THE SINKING OF THE GENERAL GRANT
MONDAY 14 MAY 1866
AUCKLAND ISLANDS

From Hawkes Bay Weekly Tribune - 27 January 1868 p22

ANOTHER WRECK AT AUCKLAND ISLANDS
SEVENTY THREE LIVES LOST
TEN SURVIVORS RESCUED AFTER 18 MONTHS IMPRISONMENT ON THE AUCKLAND ISLANDS.

On 12 January 1868, nine men and one woman, the survivors of the crew and passengers of the American ship General Grant who had sailed from Melbourne on the 4th May 1866, were landed at Bluff Harbour, by the whaling brig Amherst. They were rescued from the Auckland Islands on the 21st November, 18 months after the General Grant was wrecked on the 14 May 1866.

The General Grant, bound to London with a cargo of wool, sighted the Auckland Islands on the 13th May, and with the weather being thick, the ship got too near the land. There being no wind, a strong current carried her the following day on to the rocks on a bold shore where she got jammed, and broke up. In attempting to land 68 lives were lost by the swamping of the boats.

There were fifteen survivors and after remaining on the island till the 22 January 1867, the chief officer and three of the crew left in a boat with the intention of endeavouring to make the coast of New Zealand. They were never seen again. One survivor died on the island.

The names of the ten survivors brought off by the Amherst were: -

The General Grant was also carrying an alleged cargo of 2,576 ounces (73kg) of gold on its manifest, worth around $2.4 million in today's money. Over 20 salvage attempts have been made since 1866 but the gold has remained in its sub-antarctic site.

See also
GENERAL GRANT - MARITIME ARCHEOLOGY
and
GENERAL GRANT

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