Many Shipwrecks

Te Ao Hou, October 1956, Page 57

Many Shipwrecks The last book, Islands of Despair, by Allen W. Eden, takes us south of New Zealand and right out of Polynesia into sub-Antarctica. Knowing practically nothing about the Auckland Islands. I read Mr Eden's book in the hope that it would satisfy my curiosity and provide me with some information. And it did. Now I know with certainty that I have no desire to visit the Auckland Islands, and if I am ever forced to do so I shall consider myself lucky if I survive. After tropical nights in Tahiti and sun-drenched days in Raroia, Mr Eden's surveying expedition in the Auckland pole. This account of hard, exacting, and often dangerous work carried out in extremely rough and difficult country in what must be one of the worst climates in the world, is frankly depressing. I don't see how it could be otherwise. Mr Eden's Islands comes like an icy blast from the south restrained style and meticulous attention to detail of time and place may be a shade too near textbook writing for the lay-reader, but it is not this that makes the book so grim. No one could write cheerfully or humourously about a place that has been the scene of literally dozens of ship-wrecks (Mr Eden describes them all), and drownings and violent deaths and unimaginable suffering. The latter part of the book deals with sealing and penguin catching in the same region, and Mr Eden treats us to some hair-raising descriptions of what happened to both animals and men on Macquarie Island before it was declared a sanctuary. The title may seem a little romantic at first, but after reading the book I am sure you will agree that nothing could be more appropriate.