I've come across an intriguing 'account' published in the 'Auckland Star' on October 10, 1924 [page 9].
The story describes the discovery of a
“…dilapidated shack… ” that
“...told of a probable castaway…” found on
Gardner Island by an exploring party in or around the year 1924.
I’ve never seen this bit of information discussed here before. Is it entirely new?
Here are short excerpts from the original story- which clearly suggests finding evidence of castaways was not unusual in this region of the Pacific.
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"The Phoenix Group"
"Isolated Pacific Islands"
“Somewhere about six hundred miles to the nor’west of the mandated islands of Samoa are the low-lying coral islands of the Phoenix Group… Gardner is the most southerly island, and as our ship nosed up to the anchorage, she was greeted by swarms of sharks… The island, unlike other coral islands of the Pacific, was heavily wooded by tall and stately trees, the timber of which, when polished, closely resembles mahogany.
A dilapidated shack told of a probable castaway…”[The story goes on to tell of another interesting discovery on Canton or Mary Island,]
“…The timbers, winch and rusted steel mast of a one time stately ship lay on the beach, and the bleached remains of a human skeleton, housed in an old shack a few yards further inshore, told the tragic story of the unwary mariner. We buried the remains and mounted a crude cross over the mound."
"So ended our wonderful cruise amongst those wondrous reef-bound Pacific coral islands… all clothed just as nature made them, and marred only by the grim tragedies of those whose ships strayed shoreward.”
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AS19241010.2.101&srpos=26&e=--1900---1938--50--1----2gardner+island--