Lot 4096

Description

New Zealand, cover and letter to J. Duncan Harris of Whangarei, Auckland, letter written in June 1908 (from Boston? and sent via San Francisco) and was recovered from the wreck of the 'SS Aeon' with red stamp on obverse indicating this and a further sticker attached to verso as being Officially Sealed as was found open and label attached to secure it, postmark on verso Whangarei 8 OC 08. Fine, but water damaged from wreck.

The steamer, Aeon, bridge telegraph rang out a 'Full Speed Astern' command, as she steamed towards a long line of white breakers at 9.30pm on the 18th July, 1908. The engines were quickly reversed but to no avail. A strong onshore current swept them inwards and just four minutes later, the Aeon slid smoothly, with hardly a sound, onto the coral rocks of Christmas Island in the Republic of Kiribati. This lonely island, situated in the northern Pacific Ocean, some fourteen hundred miles north-east of Pago Pago, Samoa, is a British possession and was discovered by Captain Cook on Christmas Day, 1777. It is described as a low coral rock, shaped in the form of the letter 'H ', approximately forty miles long in each arm. A desolate place of white, coarse sand, with no sign of the usual coconut palms. The only vegetation visible, appeared to be low clumps of salt bush, about three feet high, dotted here and there. The Aeon was practically a new ship, according to Captain Downie's account of the incident, built in 1905 in England to the order of Howard Smith of Melbourne. It weighed 4,221 tons. It was bound to Australia coming from San Francisco, via Pago Pago, Samoa, to the Port of Auckland, her cargo hold held 2,100,000ft of Oregon timber and Redwood from Puget Sound and another 1,000 tons of general mechandise loaded at San Francisco. Ten adults and two children made up her passengers, together with eight European officers and a crew of thirty- five Chinese seamen. The mail, all 500 bags was recovered, from the hold by the 'Manuka' which was diverted to the wreck and eventually reached New Zealand. An interesting reminder of a well documented wreck.