat. The schooner’s main sail and gaff were brought ashore-. and a tent, made therefrom. Boards were fetched from the ship to make a floor in the tent; spars were also sent ashore, for soon a house would have to be built. There was plenty of small timber, and a beautiful creek of clear water for drinking. Seals were numerous, and they were killed at the tent door as required. The party took it in turns to cook, and by means of the seals, mussels, birds, roots and fish they managed to feed. MAKING AN ESCAPE. Then they set to and made themselves a house with the schooner’s spars and the local timl>er, with canvas and thatch for the sides and squares of glass taken out of the schooner’s cabin. The party consisted of Musgrave, Raynal, the mate, and three other men. •From the Figure of Eight Island they were able to obatin as many seals for meat as they required; cod was caught, and the boat was used for exploring this lonely harbour. Thus the months went slowly by; the clothes of the castaways became so patched with sealskin ami canvas that nothing of the 1 original garments remained. At the i end of twelve months Musgrave decided ‘to lake a big risk. The seals were getting scarce, and starvation was threatening. and the southernmost part of ’New Zealand lay 180 miles to the .north. The 12-feet dinghy was remodelled for an attempt to reach Stewart Island, .and launched at the end of June, but it was found at the start that five mien in that tiny craft made matters impossible, so two of them wore left on the island. On July 10 the party made a fresh start from the harbour with a light southerly wind, which soon turned into a south-west gale, and continued till July 24. Still, at last the boat was brought ii to Port Adventure. Stewart Island, and after rest and food Musgrave proceeded thence to Invercargill. A vessel named the Flying Send was then chartered, and sailovl for the Auckland*. The two men were rescued from the shore, and “atp their first meal with a zest that had been stored up for long, weary days. But such is the kink in human nature that these two ni'!»n on those desolate islands had quarrelled so heartily, that they were just on the point of separating and'-liv-ing apart.” At last the Flying Scud

In-ought them to Stewart Island, and thence they sailed to New Zealand, towing the remarkable dinghy that ha I made so sensational a trip. The dinghy got full of water, parted her tow rope, anti was lost. THE SURVIVORS. On May 10, 1864, during a heavy northerly gale, the ship bound from Melbourne to Callao, was wrecked on the 'north-eastern shore of th< Island. Nineteen of the crew reached the shore; for .1 time the survivors lived on seals, but when these disapprared they subsisted on limpets, roots, and water. By the end of August al) had died except three. IFor over a year these three lingered, more dead than alive, when it chanced that a Portuguese ship, the Julian, called at the island, picked up the, three, and took them to 'Callao. So that Musgrave’s party and the Invercauld’s survivors were on this inland at the same time without meeting. Musgrave did, in fact, see smoke on the east side, which he could not understand, but on landing at the fiorth .end of the island, searchers from the Flying Semi found the ’dead body of a man with an oilskin coat over him, and by his side a small pile of seashells and two bottles containing water. The inference is that this was one of the Invercauld’s party who had starved to death. When Captain Musgrave reached Melbourne, he told the authorities that there might .still he men on c-e island. H.M.C.S. Victoria was accordingly dispatched in search, and Musgrave accompanied her, but, as was found out later, the Julian had already called. The. date of the Julian's visit was May *22, IMJS, which was while Musgrave and his men were busy working on the dinghy. They did not see the Portuguese ship, or that I'Bo-mile trip in the dinghy would not have been necessary