By David Bennett
My expedition to an ancestor’s castaway island, and what I learnt about the ongoing conservation work in the Subantarctic region.
Over New Years I joined an expedition to the subantarctic with Heritage Expeditions, thanks to them granting me a ‘True Young Explorer Scholarship’. This expedition allowed me to visit the island that an ancestor of mine had been shipwrecked on in 1887: Enderby Island, in New Zealand’s subantarctic Auckland Islands archipelago. The trip was not only interesting in terms of the history of the place, but also brought to light the incredible natural environment of the subantarctic and the importance of the ongoing conservation work in the region, including that being undertaken by the New Zealand Department of Conservation, and the charity ‘New Zealand Nature Fund’.
The story my grandad used to tell me:
Growing up, we would visit my grandparents in rural Wexford every year, and inevitably during the trip, whether having been prompted or of his own volition, grandad would tell us the story of Great Uncle James McGhie.
Sat in his armchair by the fireplace, with the family gathered around the room, and a painting of ill-fated ship the Derry Castle hanging on the wall behind him, grandad would begin:
The photo of the Derry Castle which hung in the living room behind grandad’s chair. Now in my parent’s house.
James McGhie was a miller from Limerick, he tried to live a healthy life, every summer he would swim across the bay at Kilkee, and he didn’t drink or smoke. In spite of this, he had been diagnosed with Rheumatism, and on advice of his doctor decided to embark on a long sea voyage for fresh air. As he was a miller, he managed to join a ship owned by a previous employer, used for the transport of grain from Australia to the UK, it was a three masted iron barque, the Derry Castle.
Great Uncle James McGhie (My great great great uncle). In a family photo album.
Initially James’s trip was uneventful, the ship sailed south from Limerick, around the Cape of Good Hope and then east to Melbourne in Australia, where it was filled with a cargo of wheat. James met his cousin in Australia, a Melbourne resident, who gave him a single bullet as a keep-sake.
From here grain running ships depart Australia, sailing south of New Zealand, across the Pacific to Cape Horn and back up the Atlantic to the UK. However, the ill-fated Derry Castle, after just 8 days at sea, had sailed too far south, and during a stormy night ran aground on the northern tip of Enderby Island in the subantarctic Auckland Islands, at a point now named Derry Castle Reef.
Derry Castle Reef, taken by Sydney Taylor, now held in Christchurch Library.
Me with Derry Castle Reef in the background.
Onboard were 22 crew, the first-mate’s dog, and the single passenger, James McGhie. The ship came to a sudden stop, and had found itself perched dangerously upon the reef, with waves crashing over the decks and the ship slowly breaking up.
The men rushed up to the now dangerously slanted deck, life jackets were distributed, and the men gathered on the high side of the ship, standing on the outside of the ship’s railing with waves crashing over them. The decision was made to try to swim ashore, or they would die of hypothermia stuck where they were. One by one the men jumped in.
James McGhie jumped and started swimming, the ship was breaking up and wood and cargo was floating all around, with waves crashing over and freezing subantarctic waters to contend with. He managed to get close to the rocky shore, grabbed hold of a floating wooden beam and as a wave washed him towards the jagged coastline managed to use the beam to break the impact and leverage himself up over the rocks onto the shore.
He crawled behind a rock on the shoreline, his legs had stopped working due to the sheer cold of the ocean. Here he sheltered until waves started crashing over his rock, and he managed to drag himself further inland, where he found a freshwater stream to drink from and rejuvenate. One by one the men gathered throughout the night into the morning, 8 of 23 had made it to shore. Apparently the first man to see James was surprised that he had made it ashore, being that he was onboard for medical reasons, and many experienced sailors hadn’t managed the perilous swim to shore. Luckily for James, he was a strong swimmer, due to his summertime habit of swimming across the bay of Kilkee.
In the morning they looked back out towards the reef to see one of the masts still standing, and the ship’s sailmaker still clinging to it. The men shouted across to him, to try to coax him down, and he made the leap. He began swimming across to them, with the men unable to help, before disappearing behind a rock and never being seen again.
The first night the men spent sleeping ashore on the island without any shelter, one of the men found a nice hollow to curl up in. Halfway through the night a male sea lion chased him out of the hollow and bit the sailor on the leg. The castaways are said to have spent the rest of the night fending off aggressive sea lions (if only they had known, as the Heritage Expeditions guides do, that if you hold out an object such as a backpack or jacket between you and the Sea Lion, the Sea Lion stops in its tracks and does not attack…).
A cartoon of the Derry Castle survivors being attacked by sea lions, taken from a newspaper clipping at the time, pasted into James McGhie’s sister’s (Agnes McGhie) scrapbook. Now in my parent’s house.
The Derry Castle Gravesite, facing over the reef, taken by Sydney Taylor, now held by Christchurch Library. The female figurehead you can see in place in the gravesite is now in Christchurch Museum (Sadly closed so I was unable to see it in person).
Visiting the gravesite facing towards the island. Sea Lions still rule the islands here, as they did when my great uncle James McGhie was stranded here.
A close up of the modern memorial to those lost in the Derry Castle wreck.
The 8 survivors decided to explore their new home, Enderby Island, the northernmost of the subantarctic Auckland Islands. On the other side of Enderby, the men discovered a ‘castaway depot’, known as ‘stella hut’. A supply depot left by the New Zealand government for the use of castaways. The men were overjoyed, but this was soon crushed when they discovered that all the depot contained was a bottle of salt. It had evidently been raided by one of the sealing vessels that visited the Auckland Islands.
One of the remaining ‘Fingerposts’ pointing towards the island’s castaway depot, overlooking Sandy Bay.
The castaway depot ‘Stella Hut’ which only contained a bottle of salt, and where the 8 castaways slept the first 10 days on Enderby Island. Trees have grown up around it and there is no trace left of the grass huts.
The 8 men proceeded to live in the depot for the next 10 days, sleeping with 4 crouched on each side.
The men were still without fire, and suffering from the bitterly cold subantarctic conditions, it had not stopped raining for their first 10 days on the island. They had matches which had been completely destroyed by the damp. As a last resort, an idea was hatched, James McGhie still had in his pocket the bullet his cousin had given him. By taking this apart, and using a nail to create a spark and ignite the gunpowder, a small piece of cloth was ignited. The men fanned this into a fire, which with dedicated watches and some trouble, they managed to keep lit constantly throughout their ordeal.
The men now had fire, and built grass huts close to the ‘stella hut’ to give themselves a little more room, and the ability to sleep laying down rather than in the cramped conditions of the castaway hut.
How the men created their fire using James McGhie’s bullet. Agnes McGhie’s scrapbook, now in my parent’s house.
The castaway depot and castaways grass huts, photo taken by Sydney Taylor, now in Christchurch Library archives
The castaways, now with fire and shelter, decided to focus their efforts on finding ways to get off the island. They had found some bottles on sandy bay beach, and considered sending messages in bottles out into the currents. They deliberated tying messages to the island’s seabirds. They settled on the decision of lighting a bonfire with some of the ship’s debris on the northern edge of the island.
Half the group were left by their huts, while a party travelled north keeping an ember burning in a tin can. They reached the northern shore and began their fire. Unfortunately the fire quickly spread, and ignited the nearby forest, soon enough the men could see the fire moving across the entire island. The men back at the huts on the other side of the island spotted the fire moving towards them, and did all they could to put the fire and embers out to prevent them from igniting the huts. Fortunately they saved their huts. Yet their attempt to attract passing ships was unfortunately unsuccessful.
Later in their stay, a ship was sighted sailing straight for the island, and the men lit a beacon they had prepared to attract its attention towards them. Upon the sight of the smoke, in a crushing moment for the castaways, the ship turned in the opposite direction and sailed off over the horizon. It was likely an illegal sealing vessel and had presumed the men were a government lookout post.
The ship which sailed away once it saw the lit beacon. Agnes McGhie’s scrapbook, now in my parent’s house.
Meanwhile the men had constructed a small punt, with the aim of reaching the main Auckland Island, where they believed they could see a house. Fortunately this was a success, and they managed to reach what was a fully stocked castaway depot. Now with clothes, food, and a decent shelter, the men remained there for the rest of their stay.
The Derry Castle Punt at Erebus Cove, the punt is now in Southland Museum (currently closed for renovations so I was unable to see it). Photo taken by Sydney Taylor and held in Christchurch library archives.
Erebus Cove, with the hut in the background where the castaways found the fully stocked depot and lived after relocating. Photo by Sydney Taylor, held in Christchurch library archives.
Landing at Erebus Cove with Heritage Expeditions. Expedition leader Dan Brown can be seen on the left. The trees have since grown up and the old hut is now gone. Bricks do still remain in the forest from its chimney.
The castaways were rescued after having survived roughly 5 months in the subantarctic winter. A sealing vessel pulled into Port Ross one night, and in the morning the castaways made contact. The sailors and castaways were equally surprised to see each other, and the first thing the castaways asked for was tobacco for their pipes, with James McGhie the non-smoker watching on.
Eventually returned to Melbourne, the crew members went back to work, while James McGhie made his way back to Limerick. The vessel which rescued them was paid £350 by the New Zealand Parliament, much more than they would have made sealing. James McGhie was paid by the Melbourne Argus to write an account of his castaway experience, and the story was widely published in papers around the world.
Agnes McGhie, whose scrapbook contains newspaper clippings and cartoons from the time. In a family photo album.
Agnes McGhie’s scrapbook, which is now in my parent’s house. It contains the full 14 page account written by James McGhie.
Grandad would end the story on a slightly sad note, Great Uncle James McGhie’s family had presumed he was dead, as Lloyds of London had announced the Derry Castle was lost. So upon his return to Limerick he found his livelihood, his mill, had been sold. He later died at the age of 47, without having married and without offspring.
He had spent his final years working as an auctioneer and was very well liked in Limerick, with his funeral being very well attended, and we, his family still continue to tell his story to this day.
After grandad finished telling the story, the grandchildren would head up to bed, passing the model of the Derry Castle that hung above the stairs, ready to dream of shipwrecks and adventure.
The Derry Castle model which hung above the stairs at my grandparent’s house. Now at my parent’s house.
Three other Young Explorer Scholarship recipients and myself in Christchurch library archives, viewing Sydney Taylor’s original photographs of the Derry Castle shipwreck sites on Enderby Island.
Ongoing conservation work in the Auckland Islands / Maukahuka
Auckland Islands/ Maukahuka is home to over 500 species, many of which are found nowhere else on earth. The Auckland Islands are a UNESCO world heritage site, and the waters surrounding the islands are a marine reserve measuring 1,920 sq mi.
In the 19th century, in an attempt to make the islands more habitable for human settlers, non-native animals were introduced including goats, pigs, cats, and rabbits. These animals caused immense harm to the native ecosystem, leading to the decline of many endemic species.
Over many decades, pests have been eradicated from all Aotearoa New Zealand’s subantarctic islands except Auckland Island, where they have wreaked havoc on the environment on a massive scale.
Introduced pigs, mice and cats have caused habitat loss, driven the local extinction of multiple bird species, devastated iconic megaherbs and damaged soils, and this has had a flow-on effect on the surrounding Southern Ocean.
The Maukahuka Pest Free Auckland Island is a joint partnership between the Department of Conservation (DOC) and Ngāi Tahu. The project aims to eradicate these three devastating pests from the island so that plants and animals can thrive once again, at an estimated cost of $80 million NZD.
NZ Nature Fund is managing funds donated to the major project of making Maukahuka/Auckland Island Pest Free. Once funding is secured this project can be initiated.
This effort will help to protect and increase populations of native animals including Rockhopper Penguins, Sea Lions, and Albatross. The introduced mammals (pigs, mice, and cats) prey on the native animals, so it is essential to remove them for protection of the island’s native species.
Heritage Expeditions are also supporting the pest eradication effort on the Auckland Islands, and brought members from the NZ Nature Fund onboard our expedition as guests.
The Auckland Islands (With Enderby Island in the top right)
Rockhopper penguins on Auckland Island, populations are currently in decline, showing how important ongoing conservation work is.
Sea Lions on Enderby Island, populations on the Auckland islands are also in decline.
Albatross on Campbell Island
Enderby Island Rabbits, and Auckland Island Pigs. Both species were placed on the Auckland Islands in the hope to provide a food source for castaways, a project that didn’t work, as castaways found them too hard to hunt without rifles. Their introduction led to the pests overrunning the islands. The rabbit and pigs pictured are currently looked after in Willowbank Wilderness Reserve after having been eradicated from Enderby Island.
James McGhie’s account where he mentions the castaways were unable to hunt the pigs until after their rescue
James McGhie’s full account:
True Young Explorer Scholarship
TYE’s and guides Anne and Andy
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Heritage Expeditions for such an amazing experience, and their expert guides for helping immerse me both in the history and in the natural world of the Subantarctic Islands. Thank you to guides Annie and Andy for looking after us TYEs. And all of the TYEs for such incredible insights into the scientific and natural world.
I would also like to thank the Department of Conservation for the incredible work they do on the islands, and specifically: DOC Archeologist Matt Schmidt. Whom I spent hours talking with onboard the Heritage Adventurer about the Derry Castle shipwreck and other archaeological sites of the Auckland Islands.
Author John McCrystal who advised me on materials to read up on about the Auckland Islands shipwrecks.
The Christchurch Library for allowing me to access their archives to view the original Sydney Taylor photographs of the Derry Castle Shipwreck sites.
I would like to give special thanks to the Russ family who run Heritage Expeditions for granting me a True Young Explorer’s Scholarship allowing me to go on such an incredible adventure, as well as thanking them for all they do in benefit of the Subantarctic region, they are a truly remarkable family of conservationists.
With Aaron Russ on Enderby Island
Heritage Expeditions: www.heritage-expeditions.com /
NZ Nature Fund: https://nznaturefund.org /
Me with a sunburnt nose after a remarkably hot time in the Sub Antarctic islands. Climate change is likely to be a contributing factor towards the declining populations of sea lions and penguins in the Auckland Islands.
David Bennett
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