page_title: Grafton (ship)
section_title: Shipwreck
hierarchical_section_title: Grafton (ship) / Last voyage / Shipwreck
caption_attribution_description: English: Remains, of the "Grafton" Wreck, Carnley Harbour, Auckland Islands Subject: Auckland Islands (New Zealand), Grafton (Schooner), Shipwrecks--New Zealand--Auckland Islands Geographic Subject: New Zealand--Auckland Islands--Carnley Harbour Tag: Coasts, Vessels
context_page_description: Grafton was a 56-ton schooner sailing out of Sydney during the 1860s that was wrecked on 3 January 1864, in the north arm of Carnley Harbour, Auckland Island, one of the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands; nearly 480 kilometres south of the South Island. Her castaway crew waited a year for a ship to come to their rescue, which, it soon became apparent, would not come.
  Six months later, three men decided to set out in a dinghy and managed to cross a distance of 450 kilometres to Stewart Island, 30 kilometres south of New Zealand's South Island. They then funded a rescue mission to pick up their remaining companions. The crew spent a total of 18 months on the sub-Antarctic island, and despite their ordeal, all survived.
context_section_description: Grafton entered one of the sounds of the Auckland Islands on 31 December. 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.
  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. Despite only being provisioned for two months they survived for a year and a half on seal meat, birds, fish and water. They originally made a tent from portions of the spars and sails of the wreck before building a permanent cabin from wreck timber and stone.
  Raynal had experience in building huts from his time in the goldfields and guided the crew in building a solid cabin with a stone chimney, furnished with stretchers, a dining table and writing desk. However it took some time to build as the only available tools were an axe, an adze, a hammer and a gimlet. The men named the cabin "Epigwaitt", an American Indian word meaning "a dwelling by the water" suggested by Musgrave.
  The men manufactured clothes from sealskin and hunted and fished for food. For entertainment Captain Musgrave started reading classes and Raynal manufactured a chess set, dominoes and a pack of cards. However he found Musgrave to be such a bad loser that he judged it best to destroy the cards.
  To help ward off scurvy as well as to provide some variety to their diet, Raynal was even able to brew "a passable beer" from the Stilbocarpa rhizomes which were abundant on the island, boiling and then fermenting them in their own sugar.
  Captain Musgrave and Raynal had both been hopeful that a ship would be sent by their business partners to investigate what had happened to Grafton, but after 12 months without sighting a single ship, the decision was made to use the timbers from the wreck to "make something that will carry us to New Zealand". The crew used the tools they had salvaged from the wreck and Raynal created a pair of blacksmith's bellows from metal from the wreck, wood and sealskin.
  He used the bellows to forge more tools from metal from the wreck. 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. The seals were less numerous than the previous year and the castaways were facing another winter with a greater threat of starvation. The decision was made to work on the ship's clinker dinghy. They enlarged the dinghy by raising the gunwales, adding a false keel and decking it over. Captain Musgrave made sails from the Grafton's sails which had previously been on the roof of the cabin.
  When they tested the boat they found that it was too unsteady with five men so Musgrave was forced to leave Harris and Forgés behind. Musgrave, Raynal, and McLaren then set sail on 19 July 1865, arriving at Port Adventure, Stewart Island on 24 July, after five days of bad weather. 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.
  Public fundraising in Invercargill raised enough funds for Captain Musgrave to pay Captain Cross of Flying Scud to return him to the Auckland Islands to rescue his two remaining crew members. After successfully retrieving Harris and Forgés, Musgrave returned to Invercargill and reunited all the crew. Musgrave also fetched Raynal's bellows back for him. McLaren, Raynal and Forgés returned to Melbourne on the schooner Swordfish; Musgrave returned on a steamer captained by a friend of his; Harris remained in New Zealand and headed for the gold fields.
  Captain Musgrave had kept a diary while being on the island. When he ran out of ink, he continued writing with seal's blood. Both Musgrave and Raynal wrote books about their experience. Raynal's pair of blacksmith's bellows, a pair of boots made of tanned sealskin, and a needle made of bone from the wing of an albatross are said to be in the collection of Melbour
caption: Remains of the Grafton at Carnley Harbour
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