Grafton (ship)

He had decided to return to France when he was approached by a friend who had good grounds for believing that a mine of argentiferous tin existed in Campbell Island.

The friend, a draper known as Charles Sarpy, and his business partner suggested that Raynal could survey this island and discover the mine.

A heavy gale came on New Year's Day of 1864, which continued into midnight of 2 January when the anchor chains parted, and the vessel struck a rocky beach and foundered.

[2] The crew were able to get ashore and managed to salvage food, tools, navigation equipment, Raynal's gun, powder and shot and canvas as well as other material from the wreck.

[5] The men named the cabin "Epigwaitt", an American Indian word meaning "a dwelling by the water" suggested by Musgrave.

For entertainment Captain Musgrave started reading classes and Raynal manufactured a chess set,[6] dominoes and a pack of cards.

[7] To help ward off scurvy as well as to provide some variety to their diet, Raynal was even able to brew "a passable beer"[8] from the Stilbocarpa rhizomes which were abundant on the island, boiling and then fermenting them in their own sugar.

The castaways had made progress on sections of the proposed vessel but were unable to complete it as Raynal found it impossible to manufacture an auger despite a number of attempts.

Captain Cross of Flying Scud took them into his house for a meal, a warm bath and a good night's sleep and then sailed them to Invercargill the next day.

When Flying Scud visited Erebus Cove the crew found the body of a man lying beside the ruins of a house.

The house was one of the Enderby Settlement buildings but the identity of the body was a mystery (the corpse was the 2nd mate of the Invercauld, James Mahoney).

They retrieved larger stocks of food, a dinghy with which to travel around the coast, a gun to shoot birds and seals and also had a wreck from which to salvage useful material.