The Invercauld Shipwreck

In May 1864, the merchant ship Invercauld wrecked on Auckland Island, just four months after the Grafton, but neither crew knew of the other's presence. Host Andrew recounts the Invercauld's grim tale, contrasting the successful survival strategy of the Grafton crew with the Invercauld's disastrous lack of leadership under Captain Delgardo. The story highlights the crew's struggle for survival, the onset of cannibalism, and the eventual rescue of the last three survivors. Finally, the episode reflects on the vastly different outcomes of two shipwrecks on the same island, underscoring the role of leadership and luck in survival.

00:00 The Tale of Two Shipwrecks
00:50 Introduction to the Invercauld Shipwreck
01:14 The Wreck and Immediate Aftermath
03:35 Struggles for Survival
05:40 Desperation and Division
06:31 A Glimmer of Hope
07:59 Leadership Failures and Final Attempts
11:15 Rescue and Aftermath
13:05 Comparing the Invercauld and Grafton Experiences
14:28 Conclusion and Farewell

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Transcript

 In May of 18 64, 4 months after the crew of the Grafton were marooned on Auckland Island, another ship the Inver called would wreck on the other end of the island. Neither group would know about the other. And while the Grafton would become a survival tale, a story of what to do when marooned and working toward a common goal, they would all make it off the island.

The Inver called, on the other hand, would become a cautionary tale of what not to do when marooned and what happens when there is a complete failure and lack of leadership. So what happened? Let's find out.

Hello and welcome to History's a Disaster. I'm your host Andrew. And tonight we are looking into the Inver called Shipwreck. This was originally supposed to be a part of the Grafton episode, but due to some time constraints, I had to cut the episode short, so now I'm making up for it. The Inver called was a merchant ship traveling from Melbourne to Cayo, Peru to pick up a load of behi or guano or fertilizer or whatever you want to call it, for delivery to England.

The 25 man crew was commanded by Captain George Del Garo not long after leaving Port. They hit some pretty shitty weather that kept getting worse. The lookout soon spotted land, which was determined to be the southern end of Auckland Island. The ship was ordered to turn more to the south as the wind blew harder from the north, the high waves and pounding rain cut visibility drastically.

Then the call for land ahead was shouted Once more, captain Del Garo had the ship brought to the north laying on more sail. They hoped to pass quickly between what the captain assumed was two separate islands. Knight had fallen, so had visibility to make things worse. The storm increased in intensity.

The height wind was pushing the boat towards shore. Tall, rocky cliffs appeared outta the darkness as the ship crashed through the waves. These waves broke against their rocky shoreline. They were now trapped between the wind and the looming rocks without any sort of control over the ship. The horrible wind drove them broadside into the rocks.

As waves crashed over the decks, the men had no time to react. Their ship was being torn apart and literally ripped out from beneath their feet. Boots and heavy clothing was abandoned as the crew were swept into the water. The wind in waves would smash them against rock and timber as they tried to make it to shore.

The battered and freezing crew would make it to shore in a small cove between the high cliffs. They huddled together in the night to try to get whatever kind of heat the waterlogged survivors could manage in the suite and the rain at daybreak. A head count was taken. 19 survivors, six men had been glossed to the sea.

In the wreck, they used pieces of the wreckage that washed as shore to build temporary shelter from the weather out in the bay. The only trace of the inver called was a part of the rear of the ship, hung up on the rocks and the bodies of the six who drowned were found washed as shore. They stripped the dead of their clothes and were able to salvage a few pounds of salted pork and biscuits food would become scarce for the 19 survivors, two boxes of water log matches had been saved and a fire was lit.

However, an ill-fated attempt to drive to drive the matches out. One box would be lost to the fire. They would eventually make an attempt to climb the high cliffs overhead to seek out better shelter than the Rocky Shore provided they would lose another man to these cliffs when he slipped and fell to the beach.

Below atop the cliffs, the ragged survivors pushed inland, barefoot through the grass and scrub brush. On the move, they found plenty of fresh water and were able to catch a small pig to support the diet of edible roots. They had gathered. Four more survivors would be lost to fatigue and exposure as they made the trek inland.

Six men tired of walking through the bush and the lack of leadership from Del Garo. At this point, he had made no attempts to organize or lead. His men broke away from the group and returned to the beach and the sight of the wreckage. They spent five days on the beach in this small shelter that had been previously built in desperation, one of the crew suggested cannibalism and that lots should be drawn to determine who should die.

Disgusted. One of the men, Robert Holding left the group fearing for his life. He would later rejoin the main group. The rest would never be seen again. After weeks of wandering, the 10 surviving crew men made it to a small bay on the eastern side of the island. They were able to locate a small feast of limpets.

Captain Del Garo and his first mate, Andrew Smith and second mate, James Mahoney remained fixated on their former ranks and refused to lift the finger to fetch water or shuck the shellfish. They found much preferring to order the other survivors around when Robert Holding refused to be ordered around.

Affection, some roots. James pulled a knife on him and made threats. A standoff occurred and eventually James backed down. The limpets eventually ran out, and they were forced to leave the bay in search of food. Barry Bushes would be located and on finding this. They stumbled upon the abandoned settlement of Hardwick.

The settlement had not endured well since being abandoned over a decade prior, only a single home and lean two remained of the original 18 buildings. They did, however, find tools and other items scavenged to help the survivors. A seal was also captured and cooked. Captain Del Garo blindly believed that the settlement was a whaling station and that people would be back in the summer and they would be rescued.

So no attempts were made to fix up and reinforce the shelters. Everyone ignored the clear signs. It had been abandoned long ago. Captain Del Garo also refused to organize hunting and forging parties. What food was in the area quickly dried up. Two more of the crew would die before Robert convinced Andrew Smith and two of the seamen to break camp and search for ano and search for another where food would be more plentiful.

Captain Del Garo would be left behind to look after James Mahoney, who had gotten previously injured. Days later, he would abandon James leaving him to starve to death alone. One night during an altercation between the two seamen, Fritz Haer and Harvey, Harvey would shove Fritz outta the small bush shack.

They shared Fritz hit the ground and never got up again. Unable to dig into the frozen ground. They covered his body with branches. Days later, they would catch Harvey with a mouthful of Fritz. He had been gnawing on the corpse. Harvey would eventually die of starvation only Captain Del Garo. Andrew Smith and Robert Holding remained.

Robert would take command of the group and would be responsible for keeping the other two alive. They would make a canoe out of seal, skin and branches. Although this canoe leaked like crazy, requiring one man to constantly bail out water, it made the hunt for food so much easier. They would survive on fish, birds and the occasional seal.

They were able to hunt down as the months dragged on, and the rescue seemed more and more unlikely. They returned to the abandoned settlement and demolished the huts. For the timber to build a boat to attempt to escape. After the boat was nearly complete, a storm swept in and pushed it out to sea.

Discouraged they used the remaining timber they found to build another. They used this to travel to nearby islands off the shore of Auckland in search of food. On one of these islands, they would find an abundance of rabbits that they were eventually able to capture and use to supplement their diets trapped.

And with another winter fast approaching, they built up a St sturdier hut than they had with a chimney for a fire to make it through the coming bleak Winter months in May, a Portuguese ship, the Julian. Appeared in the Bay. They were leaking badly and stopped to fix the hole and take shelter. They had been traveling to Macau from South America.

They would end up taking the three survivors with them on board. Del Garo pulled rank and him and Smith were clothed. Were clothed and lodged with the other officers on board. While Robert would be sent below with the other seamen, they would arrive in Peru in June of 1865. Del Garo would visit the British Embassy and be sent back to England that night on a MailBoat, a abandoning.

His former crew for good. Andrew Smith would be hospitalized for several months. Robert holding broke and penniless would survive off the charity of the crew of the Julian and money given to him by sailors from a, from a visiting British warship. He would eventually find work and return to Roger Dam in October of 1865.

He would end up living to the age of 93. All three survivors. All three survivors would go on to write books about their experiences on the island. All of them were a big contradictory with Robert Holding's account, placing the majority of the blame on Captain Del Garo and a severe lack of leadership, which led to a growing sense of every man for themselves leading to the deaths of most of the crew.

Now, while some of this may be true, the crew of the Inver called, unlike the Grafton, had a whole shitload a had a whole shitload of bad luck. The Grafton survivors were better equipped to handle their experience along with being able to salvage more supplies from the wreck. And they had the good fortune to land in an area.

They had much better resources. Food was more readily available. What the Grafton lacked was shelter and tools, which they would make for themselves. While on the other hand, the Inver called was able to find some shelter and tools. However, resources were scarce. With food not being as abundant, they would've also required more food than the Grafton.

It's much harder to feed 19 people on less food than it is five, no matter how you look at it. These two groups separated by less than 20 miles, had vastly different experiences, even though they were in the same place at the same time. That was the Inver called Shipwreck. Thanks for listening, and if you liked the episode, please consider leaving a rating or review on your Apple Choice or email the show at Histories a disaster@gmail.com or hit us up on Facebook and Instagram at History is a disaster with questions and comments or even better share the episode.

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