Island of the Lost

This is the brutal history of Auckland Island, a godforsaken place in the middle of the Southern Ocean that faces year-round freezing rain and howling winds, making it one of the most forbidding places in the world—where to be shipwrecked means almost certain death.

In 1864 Captain Thomas Musgrave and his crew of four aboard the schooner Grafton wreck on the southern end of the island. Utterly alone in a dense coastal forest, plagued by stinging blowflies and relentless rain, Captain Musgrave—rather than succumb to this dismal fate—inspires his men to take action. With barely more than their bare hands, they build a cabin and, remarkably, a forge, where they manufacture their tools. Under Musgrave’s leadership, they band together and remain civilized through even the darkest and most terrifying days.

Incredibly, at the same time on the opposite end of the island—twenty miles of impassable cliffs and chasms away—the Invercauld wrecks during a horrible storm. Nineteen men stagger ashore. Unlike Captain Musgrave, the captain of the Invercauld falls apart given the same dismal circumstances. His men fight and split up; some die of starvation, others turn to cannibalism. Only three survive. Musgrave and all of his men not only endure for nearly two years, they also plan their own astonishing escape, setting off on one of the most courageous sea voyages in history.

Using the survivors’ journals and historical records, award-winning maritime historian Joan Druett brings this extraordinary untold story to life, a story about leadership and the fine line between order and chaos.

• “One of the finest survival stories I've read.” B>Seattle Times
  
  “If the southern part of Auckland Island is all Robinson Crusoe, the northern part is more Lord of the Flies . . . Druett is an able and thorough guide . . . [She] shows that real leadership is rare and powerful.” I>The New York Times Book Review
  
  “Druett’s well-researched account earns its place in any good collection of survival literature.” I>Entertainment Weekly
  
  “Those yearning for a classic man vs. nature, triumph-over-terrible-odds story, get ready to set sail.” I>Paste
  
  “Swashbuckling maritime history reanimated by a noted naval enthusiast . . . Druett excels at recreating the men’s struggles and desperation (tempered by boundless hope).” I>Kirkus Reviews
  
  “This is a fine addition to the genre of survival tales like Endurance or In the Heart of the Sea.”
  Publishers Weekly