Author(s): Lily Ennis

NZ Fiction

In 1866 the barque General Grant left Victoria bound for London. On board were gold miners and their families along with their hard-won gold. On their way they would take advantage of the furious west wind drift which would push the ship speedily across the bottom of the globe to round Cape Horn before sailing north up the Atlantic Ocean.
Only nine days out the ship struck the western cliffs of Auckland Island, a windswept sub-Antarctic island so inhospitable that previous attempts to colonise it were dismal failures.
Whilst the General Grant was not the first ship to be wrecked here, it was the first where a woman was among the castaways. Fifteen survivors of the wreck endured unimaginable hardships having only the two small rescue boats, two knives and several salvaged tins of food between them. They did not recognise any of the enormous-leaved plants and quickly suffered the effects of scurvy from a diet too rich in seal meat. They could not have imagined their ordeal would last eighteen months spanning two long and miserable winters.
This is the story of the brave sailors and gold miners who showed enormous strength, ingenuity, resilience and faith that they would somehow make it off the island.
The allure of finding the sunken gold of the General Grant has enticed many expeditions over the years. But the ferocious seas have not given her up and neither she nor her precious cargo has been found.