Codes of Survival - a series of combination Photographs/photograms on the Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand - 1993 - © Lloyd Godman

Codes of Survival -Scripts - a series of short factionalized stories based on historical events in the Subantarctic Islands written by Lloyd Godman to accompany the exhibition and installation - 1993 - © Lloyd Godman

Codes of Survival - Scripts

turn sound on for effect while you are reading - click soundscape which will open a new browser page and then return to original page

1806 - BRISTOW             

Not but a year before, the expectant belief of us all was that this southern ocean would envelop us during the many weeks of  sailing. Then, when we had least expected land,  there it had been amid the ocean, it was such a welcome change to the vastness of the  ocean we had anticipated. At that time,  the "Ocean" was in quite a sorry state of repair  due to the torrid violence of the many storms we had encountered during our sealing  activities so, unfortunately we were in no  condition or had not the time to spend on the exploration of all the land and bays that  made up the land we had discovered. We  had been returning from Van Diemen's Land  when we sailed within sight of hitherto  unrecorded islands on  18 th August,1806.

Initial observations suggested there did seem to be a generous sealing grounds around the seaboard of most of the  islands and one could well expect that it should abound with their number. With a tight, but lofty forest  down to the ocean on the east shore, the island was of a moderate height. We had a look over what we could in respect to the land, both in the ship and briefly in the long boat  but it had not allowed a survey  of the land the way that I would have  liked because of the lumbered sate  of the ship. Certainly, then there was no time to come ashore at any point of  the coast on that voyage of discovery.

In some haste but in appropriate etiquette tradition,  by the Queens name we had claimed all this in her possession. I venture that the company would want  a further exploration at a later date as there was surely some commercial gain to be made from these islands.  At that initial time, I hoped that it would be I and the  "Ocean"  who could return and complete the appraisal,  having been the one to find such a tiny speck in the vastness  of this ocean. The weather at this time had been quite moderate and clear and all on board felt that, if this was any indication of the clement climate it could become  a sizable sealing and whaling base.

There seemed little doubt that it should afford an  excellent harbour to the north of our amiable anchorage  at what I supposed is a Latitude of 50 21' South and its greatest extent is in a N.W.and S.W. direction  though the strand in places was rugged with rocks  that could dash a ship .

As first discover of the island, or islands,  Lord Auckland Islands  is the title of these new  found lands I bestowed as a provenance upon it.  This was after that good friend through my father,  Lord Auckland.  Like all these boisterous islands,  there is no significant wild stock and on this second trip,  I had brought some young pigs to be set free.  I had the ship's company release several of these pigs to the land of the largest island of the group. They reported how they scampered off into the  thickness of the larger trees and the shrubbery eager  to be free . These pigs should reveal in the forests and  high ground of the island, as there seems to be a  suitable climate for them to thrive.

Hopefully this fore sight will provide ample food for  our return and any others who land in the years to come,  while at the same time clearing the land in some small way.  This we shall see if we have the time and chance to  return once again for a third visit and conduct an even more thorough survey of the surrounding country.

During the short time of our first stay, the men had spent quite some time at the chores of cleaning the lumbered  state of the ship. There was much they could do in the way  of small jobs, but the larger work was a more difficult task,  quite beyond our means. I had some of the crew and the ship's wright do what they could with these repairs at the time,  but we could only do so much of the work and we agreed  the ship would have to wait until we were back in port for  full refit.

With the violence of the storms during the weeks before we  had discovered the island, there had been many small items  of the ships galley and other things, including some personal  effects of the crew that had broken and had lay as rubbish about the ship. From time to time, they had been tossed around and  across the decks in our neglect to secure them. Billy, the young cabin boy had the task of cleaning the areas of the ship worst effected, though he had put his mind to the task and had  fulfilled more than that which we asked from such a lad. All this worthless and unwanted pile, he had collected into a large barrel, and with the help of several sea men it had been  lifted up from below then, all had been tossed over board  with a splash into the ocean.

All manner of debris amongst this piled rubbish had tipped  from the side, and it was fair evidence of the transparency of the cool water as the heavier material that sank in an instant, could be seen as a shimmering white mass on the bottom below us after the tide had carried of the surface  floaters. For several hours later, when the surface had cleared, I could lucidly make out the fragments of old  plates and cups several fathoms below us through the  unclouded waters in the sun light as there these  unmistakable shapes lay at rest on the sea floor.

Our return to these islands has not been in the "Ocean", but in the "Sharah" and now she sat at anchor in a large bay at  the north end of the island that we aptly called  Sharah's Bosom . It was from here we would chart as much of the intricacy  of bays and headlands that made up this part of the island providing an excellent harbour for any ship. Our attention was directed to the twining coast with its reefs, rocks and  scattered islands with the purpose of providing navigational  aids for the future. All up the bays and coves of this Eastern Coast of the island, the water retained this quality of  exceptional clearness with equal consistency from bay to bay.