Portrait of wreckers
Maker
Duncan, Russell
Production date
1910
Current rights
Public Domain
See full details
Object detail
About this object
A group portrait of three men and a cat. The photograph is taken on the doorstep of Richard Henry's cottage on Pigeon Island (Richard Henry himself had already left for good in 1908).The photograph was taken by Russell Duncan, during a month long expedition to Dusky Sound in January/February 1910, to explore further amongst other places in Dusky, the wreck of the East Indiaman Endeavour in Facile Harbour, which he had very briefly looked at in an earlier visit in April 1905. (Hence the title "Wreckers" on the photo). They were dropped off with a small oil launch and a dinghy to get around in, by the SS Invercargill at the start of the trip.
Duncan's party made Henry's empty cottage their base for their month of explorations. The others in the party were a young man from Invercargill Willie McCaw, (presumably the one at left in the photo) and two others from Napier, Mr Walter McCarthy and Mr F.G. Smith (presumably the other two men in the photo). A day before the end of their trip, they went to Stop Island where the Waikare had recently been run onto a reef after it had hit a rock in Dusky. Russell's party had been asked to retrieve the Waikare's ship's cat that had been left on Stop Island and take it back to Invercargill. It seems likely this is the last day of the trip.
The photograph is mounted in an album entitled: Dusky Sound. A note on the album page reads: Wreckers.
Duncan's party made Henry's empty cottage their base for their month of explorations. The others in the party were a young man from Invercargill Willie McCaw, (presumably the one at left in the photo) and two others from Napier, Mr Walter McCarthy and Mr F.G. Smith (presumably the other two men in the photo). A day before the end of their trip, they went to Stop Island where the Waikare had recently been run onto a reef after it had hit a rock in Dusky. Russell's party had been asked to retrieve the Waikare's ship's cat that had been left on Stop Island and take it back to Invercargill. It seems likely this is the last day of the trip.
The photograph is mounted in an album entitled: Dusky Sound. A note on the album page reads: Wreckers.
Collection
Production date
1910
Production technique
Media/Materials description
Black and white photograph glued in an album.
Media/Materials
Measurements
Height x Width: 152 x 193mm
Classification terms
Subject person
Subject date
1910
Current rights
Caption
Collection of Hawke’s Bay Museums Trust, Ruawharo Tā-ū-rangi, 16354
Credit Line
gifted by Jasper Herrick
Other number(s)
Album 58, m96/6 - 4, 16354, 81889
Public comments
Although this photograph is taken on the doorstep of Richard Henry's cottage on Pigeon Island, and the man in the middle bears a strong resemblance to the other known photographs of Richard Henry , in my opinion it is not him. I am sure that this photograph was taken by Russell Duncan , during a month long expedition to Dusky Sound in January/February 1910, to explore further amongst other places in Dusky ,the wreck of the East Indiaman Endeavour in Facile Harbour, which he had very briefly looked at in an earlier visit in April 1905. (Hence the title "Wreckers" on the photo).They were dropped off with a small oil launch and a dinghy to get around in ,by the SS Invercargill at the start of the trip. Richard Henry himself had already left Dusky for good in 1908 and could not have been there at this time. Duncan's party made Henry's empty cottage their base for their month of explorations. The others in the party were a young lad from Invercargill Willie McCaw, (presumably the one at left in the photo) and two others from Napier, Mr Walter McCarthy and Mr F.G. Smith (presumably the other two men in the photo, don't know which is which). Russell Duncan was the expedition's photographer and was presumably taking all the photographs. A day before the end of their trip , they went to Stop Island where the Waikare had recently been run on to a reef and after it had hit a rock in Dusky (It sank the next day, all passengers had been evacuated to Stop Island and then picked up a day later). Russell's party had been asked to retrieve the Waikare's ships cat that had been left on Stop Island and take it back to Invercargill. There is a complete account of Mr Duncan's whole expedition in The Southland Times 7 February 1910, page 5. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST19100207.2.43 It is my deduction then from looking at the other Duncan photos taken on this expedition, that the photo was taken on the last day of their trip, back at Henry's cottage, after collecting the cat from Stop Island, and before being picked up the next day by the S.S. Invercargill to return to Invercargill. (By the way, Richard Henry never had a cat on Pigeon Island the whole time he was there, for obvious reasons)
- Victoria Jaenecke posted 2 years ago.
Hello, I think the man in the middle may be Richard Henry who was stationed on Resolution Island in Tamatea Dusky Sound - compare this portrait of him https://hocken.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/31420 and this portrait of the young man on the left taken by Richard Henry https://hocken.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/4486
- Sarah Gallagher posted 3 years ago.