Shipwrecked for 19 months on Auckland Island, this latter-day Robinson Crusoe suffered only one moment of fear and apprehension. It came soon after the shipwreck when, alone, he fell on his knees and poured out his anguish to the Lord, asking for His intervention and help. “After this,” he wrote, “I rose to my feet, I felt more tranquil…”

David Mitchell retraces a journey of courage and fortitude.

When our yacht crew stepped on to the stage of one of New Zealand’s most enthralling shipwreck dramas, it was as if the actors had only just departed.

Four of us had arrived at a place with an incongruous North American name, Epigwaitt in Carnley Harbour, which is more a passage of very deep water between two of the Auckland Islands. Although there are sheltered anchorage points within it, the word “harbour” is a euphemism. Winds can sweep in over the rata-forested hills that surround it, making it a dangerous place to be.

This was where five survivors of the schooner Grafton had struggled ashore from their badly holed boat 145 years earlier, on January 2, 1864. And to our surprise, here were surviving artefacts that, in a simple way, told the story of the survival of all five crew and, in particular, that of a remarkable hero with many of the traits of a latter-day Robinson Crusoe, Francois Raynal.
There on the stony beach remained the skeletal ribs of the Sydney-based Grafton, with what little was left of its prow poking into a tumbling stream that had provided the castaways with fresh drinking water.

In the nearby rata forest was a clearing where they had built a timber and thatch hut for desperately needed shelter. While nothing now remains of the hut, its site was plain enough and we could see axe scars on some nearby rata stumps.
To one side of the site was a pile of large rocks and bricks, the place where Raynal had built a functioning forge. With minimal resources, the versatile Frenchman had painstakingly made a set of boatmaker’s tools and then nails that enabled him and his companions to rebuild their ship’s dinghy into a sailing boat strong enough for a desperate 450km voyage to safety.

Lying across the rocks, like discarded pick-up sticks, were scattered pieces of timber retrieved from the Grafton, some stained by the copper sheathing.

Our crew of four had sailed from Lyttelton in February 2008 in a twin-masted ketch which was nearly as long as the wrecked schooner we had come to see. It was however considerably smaller, because the Grafton had been built to carry freight and was a bulkier, heavier boat, with a carrying capacity of 75 tonnes. Its Sydney-based crew comprised men of five different nationalities – a skipper from the United States newly settled in Australia, Thomas Musgrave, and a French second in command, Francois Raynal, who had left his homeland for a life of adventure that included two years working as a plantation supervisor in Mauritius, and 11 years searching for gold in Australia. Also aboard were two crewmen, one English and one Norwegian, and a cook who was originally from the Azore Islands.

Of course, the Auckland Islands group has many shipwrecks, some very famous. So why would we have a special interest in the Grafton and its small crew? It was the first of eight ships wrecked in the Auckland Islands between 1864 and 1907, with a total loss of 121 lives. Some of the stories of those shipwrecks are terrifying, none more so than the wreck of the sailing ship Invercauld, which hit rocks on the west coast of the Auckland Islands in May 1864, leaving 22 of the 25 crew dead by drowning or starvation, or the sinking of the fabled General Grant off the forbidding western cliffs of Auckland Island in 1866 with a loss of 73 lives.

The Grafton had sailed south from Sydney in 1863-4 on a speculative voyage to Campbell Island, where Musgrave and Raynal believed they might find silver-bearing tin ore. They didn’t, and instead decided on the voyage home to check out the Auckland group for opportunities such as a sealing venture. They were equipped with only a minimal length of anchor chain and probably did not realise that Carnley Harbour was very deep. When stormy weather struck, the anchor chains proved inadequate. A wild westerly blew them from a channel on to rocks and the holed vessel foundered.

One reason for our interest in the Grafton and Raynal rather than the bigger disasters was that in the catalogue of shipwrecks in the Auckland group from this period, the crew of the Grafton was the only one to successfully rescue themselves by sailing a small boat to Stewart Island. Some survivors of the General Grant had later attempted the voyage, only to perish at sea.
A second, more important reason was that Raynal’s own account of the disaster has recently been republished with more detail and explanation about his achievements.

Another account comparing the Grafton crew’s success with that of the disaster that befell the crew of the Invercauld has also been recently published. We now know more about the Grafton shipwreck, about the achievements of the crew and about the remarkable Franois Raynal.

Raynal’s story had first been published as a series of magazine articles after he returned to France in 1869, although without his name as the author. His book soon followed, illustrated with dramatic and detailed woodcut illustrations by an outstanding French illustrator, Alphonse de Neuville, who also produced the illustrations for Jules Verne’s classic novel Around the World in Eighty Days. Raynal’s book proved to be a bestseller and prizewinner in France. It was republished many times and translated into German, Norwegian and English, with its title in English changed to Wrecked on a Reef.

Raynal’s book is less well-known in New Zealand, though it gained new attention after it was republished here in a classic hardback edition by Steele Roberts of Wellington. This has extensive notes and explanations by a retired Victoria University senior lecturer, Christiane Mortelier, who called Raynal’s book “a literary treasure”.

Ms Mortelier says of the book: “the story, characters and a typical 19th century New Zealand background are there to enjoy. It is a gripping tale with a hero who overcomes dangers, conquers illness, works out a situation for the group and finally returns to his homeland after years of travels. His odyssey reads like a novel…, though in this case, reality has surpassed fiction”.

It’s certainly a compelling read as Raynal explains how he directed the crew’s efforts to salvage whatever they could use from the Grafton, how their cottage was built and how he solved the problems of making walls, roof and chimney and flooring. Raynal also tells about making soap, tanning sealskins, making shoes and clothing, learning that peat could fuel their fire and making an effective cement mix from crushed sea shells mixed with sand.

While Raynal failed in an ambitious attempt to build a totally new boat that they might sail to safety in, he did succeed in transforming their fragile dinghy into a reasonable sailing boat.

In the book, aspects of Raynal’s personality shine through – his willingness to take a full part in activities despite debilitating illness, and a refusal to let hopelessness and abandonment overwhelm him. He was clearly a good organiser and competent in a wide range of practical skills, some learned from his time in the Australian gold diggings. He also taught reading to three of his illiterate shipmates and designed games to help fill in the long evenings.

Added to these traits was a deep and unshakeable Christian faith that originated from a transforming religious experience the first time he sailed on the open ocean. From that time, a religious belief under-pinned his life. In his whole time on Auckland Island, he seemed to have only one moment when he suffered fear and apprehension. It came soon after the shipwreck when, alone, he fell on his knees and, in his words, poured out his anguish to the Lord, asking for His intervention and help.

“After this, I rose to my feet, I felt more tranquil… Thenceforth I firmly resolved to combat and drive away the gloomy thoughts which had assailed me and I felt a desire to render myself as useful as I could, and without delay, to my comrades…”

Raynal’s equanimity was all the more remarkable given that he was entitled to feel betrayed by an uncle who had helped finance and equip the expedition. The uncle had solemnly promised that if the men did not return within four months, a search would be made for them. But as the months slowly slipped away, Musgrave and Raynal realised that the promise had been a hollow one.

Like the other crew, Raynal found comfort in nightly Bible readings in their hut. Prayer was also called on at vital times, such as when they found that their rebuilt dinghy, christened Rescue, would not be safe carrying all five men. Two had to be chosen to wait behind for rescue later.

The voyage in the Rescue by Raynal, Musgrave and their Norwegian crewman Alick Maclaren was a desperate act of bravery. They sailed 450km through hostile seas to Stewart Island with only a cover made of sealion skins to protect them from seawater and rain. For six days they paddled through storm and high seas, and at one stage were nearly tipped out by a big wave.

Finally, on July 25 1865, they reached Port Adventure, midway up Stewart Island’s east coast, where they were cared for by a resident European trader, James Cross, and members of a Maori community there. They were then taken in Cross’s boat to Invercargill and a heroes’ welcome – though they still had to save the two remaining crew.

After several weeks and one aborted attempt, Musgrave and Cross, assisted by contributions from the people of Invercargill, sailed back to Auckland Island and rescued the remaining crewmen.

Raynal’s story was also popularised recently in another book, Island of the Lost written by nautical historian and writer Joan Druett. She contrasts the actions of the Grafton crew with the disasters that befell the crew of the Invercauld, wrecked only about 50km away. Amazingly, the different survivors of the two wrecks were never aware of each other’s presence on Auckland Island.

Of course, Raynal’s experience does not quite match that of Alexander Selkirk, the model for the fictitious figure of Robinson Crusoe in Daniel Defoe’s famous novel. In the early 18th century, Selkirk spent four years and four months alone on a remote island in the Juan Fernandez Group, about 700km off Chile. That was more than double the 19 months that the Grafton castaways spent in Carnley Harbour, where at least they had the company of one another.

However, the circumstances of Selkirk and the Grafton crew were very different. Selkirk was never shipwrecked, he was abandoned – with his consent – in 1704 after he was put ashore by the captain of his ship who was tired of Selkirk’s constant complaints. Selkirk also chose to hide from two Spanish ships that called at the island, fearing that the crews might kill him.
The castaways were at very different latitudes, with contrasting climates. Selkirk was at 30degS with a subtropical climate and an average temperature of about 15 deg. Although wildlife was not plentiful, there were shellfish and a good supply of feral cats, which Selkirk caught by hand.

By contrast, the Grafton surviors were at 50degS in a harsh subantartic climate which Musgrave described as “incessant gales, constant hail, snow and pelting rain”. The storms were more severe than any he had experienced around Cape Horn or elsewhere in the Southern Ocean. The average rainfall is about 1500mm a year and the average temperature hovers around 8degC. There were few fish or shellfish and the men’s main diet was a monotonous one of sea lion meat, causing all five men to have health problems.

Mercifully, Raynal discovered that a local plant, a giant megaherb, could be eaten. It was high in natural sugar, but had the odd side effect of thoroughly bleaching the teeth of those who ate it. Only after the experience of the Grafton crew and subsequent wrecks were food depots for castaways established on Auckland Island. The Grafton survivors shot some ducks and native falcons with Raynal’s shotgun but they did not see any rabbits, which had been released on Auckland Island in the 1840s. Only later, in the 1880s, were pigs and goats released on the island for the benefit of shipwreck survivors.

Raynal had a significant advantage over Selkirk – access to materials from their wrecked ship, including copper sheathing from the hull, and he used these resources very ingeniously.

Of course, the Grafton’s captain, Musgrave, also had skills that were essential to the crew’s survival, particularly his skill in navigating the Rescue back to Stewart Island. He also showed courage and character after their landfall in New Zealand by going back to Auckland Island not just once to pick up the two men left behind, but again only a month later as guide for an expedition organised by three state governments in Australia to see if there were other castaways on the Auckland Islands.
However, in the long, desperate days at Epigwaitt, Musgrave had been prone to depression and uncertainty. By contrast, Raynal never lost hope and it was his vision that proved the crew’s salvation.

After we explored the area where the Grafton survivors had lived, our yacht crew quit Carnley Harbour feeling privileged that we had been to be able to see Epigwaitt and, in particular, Raynal’s forge. It seemed a fitting symbol of the vision, ingenuity, hard work and Crusoe-like qualities of a great man.

We wondered if it might not be better relocated to become part of a museum display, possibly at Te Papa or the Southland Provincial Museum. Raynal’s story and achievements deserve wider currency and recognition.
Notes:
1. Francois should have the C written with the squirly symbol below the C in the French style: Ç
2. Wrecked on a Reef is subtitled Twenty Months Among the Auckland Isles. The edition cited was published by Steele Roberts of Wellington in 2003.
3. The other book referred to is: Island of the Lost by Joan Druett, Allen and Unwin, Crows nest NSW, 2007
4. Map: A good map of Auckland Island showing Carnley Harbour is available through Wikipedia Commons at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Auckland_islands_topo.png
It is available for use, but I am not quite sure how to copy it across from the web.