Wake of the Invercauld: Shipwrecked in the Sub-Antarctic: A Great-Granddaughter's Pilgrimage - Hardcover

Allen, Madelene Ferguson

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0773516883 ISBN 13: 9780773516885

Publisher: Queen's School of Policy Studies, 1997

Synopsis

Using survivor's accounts, including Holding's, various ship records, and her own research during visits to the Auckland Islands in 1993 and 1995, Madelene Ferguson Allen brings to light a neglected piece of maritime history. She describes life on the Scottish sailing ship the Invercauld and the sailors' struggle for survival on the Auckland Islands. After the shipwreck, the hierarchy of authority that had existed on the ship was abandoned and sailors relied on their own cunning for survival. Some even turned to cannibalism. Allen became aware of Holding and his ordeal on the Auckland Islands while researching the history of her birth family; her recounting of his adventure is interwoven with her voyage of discovery.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Robert Holding, a young English adventurer, was only 23 when in 1864 he was shipwrecked with 19 others on the windswept, inhospitable Auckland Islands in the sub-Antarctic Ocean south of New Zealand. By the time he was rescued a year later, only two of his shipmates were taken off the island with him, the rest having perished from starvation and exposure. This is the extraordinary story of how the three survived, and why their companions did not. It is also a gripping tale of discovery. Holding's great-granddaughter Madelene Ferguson Allen had her relationship to the sailor revealed when she was researching the history of her birth family. Subsequently she learned of the existence of his account of the shipwreck and enforced stay on the Aucklands, and she decided to retrace her forebear's footsteps. In this wonderfully readable tale of adventure, wildlife encounters and life aboard a sailing ship in the roaring sub-Antarctic seas, Madelene Allen has brought an obscure piece of maritime history to life. Robert Holding's chronicle is interwoven with his great-granddaughter's story, as she visits the original home of the Invercauld in Scotland, follows the young sailor's trail from England, through Australia, to the tragic encounter with the bleak Auckland Islands, and finally to his resting place in Canada.

About the Author:

Madelene Ferguson Allen was a geographer, teacher and writer who lived in Ontario, Canada. She travelled widely, spending considerable time in New Zealand and the sub-Antarctic islands, researching for this book and for another book about a famous shipwreck that will be published by Exisle in 2006. An earlier book, Reunion: Search for my Birth Family first brought her to the south Pacific. Madelene was married with two children. She died in 2003.

About this edition

• Publisher: Queen's School of Policy Studies
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0773516883
• ISBN 13: 9780773516885
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256