(from Holding's account - the shipwrecked sailors had now been on the islands for several months; he had just returned from a week's scouting to search for a better place for them to live)
" I found most of them in about the same condition as when I had left. Needless to say they were pleased to see me and hear the result of my experiences. I regret to say they had been very much reduced by deaths. In the interval the Steward and the two poor boys, Liddle and Lansfield, had been carried off and the house was very gloomy in consequence. They had done the best they could to bury them. Every one was becoming weaker day by day and no one could have any idea who was likely to be the next to drop off. So altogether, it was not a happy meeting.
The second mate, Mahoney, was laying as I had left him, close to the fire which had burned into the turf leaving a large hole with bricks around it. It had by now burned so deep that it could not go out. He had apparently stripped the clothes off the boys, (or all he wanted), to such an extent that it was with difficulty that he could move. I tried to persuade the others to go back with me but the only one who would leave the house was Harvey. I promised that I would come back in a few days again or send Harvey. We started off the next morning and on the way got up a few of the potatoes which we tried boiled that night (having brought along one of the tins). Unfortunately they were no use to us as they wouldn't boil soft. We continued on and then I sent Harvey back for the others,but instead of bringing them, he stayed and I had, in a few more days, to go to fetch him......."
130 years later his great-granddaughter visited the islands:
"The roar of crashing breakers enveloped us long before we reached the northern cliffs. One thing I shall always remember about the Aucklands is the never-ending shriek of the wind and the constant pounding of the sea. Even from the top of the 1200 foot cliffs, the sea swells still seemed enormous - even though we were assured that this was a calm day for the Aucklands. The spray blew into our faces and onto our camera lenses.
The cliffs ran in a great arc and there, below the edge of the precipice, was the rock shelf which Holding had described. I had never doubted it was there, but it was still a thrill to recognize it. It was still early in the year for the breeding season and the vast number of birds had not yet arrived. However, one mollymawk glided in and settled on the ledge. Robert Holding's 23 year old great-great grandson could not resist lying prone, head hanging over the edge, as his ancestor had done all those years before at exactly the same age."
CHAPTER 9
Scientists used to assignments in the remote Antarctic and Arctic have called
New Zealand's subantarctic islands the most inaccessible in the world."Conon Fraser
Rusty-brown, the great hills swept upwards a thousand feet into a sky still flecked by dawn. The volcanic plug on the top of Mt. Eden a beckoning finger. I stood alone on deck, filled with the wonder of my actually being in the Aucklands. The Evohe rode gently at anchor on a black, mirror-like sea, protected by the giant breakwaters of Enderby, Rose and Friday Islands to the starboard. Shoe and Ocean Islands lay port side off the stern. Albatross, mollymawks and nellies soared above, while a curious, tubby brown and white cape pigeon meandered around the hull. It was sheer magic.
I hadn't realized it at the time, but my brother Jim had been up long before and recorded his special moment.
"5:15: The air temperature is, I would guess, about 45o {F}. I see a very heavy forested shoreline that appears to peter out towards the more mountainous area in the back. Very rugged terrain - very, very rugged. This bay is almost horseshoe shape. It is so peaceful, there is not a sound - no cars, no trains, no nothing, just the wind and the creaking of the masts."
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