The castaway huts

All around New Zealand were subantarctic islands with caches of food and supplies that had saved the lives of many a stranded sailor.
Isolated at the bottom of the world, the islands around our country were beautiful, welcome to sea weary sailors and very dangerous.
With voyages taking months, having a supply depot was a good idea. Quite a number of castaways had survived on remote islands, living on what they could find. In 1867, the survivors of the General Grant were found on Auckland Island.
Before that both the Grafton and the Invercauld had also wrecked and the Government began a plan of a network of castaway depots and regular visits (although they could be months apart) by government ships.
Emergency depots were set up on Auckland Island, Campbell, Antipodes and Bounty Islands. The first wooden depot was set up at Sandy Bay on Enderby Island and in 1877 the government took over responsibility for managing the network of huts and cabins.
There was nothing fancy about the provisions, tinned meat and biscuits, clothing, blankets, fishing equipment, medicine, matches, tools and some weapons and ammunition.
Along with supplies, the government opted to release animals on the islands, pigs on the Auckland Islands, then goats, sheep, rabbits, cattle on other islands. Some populations did not survive but some few did and because of their limited breeding opportunities have rare characteristics. Some of the caches also had boats or building materials.
It wasn’t long before the depots were plundered. Thieves, whalers and just anyone who saw it as a cheap way to get supplies had a go, completely defeating the purpose of them.
One of the most regular visitors to the depots was George Samuel Hooper, often as the Captain of the Amokura.
The ship had started life as a British Royal Navy ship before being bought by the Government as a training ship and called Amokura.
Captain Hooper took boys aged between 12-14 out, sailing to the subantarctic islands over the summers to teach them.
It was hoped that the boys so trained would provide a nucleus for the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy as well as being a source of recruitment for the mercantile marine. They often visited the depots.
Many of the boys became deck officers, and at one time a very high proportion of the New Zealand merchant marine was commanded by Amokura boys.
Hooper was born in London in 1874 and came to New Zealand as an officer. He had been apprenticed on to ships at the age of about 14.
He was appointed the training officer in charge of the Amokura in 1906.
He died in Wellington on March 4, 1931 and is buried in Karori Cemetery​