Castaway
After the sinking of the ship and the capsizing of the long boat the remaining two quarter boats pulled up outside the cave and decided to row for Disappointment Island. They reached there at dark and then the next day made for the Auckland Island and Port Ross. They arrived there after three days and two nights in the boats. After exploring, the group found two huts at Port Ross and, on 13 July 1866 Musgrave's hut. The group split into two in order to keep watch for passing ships. After nine months ashore four of the crew decided to attempt to sail to New Zealand in one of the quarter boats. They set sail on 22 January 1867 without a compass, chart or nautical instrument of any kind. They were never seen again. Another survivor, David McLelland died of illness on 3 September 1867. He was 62.
The ten remaining survivors moved to Enderby Island where they lived on seals and pigs. On 19 November they sighted the cutter Fanny but she did not see their signals. The brig Amherst noticed their signals on 21 November 1867 and rescued the group.
As a result of this shipwreck and two previous wrecks (the Grafton (1864) and the Invercauld (1865)), the New Zealand government established a network of castaway depots and regular visits by government vessels to the subantarctic islands for the relief of further shipwreck victims.
From as soon as 1868, the General Grant's cargo of gold attracted numerous recovery attempts, several of which proved deadly for the wreck seekers, but the exact location of the wreck has yet to be confirmed. The exact material making up the ballast of ship has been the subject of rumours with suggestions that the ballast was gold bars instead of the zinc spelter described in the manifest.
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