Do you enjoy a story with risk and adventure?
About The Island of Sunken Treasure
The General Grant was a sailing ship heading from Melbourne to London when it smashed into cliffs in the subantarctic Auckland Islands, 465 kilometres south of the South Island, on May 14, 1866. Of the 83 people on board, 15 eventually made it ashore at Port Ross at the northern end of the main island. After nine months, four of the crew set out in a small boat for Bluff, more than 500km away, but were never seen again.
Another survivor died of illness before the 10 remaining castaways moved to nearby Enderby Island and were finally rescued by the whaling brig Amherst, having survived for 18 months. The shipwreck has never been found but the tragedy has fascinated people, especially as the ship was carrying a cargo of gold from the Victorian goldfields.
Inside the Book
Photo History
After their rescue the survivors had photos taken in their castaway, sealskin clothing. These clothes were all hand sewn, using needles made from albatross bones. Below are some photos from a collection at Te Papa Museum, you can view more here.
Gift of E. Webber, 1955. Te Papa (GH003129/5)
More About The Author
Gordon Campbell is a New Zealander who has taught history for many years. He has written teaching resources, magazine articles about historic events and a children's book about an encounter between Captain James Cook and a young Māori boy. When he was young, reading newspaper reports of an expedition to find the wreck of the General Grant, sparked a lifelong interest in this, and other wrecks on the Auckland Islands.
There are a couple of recent articles, which you can read below.