| Revisiting New Zealand (2) - Hardwicke, Port Ross, Auckland Island |
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Hardwicke, Port Ross, Auckland Island
On a past trip I had my first and only encounter with a Yellow-eyed Penguin and lots of other birds and a memorable New Zealand Sea Lion, or Hooker Seal, on Enderby Island at the north end of Auckland Island. The following day after sailing past Snares Island we arrived off Sandy Beach, Enderby Island, but were faced with unsafe landing conditions. We continued on to the shelter of Erebus Cove in Port Ross, at the northern tip of Auckland Island where we dropped anchor for the night.
It was in this immediate area that Charles Enderby attempted to establish a full-fledged colony in 1849 as part of his families’ 50 history of whaling in the Southern Ocean. The Southern Whale Fishery Company, owned by Mr. Hardwicke out of England, became the main economic activity of the colony. It was quickly discovered that the short growing season and poor soil conditions did not produce adequate food for the colonists. When the abundance of whales was soon depleted by unfettered slaughter of whales the colony was on the verge of collapse. A prison was built for prisoners being sent from England that was to generate revenue but this idea did not succeed either. Within two years, by 1854, the
More interesting to me is a rare astronomical association with Moltke Harbour, South Georgia Island. In 1874 an astrophysics group from Germany arrived in the Sub Antarctic Islands to observe the “transit of Venus” that would be visible here. Their headquarters was on Campbell Island, but a group under Hugo von Seeliger, a famous astronomer, traveled to Port Ross including his chief photographer Hermann Krone and his son, Johannes Krone. It is reported that one of the first things young Korne did was discover a creek by falling into it and thus giving it the name Krones Creek. The group set up camp in a small valley now called Venus Valley. Another creek was named Seeligers Creek. The connection to South Georgia is that in 1882 a major expedition of astronomers left Germany to observe the second phase of the “transit of Venus,” that this time could best be seen on South Georgia Island. They were the first group to arrive in South Georgia on a modern steam driven warship, called the Moltke after Bismarck’s field marshal, and to stay a whole year doing their work.
The Auckland Island group has a number of shipwrecks strewn about. In the 1800’s it was such a well known place for ships to crash into that pig, goats, sheep and rabbits were left to provide local food for castaways. I recall reading, but cannot find the reference, that one of the reasons for the ships crashing here was that on the maps of the time the islands were wrongly located by 30 nautical miles or so. It makes sense to me that this could cause problems. In time these alien mammals adapted and eventually became responsible for the destruction of significant plant and bird populations. The pig population first began in 1807 and was successful in adapting to the environment.
In the morning we went ashore. On the way to shore our zodiac was adopted by a curious and friendly New Zealand Sea Lion. I would describe his behavior as “enthusiastic.” He followed us ashore and seemed to “herd” us to the forest edging the rocky landing. He seemed to be having a lot fun swimming around us when later we went back to the ship. I have no idea why these Sea Lions are so involved with people, but two years ago on Enderby we had a very specific relationship with one who we had to block from following us into the forest, point our fingers at Sandy Beach and tell him to go away—which he did, but stopped several times to look back pleadingly like a lost puppy.
I walked to the cemetery and found the millstone marker stone. I enjoyed walking through the rata forest and seeing the Victoria Tree. Rata tree forests are not all that dense on ground level with greenery because the leafy canopy keeps most of the sun off the forest floor. The trees themselves are twisted and shaped by the constant winds. But for me it was the single and duo Yellow-eyed Penguins silently standing watching my passage that was most interesting. They tried not to be noticed and scurried away into the forest when I turned my back or was able to stand motionless for a long time. Unlike my first introduction to Yellow-eyed Penguins, this time there were a number of them making their way either to the sea or returning to their nests.
Toward the end of the day I returned to the zodiac landing site and headed out to the ship. Mr. Hooker was still trying to get our attention and accompanied us to the Spirit of Enderby. Hopefully Enderby Island and the weather will be as good as this day was.
Links: http://www.rarebreeds.co.nz/aucklandpigspro.html http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzbound/akismaps.htm http://www.linz.govt.nz/placenames/consultation-decisions/a-to-z/seeligers-creek/report.aspx http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit_of_Venus
Revisiting New Zealand: Previous Blog : Blog 1 < > Next Blog : Blog 3
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became apparent that the weather was not going to be cooperative and the Heritage leadership with the ship’s captain decided to bypass Snares Island and go straight to the Auckland Islands. They announced the decision with the hope that on the return trip the weather would be more amenable to zodiac exploration around The Snares.
Company sent commissioners to inspect the operation and they decided to close the settlement. Little evidence remains except a small cemetery with headstones dating from the early 1850’s. One of the headstones is made from a grinding millstone with the square axle hole still in the middle of it.
Just a few weeks ago I spent the night in Moltke Harbour, South Georgia, with the Golden Fleece.
Over the next 60 years there were a number of pig releases and usually they were different kinds of pigs. The successive released populations interbred and by the 1990’s, nearly 200 years after the first pigs came ashore, the New Zealand Department of Conservation decided to eradicate alien mammal species on Auckland Islands. A new challenge was that collectively through the years the pigs had become a separate sub-specie referred to as “Auckland Island Pigs.” In part because they were a separate species with their own unique body type, specific behavior patterns and other unique characteristics it was decided to trap them and relocate the population to New Zealand proper where they are successfully maintained and producing new litters today. 
The rata forest behind the Cove has an old rata tree known as the Victoria Tree. In 1865 an Australian government ship, the Victoria, landed rescuers to search for castaways and they carved the tree. Even though it may have been an inhospitable place for castaways, whalers and settlers in earlier centuries this particular morning was uncommonly pleasant for a Sub Antarctic island. 
