Part 4 (1/2)
In general shape it is long and narrow, the length over all being twenty-one miles. A reef runs out for several miles at both extremities of the main island, reappearing again some miles beyond in isolated rocky islets: the Bishop and Clerk nineteen miles to the southward and the Judge and Clerk eight miles to the north.
The land everywhere rises abruptly from the sea or from an exaggerated beach to an undulating plateau-like interior, reaching a maximum elevation of one thousand four hundred and twenty-five feet. Nowhere is there a harbour in the proper sense of the word, though six or seven anchorages are recognized.
The island is situated in about 55 degrees S. lat.i.tude, and the climate is comparatively cold, but it is the prevalence of strong winds that is the least desirable feature of its weather.
Sealing, so prosperous in the early days, is now carried on in a small way only, by a New Zealander, who keeps a few men stationed at the island during part of the year for the purpose of rendering down sea elephant and penguin blubber. Their establishment was known to be at the north end of the island near the best of the anchorages.
Captain Davis had visited the island in the 'Nimrod', and was acquainted with the three anchorages, which are all on the east side and sheltered from the prevailing westerlies. One of the old-time sealers had reported a cove suitable for small craft at the south-western corner, but the information was scanty, and recent mariners had avoided that side of the island. On the morning of our approach the breeze was from the south-east, and, being favourable, Captain Davis proposed a visit.
By noon, Caroline Cove, as it is called, was abreast of us. Its small dimensions, and the fact that a rocky islet for the most part blocks the entrance, at first caused some misgivings as to its ident.i.ty.
A boat was lowered, and a party of us rowed in towards the entrance, sounding at intervals to ascertain whether the 'Aurora' could make use of it, should our inspection prove it a suitable locality for the land station.
We pa.s.sed through a channel not more than eighty yards wide, but with deep water almost to the rocks on either side. A beautiful inlet now opened to view. Thick tussock-gra.s.s matted the steep hillsides, and the rocky sh.o.r.es, between the tide-marks as well as in the depths below, sprouted with a profuse growth of brown kelp. Leaping out of the water in scores around us were penguins of several varieties, in their actions reminding us of nothing so much as shoals of fish chased by sharks.
Penguins were in thousands on the uprising cliffs, and from rookeries near and far came an incessant din. At intervals along the sh.o.r.e sea elephants disported their ungainly ma.s.ses in the sunlight. Circling above us in anxious haste, sea-birds of many varieties gave warning of our near approach to their nests. It was the invasion by man of an exquisite scene of primitive nature.
[TEXT ILl.u.s.tRATION]
Macquarie Island
After the severe weather experienced, the relaxation made us all feel like a band of schoolboys out on a long vacation.
A small sandy beach barred the inlet, and the whaleboat was directed towards it. We were soon grating on the sand amidst an army of Royal penguins; picturesque little fellows, with a crest and eyebrows of long golden-yellow feathers. A few yards from the ma.s.sed ranks of the penguins was a mottled sea-leopard, which woke up and slid into the sea as we approached.
Several hours were spent examining the neighbourhood. Webb and Kennedy took a set of magnetic observations, while others hoisted some cases of stores on to a rocky k.n.o.b to form a provision depot, as it was quickly decided that the northern end of the island was likely to be more suitable for a permanent station.
The Royal penguins were almost as petulant as the Adelie penguins which we were to meet further South. They surrounded us, pecked at our legs and chattered with an audacity which defies description. It was discovered that they resented any attempt to drive them into the sea, and it was only after long persuasion that a bevy took to the water.
This was a sign of a general capitulation, and some hundreds immediately followed, jostling each other in their haste, squawking, whirring their flippers, splas.h.i.+ng and churning the water, reminding one of a crowd of miniature surf-bathers. We followed the files of birds marching inland, along the course of a tumbling stream, until at an elevation of some five hundred feet, on a flattish piece of ground, a huge rookery opened out--acres and acres of birds and eggs.
In one corner of the bay were nests of giant petrels in which sat huge downy young, about the size of a barn-door fowl, resembling the grotesque, fluffy toys which might be expected to hang on a Christmas-tree.
Here and there on the beach and on the gra.s.s wandered bright-coloured Maori hens. On the south side of the bay, in a low, peaty area overgrown with tussock-gra.s.s, were scores of sea elephants, wallowing in bog-holes or sleeping at their ease.
Sea elephants, at one time found in immense numbers on all sub-antarctic islands, are now comparatively rare, even to the degree of extinction, in many of their old haunts. This is the result of ruthless slaughter prosecuted especially bY sealers in the early days. At the present time Macquarie Island is more favoured by them than probably any other known locality. The name by which they are popularly known refers to their elephantine proportions and to the fact that, in the case of the old males, the nasal regions are enormously developed, expanding when in a state of excitement to form a short, trunk-like appendage. They have been recorded up to twenty feet in length, and such a specimen would weigh about four tons.
Arriving on the 'Aurora' in the evening, we learnt that the s.h.i.+p's company had had an adventure which might have been most serious. It appeared that after dropping us at the entrance to Caroline Cove, the s.h.i.+p was allowed to drift out to sea under the influence of the off-sh.o.r.e wind. When about one-third of a mile north-west of the entrance, a violent shock was felt, and she slid over a rock which rose up out of deep water to within about fourteen feet of high-water level; no sign of it appearing on the surface on account of the tranquil state of the sea. Much apprehension was felt for the hull, but as no serious leak started, the escape was considered a fortunate one. A few soundings had been made proving a depth of four hundred fathoms within one and a half miles of the land.
A course was now set for the northern end of the island.
Dangerous-looking reefs ran out from many headlands, and cascades of water could be seen falling hundreds of feet from the highlands to the narrow coastal flats.
The anchorage most used is that known as North-East Bay, lying on the eastern side of a low spit joining the main ma.s.s of the island, to an almost isolated outpost in the form of a flat-topped hill--Wireless Hill--some three-quarters of a mile farther north. It is practically an open roadstead, but, as the prevailing winds blow on to the other side of the island, quiet water can be nearly always expected.
However, when we arrived at North-East Bay on the morning following our adventure; a stiff south-east breeze was blowing, and the wash on the beach put landing out of the question. Captain Davis ran in as near the coast as he could safely venture and dropped anchor, pending the moderation of the wind.
On the leeward slopes of a low ridge, pus.h.i.+ng itself out on to the southern extremity of the spit, could be seen two small huts, but no sign of human life. This was not surprising as it was only seven o'clock. Below the huts, upon low surf-covered rocks running out from the beach, lay a small schooner partly broken up and evidently a recent victim. A mile to the southward, fragments of another wreck protruded from the sand.
We were discussing wrecks and the grisly toll which is levied by these dangerous and uncharted sh.o.r.es, when a human figure appeared in front of one of the huts. After surveying us for a moment, he disappeared within to reappear shortly afterwards, followed by a stream of others rus.h.i.+ng hither and thither; just as if he had disturbed a hornets' nest. After such an exciting demonstration we awaited the next move with some expectancy.
Planks and barrels were brought on to the beach and a flagstaff was hoisted. Then one of the party mounted on the barrel, and told us by flag signals that the s.h.i.+p on the beach was the 'Clyde', which had recently been wrecked, and that all hands were safely on sh.o.r.e, but requiring a.s.sistance. Besides the s.h.i.+pwrecked crew, there were half a dozen men who resided on the island during the summer months for the purpose of collecting blubber.