4. Auckland Islands

160 years ago. In May 1866, the cargo ship General Grant set sail from Melbourne bound for London, carrying 83 people and a fortune in gold from the Australian rush. Sailing blind through fog, she drifted helplessly into the towering cliffs of the remote subantarctic Auckland Islands and was swallowed into a sea cave, sinking with most of her souls still aboard. Only fifteen survived the wreck itself — and then began a nineteen-month ordeal of cold, starvation, and despair on some of the most inhospitable islands on earth.This is the story of those castaways: how they coaxed a single fire from their last match, hunted seals for food and clothing, buried their dead, and watched ships pass them by. It's a story of survival, leadership, and endurance — and of the gold that went down with the ship, still resting fathoms deep in that broiling cave, which would draw survivors and treasure hunters back to those deadly shores for more than a century to come.Message to Bears - You Are a Memory (used with permission)