Dundonald was a British four-masted steel barque measuring 2,205 gross register tons launched in Belfast in 1891. It was involved in a wreck in 1907 in the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands. Only 15 of its 28 crew survived; they were rescued seven months later by a scientific expedition.
Wreck
After setting sail from Sydney, Australia, bound for Falmouth, Cornwall, United Kingdom on 17 February 1907 with a cargo of wheat, the ship was forced onto rocks during a squall on 7 March 1907 on the west coast of Disappointment Island, 5 miles northwest of the Auckland Islands of New Zealand, and sank.
Shipwrecked crew
Only 17 members of the 28 crew managed to escape the wreck and reach shore. One man, Walter Low, made the shore but slipped off the cliff back into the sea and was never seen again. Another, the mate Jabez Peters, died of exposure on 25 March 1907, eighteen days after the disaster. He was buried in the sand, but in November 1907, members of the 's crew exhumed his body and re-interred it at the Hardwicke cemetery at Port Ross, in Erebus Cove, in the Auckland Islands; Peters' father and brother were also lost at sea in New Zealand waters.
The crew included:
Captain J.T. Thorburn – drowned
James Thorburn, the Captain's son – drowned
Jabez Peters, first mate – died of exposure on the island
Daniel McLaughlin, second mate – survived
Karl Knudsen, third mate – survived
William Smith, steward – drowned
Thomas Crawford, sailmaker – drowned
Edward Lee, carpenter – drowned
Charles Eyre of London, able bodied seaman – survived
Arthur Iviney, ordinary seaman – survived
John Judge of Ireland, a Santiago marine – survived
Albert Roberts, cabinboy – survived
Alfred Finlow (also known as Finlon) – survived
John Gratton – survived
Harry Walters – survived
John Puhohe – survived
Herriman Querfelt – survived
Robert Ellis of Adelaide, Australia – survived
Jack (John) Stewart of England – survived
John Trotton – survived
Michael Pul (also known as Michael Poole), a Russian Finn – survived
Sam Watson – drowned
Carl Anderson – drowned
Holdersen – drowned
Immanuel Naveati – drowned
James Cromarty – drowned
H. Larquer Boloom – drowned
Walter Low – slipped off the cliff back into the sea after reaching shore on the night of the shipwreck and was never seen again
Survival
The survivors lived for seven months on Disappointment Island, a and barren outcrop. For the first three days they ate raw mollymawks until their supply of matches dried enough to get a fire going. They kept the same fire burning for the rest of their stay on the island, burrowed into the ground for shelter. The island had limited timber and their canvas tent could not withstand the constant storms that struck the island, so they improvised by digging into the ground and roofing over the hole they made with sod and shelter. The survivors also improvised clothes and tools from materials salvaged from the wreck or made from seals and the limited number of trees they found on the island.
The crew knew that there was a food depot away on Auckland Island. They built a coracle and oars from branches and ship′s canvas to try to reach it. The first attempt in August landed three men on Auckland Island, but they failed to locate the depot. The coracle was smashed on launching in the second attempt. The men built another coracle, and in October, four of the crew landed on Auckland Island. The coracle was smashed on landing. The four crew hiked their way through rough terrain to reach Port Ross, where they located the food depot and a boat. The boat had no sails, so the castaways cut up their clothes for sails and ferried the remainder of the 15 men to Ross Harbour.
Rescue
The castaways eventually were rescued by NZGSS Hinemoa, captained by John Bollons. On 16 November 1907, Hinemoa arrived at Port Ross to refresh the depot and to drop off some members of the 1907 Sub-Antarctic Islands Scientific Expedition. On arriving at the port, Hinemoa′s crew and passengers noticed that the government depot flag was flying at half mast - an indication of a shipwrecked crew. Captain Bollons launched a boat and, after landing, found the castaways.