CHAPTER XXII 



WRECK OF THE " CHARLES EATON," 1834, AND SEARCH FOR 



SURVIVORS, 1836 



WRECKED ON A REEF NEAR SIR CHARLES HARDY ISLANDS. BOATSWAIN, CARPENTER 

 AND THREE SAILORS TAKE A BOAT. ALL BUT ONE REACH TIMOR LAUT. TWENTY- 

 SIX LEFT ON WRECK. IN Two YEARS NEWS OF WRECK REACHES SYDNEY. RAFT 

 WITH NINE PERSONS LEAVES SHIP. ALL KILLED BUT Two BOYS, WHO ARE TAKEN 

 TO AUREED ISLAND. A SECOND RAFT, WITH SEVENTEEN PERSONS, DRIFTS TO 

 BOYDONG CAYS. THE CASTAWAYS INVITED BY NATIVES TO LAND. ALL KILLED 

 IN THEIR SLEEP EXCEPT Two BOYS. THE BOYS AND THE HEADS OF THE ADULTS 

 TAKEN TO AUREED ISLAND. Two OF THE FOUR BOYS TAKEN TO MARSLAND ISLAND 

 AND LATER TO MURRAY ISLAND, WHERE THEY ARE WELL TREATED. THE " ISABELLA " 

 FROM SYDNEY AND THE " TIGRIS " FROM INDIA GO IN SEARCH OF SURVIVORS. 

 TWO BOYS RESCUED AT MURRAY ISLAND BY THE " ISABELLA." EXPLOITATION 

 OF TORRES STRAIT ISLANDS BY PAPUANS. ETHNOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL 

 RESULTS OF VOYAGES OF " ISABELLA " AND " TIGRIS." CAPTAIN ASHMORE'S 

 CHARTS. 



THE " Charles Eaton" a 313-ton barque, commanded by 

 CAPTAIN G. F. MOORE, left Sydney on 29th July, 1834, 

 for Canton, and was WRECKED on the Barrier Reef, near 

 the SIR CHARLES HARDY ISLANDS. (SEE MAP B.) The only 

 available boat was taken by George Pigott (Boatswain), Laurence 

 Constantine (Carpenter), and three seamen, two of whom were 

 William Frendall and Joseph Wright. The four above named, 

 having sailed through Torres Strait, landed at Timor Laut after a 

 run of only five days, the fifth man having died on the voyage. It 

 was not till twelve months later that they were able to leave the 

 island, and they eventually reached Amboyna and Batavia, whence 

 the news of the wreck slowly travelled to Sydney. 



The story told by these men was that on I5th August, 1834, 

 the " Charles Eaton " "was making for an apparent opening in the 

 reef near Sir Charles Hardy's Islands " (ENE. of Cape Grenville) 

 when she grounded. " She fell broadside on, the sea making a 

 clear breach over her. The longboat and one of the quarter boats 

 were stove. The remaining boat was lowered and three seamen 

 jumped into her. The Captain and officers determined to continue 

 in the ship, as they thought the boat could not live. The rest of 

 the crew and passengers went on the poop." 



The Captain of the ship " Mangles " reported that he had seen, 

 on an island in Torres Strait, a white boy who said he had been in 



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