Lost at sea: a shipwreck obscured by ocean waves and mysterious circumstances
Wednesday, 17 February 2021
A historian is hoping to solve the mystery of who built a sod hut on New Zealand's southernmost island.
Norman Judd is in a race against time to uncover the secrets of the isolated dwelling on Campbell Island/Motu Ihupuku before nature takes over.
He believes the peat shelter may have been built by sailors, shipwrecked by a tsunami early in the 19th century.
But Judd believes more support and funding is need before the site can be properly explored and protected.
**READ MORE:
* Lost at Sea: Labour and Greens split over Campbell Island sanctuary
* Lighthouses circle the coast of New Zealand like a string of fairy lights
**
Judd, from Auckland, has been researching the history of Campbell Island, and its sealers, whalers and farmers, for four decades.
He spent years searching for the lost grave of French mechanic Paul Duris, who died of typhoid in 1874, using a century-old photograph of the site.
He eventually found the remains in Venus Cove, marked with a metal cross, buried under tree roots and a half-metre layer of peat.
“It wasn’t until the fourth expedition, after 18 years of research, that I eventually found the grave,” he said. “And over those 18 years, a bigger picture started to form of our cultural heritage.
“There was a lot more happening. There was a lot more on the island.”
Judd first learned about the existence of the sod hut in the 1980s from Robin Stanley, a former weatherman who was stationed on the island in 1952.
“His last two or three days on the island, he decided to go for a long tramp and coming back late in the day it was starting to get a bit dark. So, he decided to take a shortcut, all tussock.
“And he found he was standing within four walls of a sod hut, coming back through Tucker Cove.”
Stanley’s duties meant he was unable to return to look more closely at the crumbling dwelling.
“He never got a chance to go back. And in ’86/’87 he wrote to me and said: ‘Here’s a photograph of where I think the hut is’.”
Judd, who also works as a guide and lecturer on Heritage Expeditions’ sub-Antarctic trips, searched fruitlessly for the site. In 1995, he gave directions to meteorological officer Mike Fraser, just before the island’s weather station closed down.
“And he found it. It was a wonderful thing that happened in [the weather station’s] last year.”
Judd returned to the island for the closure of the station, and took photographers.
But it is only in the last few years that he has been able to make further physical investigations. In March 2018, he visited with an archaeologist.
The following year, with another archaeologist, they discovered some artefacts and built a barrier to keep out the island’s curious seals and seal lions.
The site gave Judd some clues.
“The reason it wasn't found is it is so far back from the shoreline,” he said. “It’s about eight metres above sea level.
“And it is as big as 10 metres long.”
There aren’t trees big enough on the island to support a roof of that size, so Judd believes the beam may have been constructed from a ship’s mast.
His theory is a ship came aground in a tsunami, and the hut was built to shelter survivors. In 1868, a powerful earthquake in the port city of Arica – then in Peru, but now part of Chile – sent a deadly wall of water racing across the Pacific, killing 20 New Zealanders.
The waves would also have hit Campbell Island. Judd points to witness accounts from another tsunami in 1877.
“[The water] dropped 2.4 metres and they saw two square-cut timber beams on the floor of Tucker Cove… they were fresh, and they didn't have crustaceans or barnacles on them.”
French sailors arriving in Perseverance Harbour for the 1874 Transit of Venus expedition also reported seeing a wreck in the cove.
From the descriptions, Judd believes it was the keel of a ship. The siting is close to where the hut stands.
“The idea that I have is that a major tsunami hit, and pushed the keel of the vessel right up in there, before 1877.”
Evidence close to the hut backs his theory. “They seemed to behave like survivors. There were bird bones everywhere, they were chucking food out the door. There was a dog’s tooth there. Four bits of broken plate, almost the size of bedpans.”
He believes the hut could have slept 15 people, whereas sealers that used the islands tended to hunt in gangs of six or seven.
“The other unusual thing was that they must have built that habit in a reasonable hurry, not understanding their environment, because the hearth is that the western end and that would drive the smoke into the hut and the sparks across the room.”
The great mystery is who these inhabitants were and where they came from. Judd would like to solve it.
“There is the need for an archaeological investigation and that needs to be in the hands of the professionals. Then after getting all the information they can make a decision on how important a site it was and preserve it.
“In the meantime, as a historian, I will research everything.”