The Sub-Antarctic Islands Scientific Expedition of 1907 was organised by the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury. [1] The main aim of the expedition was to extend the magnetic survey of New Zealand by investigating Campbell Island and the Auckland Islands, but botanical, biological and zoological surveys were also conducted.
The planning committee of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury approached the various branches of the New Zealand Institute for support and armed with this, approached the New Zealand Minister in Charge of Marine Department, John A. Millar, for possible transport. On being informed that neither of the New Zealand Government steam ships would be available, the committee sent a delegation to the Acting Premier, William Hall-Jones.
By 8 June 1907, it was confirmed that NZGSS Hinemoa under the captaincy of John Bollons would be available to transport the expedition. [1]
A group of 26 participants went on the expedition. [1] Although Thomas Kirk requested that the expedition include a ‘distinguished lady botanist’, the Council of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury ‘could not see its way clear to take a lady’, and all 26 participants were men. [1]
The group was split into two main parties—one for Campbell Island and one for the Auckland Islands—with the intention that the groups were to be dropped off to survey while NZGSS Hinemoa conducted its regular round of checking the castaway depots at other subantarctic islands before returning to pick the groups up.
Botany survey
| Geology survey
| Magnetic survey
| Zoology survey
|
NZGSS Hinemoa departed from Bluff on 14 November 1907, and the expedition arrived at Port Pegasus on Stewart Island in the early afternoon. Some disembarked for an episode of botanical collecting. The voyage continued at 21:00 that evening with an overnight steam to the Snares Islands, which were reached at 06:00. All of 15 November was spent at The Snares exploring the islands and collecting soil, rock, zoological and botanical specimens.
By 16 November, the expedition arrived at Auckland Islands and discovered the castaways of the wreck of the Dundonald. [2] After ensuring that the castaways were supplied with provisions and taking on board one of the castaways to act as a cook for the Campbell Island expedition group, the Auckland Islands expedition party was dropped off at Camp Cove.
Campbell Island was reached on 18 November, and the remainder of the expedition was dropped off. Hinemoa returned and picked up the Campbell Island group on 25 November. While Hinemoa was away, the Auckland Islands group, who had also been supplied with a whaleboat and crew, were rowed to various locations around Auckland Islands during their ten-day stay. With the return of the Hinemoa on 26 November, the Auckland Islands group packed up and boarded the vessel.
On 27 November, the ship steamed to Enderby Island for further exploration and specimen hunting, before moving on to Disappointment Island on 28 November. A number of expedition members collected specimens and samples while Captain Bollons organised the exhumation of the Dundonald's chief mate, Jabez Peters, for reburial at Hardwicke cemetery. The funeral was held that evening. Hinemoa arrived back in Bluff on 30 November. [1]
The Auckland Islands are an archipelago of New Zealand, lying 465 kilometres (290 mi) south of the South Island. The main Auckland Island, occupying 510 km2 (200 sq mi), is surrounded by smaller Adams Island, Enderby Island, Disappointment Island, Ewing Island, Rose Island, Dundas Island, and Green Island, with a combined area of 626 km2 (240 sq mi). The islands have no permanent human inhabitants.
Campbell Island / Motu Ihupuku is an uninhabited subantarctic island of New Zealand, and the main island of the Campbell Island group. It covers 112.68 square kilometres (43.51 sq mi) of the group's 113.31 km2 (43.75 sq mi), and is surrounded by numerous stacks, rocks and islets like Dent Island, Folly Island, Isle de Jeanette-Marie, and Jacquemart Island, the latter being the southernmost extremity of New Zealand. The island is mountainous, rising to over 500 metres (1,640 ft) in the south. A long fiord, Perseverance Harbour, nearly bisects it, opening out to sea on the east coast.
The Antipodes Islands are inhospitable and uninhabited volcanic islands in subantarctic waters to the south of – and territorially part of – New Zealand. The 21 km2 archipelago lies 860 km to the southeast of Stewart Island/Rakiura, and 730 km to the northeast of Campbell Island. They are very close to being the antipodal point to Normandy in France, meaning that the city farthest away is Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, France.
The New Zealand Subantarctic Islands comprise the five southernmost groups of the New Zealand outlying islands. They are collectively designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Leonard Cockayne is regarded as New Zealand's greatest botanist and a founder of modern science in New Zealand.
Bollons Island is a small island in New Zealand's subantarctic Antipodes Islands group. It is the second largest island in the group behind Antipodes Island.
Charles Chilton was a New Zealand zoologist, the first rector to be appointed in Australasia, and the first person to be awarded a D.Sc. degree in New Zealand.
Disappointment Island is one of seven uninhabited islands in the Auckland Islands archipelago, in New Zealand. It is 475 kilometres (295 mi) south of the country's main South Island and 8 kilometres (5 mi) from the northwest end of Auckland Island. It is home to a large colony of white-capped albatrosses: about 65,000 pairs – nearly the entire world's population – nest there. Also on the island is the Auckland rail, endemic to the archipelago; once thought to be extinct, it was rediscovered in 1966.
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.
Axymene aucklandicus is a species of predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Muricidae, the rock snails or murex snails.
A castaway depot is a store or hut placed on an isolated island to provide emergency supplies and relief for castaways and victims of shipwrecks.
Protyparcha is a genus of moths of the family Crambidae. It contains only one species, Protyparcha scaphodes, which is endemic to New Zealand, where it is known only from Auckland Islands. Both the genus and species were described by Edward Meyrick in 1909.
NZGSS Hinemoa was a 542-ton New Zealand Government Service Steamer designed specifically for lighthouse support and servicing, and also for patrolling New Zealand's coastline and carrying out castaway checks and searching for missing ships. It operated in New Zealand's territorial waters from 1876 to 1944.
John Peter Bollons was a New Zealand marine captain, naturalist and ethnographer. For many years he captained New Zealand government steamers, including the NZGSS Hinemoa, which undertook lighthouse work and patrols through New Zealand's subantarctic islands. Bollons Island, in the Antipodes Islands, is named after him. In 1928 he was appointed a Companion of the Imperial Service Order.
Anjou was a 1,642 gross register tons (GRT), French steel barque built in 1899. It was wrecked in the Auckland Islands in 1905.
Ichneutica pagaia is a moth of the family Noctuidae. I. pagaia is endemic to New Zealand and can only be found on the Snares Islands. This species is unlikely to be confused with moths with a similar appearance as it is the only noctuid found in the Snares Islands. Its preferred habitat is tussock grasslands and the hosts for its larvae are likely Poa astonii and Poa tennantiana. Adults of this species are on the wing from November to February.
Scoparia halopis is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Edward Meyrick in 1909. It is endemic to New Zealand, where it has been recorded as far south as the Auckland Islands.
Ichneutica erebia is a moth of the family Noctuidae. This species is endemic to New Zealand and is found on Campbell Island and the Auckland Islands. Adults of this species are on the wing from August to January. The adults are variable in appearance but can be distinguished from similar species by the patters or lack thereof on their forewings. The larvae of I. erebia are polyphagous and hosts include Pleurophyllum criniferum, species within the genera Stilbocarpa and Carex, as well as Chionochloa antarctica, Urtica australis and Raukaua simplex.
Xanthorhoe orophylloides is a moth of the family Geometridae. It was first described by George Hudson in 1909 and is endemic to New Zealand. This species is found in the subantarctic islands including at the Auckland Islands and at Campbell Island.
Volvarina plicatula is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Marginellidae, the margin snails.
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