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Castaway on the Auckland Isles
Note by the Publishers
Note by the Publishers.
The following additional particulars of the loss of the Invercauld, and the adventures of the survivors, taken from the Melbourne Illustrated Post of the 25th October, will no doubt be acceptable here, though involving to some extent a repetition of the above:—
"Information has been received by way of England, of the wreck, on the Auckland Islands, of the ship Invercauld, a vessel of 888 tons, Captain George Dalgarno, which sailed from Melbourne for Callao, in ballast, on the 28th of April, 1864. The circumstances attending the wreck of the Invercauld are of a peculiarly painful nature, and such as are likely to excite in the minds of this community more than ordinary interest, while the details of the narrative furnished by Captain Musgrave, of the schooner Grafton, containing so harrowing an account of the miseries and privations endured by himself and his shipwrecked crew on that barren and desolate isle, are so fresh in the memories of the inhabitants of this colony. The Invercauld carried no passengers, and her crew consisted (with the captain) of 25 persons. Mitchell's Maritime Register of the 5th of August has the following with reference to the disaster:—
"'The Invercauld, Captain Dalgarno, from Melbourne to page 174
Callao, struck, 10th May, 1864, on the north-west end of the island of Auckland, lat. 53° S., long. 106° E., and went to pieces. Six of the crew were drowned and 19 were washed ashore, of whom the captain, Mr. Andrew Smith, the chief officer, and a seaman named Robert Holding were rescued 12 months and 10 days after.' The saved portion of the crew subsisted together on the island for some time, but through the dreadful scarcity of food the members were speedily reduced by death caused by starvation, until at length only the three survivors remained. They were ultimately rescued from their fearful position by a Portuguese vessel sailing past the island, and in it conveyed to Callao, whence they proceeded to England. Captain Dalgarno has furnished to his owners a complete narrative of the wreck, with a most interesting history of the residence of himself and his companions on the Auckland Islands. They must have been on the island at the same time as Captain Musgrave, and no doubt the smoke seen at a distance by this gentleman must have proceeded from the camp of the castaways belonging to the Invercauld. The dead body, and the slate containing some obliterated writing, also discovered by Captain Musgrave, may have belonged to this party, but such was the inaccessible nature of the country that a complete search could not be made on that occasion. Captain Dalgarno, with his mate and Holding, the seaman, met with a most cordial reception at Callao, where the greatest kindness was extended towards them."
The End.
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