Castaway depot
A string of depots were built by the New Zealand government on their subantarctic islands in the late-19th and early-20th centuries that were kept supplied and patrolled until modern technologies and alteration in trade routes rendered them unnecessary.
For example, in 1868, Henry Armstrong of the Amherst notified the New Zealand government that the commonly used chart prepared by James Imray in 1851 placed the Auckland Islands 35 miles (56 km) south of their true position.
[4] Thomas Musgrave, captain of the Grafton that was wrecked on the Auckland Islands in 1864, described the "incessant gales, constant hail, snow and pelting rain" that plagued the survivors.
[5] The Grafton, a schooner out of Sydney in search of tin deposits, ran aground in Carnley Harbour during a storm in January 1864; the five survivors lived in huts made from salvaged materials for 19 months before three members of the crew made the journey successfully to Stewart Island in five days in the repaired ship's boat; Captain Musgrave then arranged a rescue of the remaining two castaways.
[1] The steamers visited each island every six months, doing maintenance and repairs of the facilities, cutting firewood for the huts, and dropping off stocks of live animals.
In 1891, while on a cruise in search of the missing ships Kakanui and Assaye, Captain Fairchild of the Hinemoa noted that the Bounty Island depot had been destroyed by waves, even though located 100 ft above sea level.
[21] The 1890s castaway depot at Camp Cove, Carnley Harbour, on Auckland Island was identified in a 2003 DOC survey as "worthy of inclusion on the 'actively managed' list.
[16] The first castaways to make use of one of these depots were members of the crew of the Derry Castle, an iron barque that was wrecked on Enderby Island on 20 March 1887.
[23] A depot was in place at Sandy Bay, but looters had removed all supplies but a bottle of salt,[6] so the castaways subsisted on shellfish and a small quantity of wheat recovered from the wreck.
Two of the men navigated the boat to nearby Erebus Cove, Port Ross, on Auckland Island, where they obtained supplies from the government depot that had been established there.
They then returned to collect the remaining men, and the group lived at Port Ross until they were rescued by the sealer Awarua on 19 July, that took them to Melbourne.
They obtained relief and sustenance from two nearby depots, supplemented by livestock that had been released onto the island, and survived in comparatively good health until rescued 122 days later by the sealing schooner Janet Ramsay on 30 June, and carried to Bluff.
[24] Less successfully, the 11 survivors of the Spirit of the Dawn out of a crew of 16 failed to find the depots after foundering on a reef off the Antipodes Islands in 1893.
[25] However, they subsisted on raw muttonbirds, mussels and roots, and after 87 days, they sighted a patrolling government steamer Hinemoa and were able to attract its attention by waving a flag made from their sail.
Ten days later they reached the depot at Camp Cove, that provided them with ample supplies as well as the shipping schedule of the Hinemoa so they knew how long they would have to wait for rescue.
[26] Reaching Norman Inlet on 7 May, Captain John Bollons of the Hinemoa noticed signs that there were castaways, located them, and was able to pick them up from the island and carry them to Dunedin.
The island lacked a depot, and the 17 castaways from a crew of 28 subsisted on what water and food they could find, mainly mollymawks and seals, and dug crude sand shelters.
They were picked up by the Hinemoa on 16 November, and once Captain Bollons had completed his steamship's survey of the Campbell and Antipodes Islands, were taken to Bluff.
After they had used up the depot's supplies, they hunted albatrosses, penguins and a calf – the sole remnant of the cattle that had been set ashore earlier by the Hinemoa.
