Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World
Joan Druett
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2007
On January 3, 1864, the schooner Grafton wrecked on the southern end of Auckland Island, 285 miles south of New Zealand. On May 10 of the same year, the square-rigger Invercauld wrecked on the northwestern promontory of the same island. The five survivors of the Grafton and the 19 survivors of the Invercauld co-habited the same island for an entire year without either group ever once being aware that the other group was there, the reason being the twenty miles of “impassable cliffs and chasms” between the north and south ends of the islands. In Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World, maritime historian Joan Druett tells the vastly different stories of the two groups of survivors.
From journals, letters, published books and other research documents, Druett has interwoven the stories of the two groups and shown how through cooperation, discipline, hard work, routine, ingenuity, and respect the survivors of the Grafton had a far different experience and outcome from the group of Invercauld survivors, whose leadership failed them, who splintered into groups, and who gave themselves over to the despair of their situation.
We come to know each of the men from the Grafton as they hunt for food, build shelter, make clothing and tools, and wait to be rescued for almost two years before deciding to try to build a boat and escape. We watch the men from the Invercauld succumb to apathy and lethargy, or else to cannibalism. Only one resourceful seaman had the ability to cope with their circumstances and helped keep the final few survivors alive.
Druett has very skillfully penned a fascinating tale of human nature, death, and survival in a hostile environment. It is a book that is hard to put down, with a story that is unbelievable - except that it is true. Amazingly, the few Invercauld survivors are rescued, and the Grafton castaways make an heroic journey back to safety. More than just history, this is a book about survival against all odds and how that survival depends at least in part on attitude. It is a good lesson for us all.
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