This Barren Rock

This Barren Rock

1875 A True Tale of Shipwreck and Survival in the Southern Seas.

Imagine one woman, forty-seven men and a three-year-old boy, shipwrecked on a tiny sub-Antarctic island. For seven months they eat albatross and burn penguin skins for fuel, before a passing whaler picks them up.

The woman was my great-great-great grandmother Fanny Wordsworth. She and her son, Charlie, were migrating from Scotland to New Zealand. Two months out, their ship struck a rock, halfway between Antarctica and Madagascar...

The Scottish clipper Strathmore sailed from London in 1875, laden with gunpowder, iron and immigrants. Wrecked at night in furious seas, half her passengers struggled ashore to the bare, inhospitable rocks of the remote Crozet Islands. There they remained stranded, struggling to survive the bitter southern winter, given up for lost by their families and friends.

Over 130 years later, in this account of her ancestors' shipwreck, award-winning writer Sylvie Haisman draws on letters, diaries and historical records to explore the lives and dreams of the migrants and crew on a nineteenth-century sailing ship. Telling the story through the eyes of Fanny and Charlie Wordsworth, able seaman Black Jack and three-year-old Wattie Walker, Haisman follows the journey of these human beings pushed to the limits of their physical and mental endurance, and examines the effects of the ordeal on the survivors' later lives.

The Strathmore shipwreck was a sensation in Victorian times. Now this compelling story of courage, endurance and the determination to survive will move and inspire readers all over again.

'...it was such a long time of suffering and endurance - I was very near death several times, had it not been for Charlie's constant care and tenderness, I should really have gone...'
- Fanny Wordsworth, writing of her ordeal on the Crozet Islands.

With the exception of two rings and... [my] rosary, I have not a relic of my past life...However, we have ourselves, and it has been Almighty God's will that we should lose the rest.
- Fanny Wordsworth, writing to her daughter after being rescued

Sylvie Haisman's radio feature Tell Me a Shipwreck aired on ABC Radio National in 2008 and 2009. Her story 'How to reverse gravity' was a prizewinner in the 2008-2009 Commonwealth Short Story Competition. Other stories have appeared in Heat, Southerly and Island magazines. In 2008 Sylvie completed her Masters in Creative Writing at Victoria University in New Zealand. She is an alumnus of Varuna, Australia's national writers' centre, which selected her for a mentorship and residency.

This Barren Rock
ABC Books
Author: Sylvie Haisman
ISBN: 9780733325557
Price: $27.99

Interview with Sylvie Haisman

How did you learn about the story of your great-great-great grandmother's migration?

Sylvie Haisman: I remember my mother telling me about Fanny Wordsworth and the shipwreck when I was a kid. Later, when I was about fifteen, a cousin gave us some letters written by Fanny and her son on board the rescue ship. The letters were addressed to their relatives back home, who'd given them up for dead. Some of the language was old-fashioned, but the voices were vivid and real - they made jokes, talked about their sadness and fear and joy, about their dreams on the island, and how the penguins looked like little old men in waistcoats. I was enthralled.


What research did you do to ensure you had this tale true?

Sylvie Haisman: Relatives helped me out with documents and photographs. I also asked them for family stories about Fanny and her son - Charlie Wordsworth was my grandfather's grandfather, so I was able to talk with people who had known his children. I spent a lot of time looking at old newspaper articles on the wreck, and I found accounts by other survivors in newspapers and books. I consulted many books about the nineteenth century - especially on migrants and seafaring matters. I used the internet a lot, though of course I had to watch out for inaccurate information... When I wasn't sure about something I found experts and emailed or called them to ask for guidance.


Have you been to Scotland, to research your late ancestors?

Sylvie Haisman: No, I've never been to Scotland. I did live in London for a while, which helped me to imagine how my ancestors would have felt when they were preparing to set sail for New Zealand (most migrant ships embarked from Gravesend at that time, even Scottish vessels). I relied on books and the internet to research the Scottish parts of the story. I used Google Maps to view photographs of houses where my great-great-great-grandmother lived in Edinburgh - several were still standing, though others had been torn down.


Were you able to find out why Fanny Wordsworth was the only female on board the ship from Scotland to New Zealand?

Sylvie Haisman: There were several other women on board ship, but she was the only one to survive the wreck. The women and children were put into the first lifeboat, but Fanny refused to get in - she didn't want to be separated from her son Charlie, who was too old to count as a child. That boat capsized, and all the women and children drowned.


What type of tasks did Fanny Wordsworth have to take on, being the only female on the ship?

Sylvie Haisman: She was seasick for the whole two-month voyage, so her main task was to lie in her bunk and try not to vomit! As the only woman on the island she was treated with great respect and care, especially by the sailors, many of whom became good friends. She was in very bad health, and almost died several times. Charlie had to make her special food when she was ill - minced bird brains and moss, seasoned with gunpowder. Once, when the survivors were running out of food, one of the sailors caught a sea-duck and roasted it for her, though he was near starvation himself.


Why do you think they were able to push to the maximum limits of their physical and mental endurance?

Sylvie Haisman: It's hard to know for sure, but I think the fact that they were together helped them to keep up their hopes. They were certainly courageous people, and possibly rather stubborn. "Ill though I was," wrote Fanny later, "I felt I couldn't die on that desolate island."