Politically, Macquarie Island is governed by Tasmania, being a section of the district of Esperance., The island lies roughly north-south, 34 kilo metres long by a relatively even 3 kilometres wide, approximately mid-way between the south-east of Tasmania and the Antarctic continent, 800 nautical miles from Tasmania. The mean temperature is 4 degrees C, with very little deviation; mist, rain and snow are common. Thousands of penguins and albatros breed on the island, and for some years after 1907 penguins were slaughtered in large numbers and boiled down for their oil before a public outcry put an end to the cruelty.

The island was discovered in 1810 by Frederick Hasselberg, an Australian sealer who named it after the Governor of New South Wales. By 1830 the fur seal had been exterminated and the elephant seals greatly reduced in number, It was not until the visit oftheAustralasian Antarctic Expedition led by Sir Douglas Mawson in 1911 that the island was occupied for any length of time, a meteorological station being then established. The island was proclaimed a Tasmanian State Reserve in.June 1972. All vessels lost off the island have been under 300 tons. The largest vessel lost of the island was the 265 ton barque Countess of Minton, wrecked on  the rocks in 1851. The sealing vessel Campbel Macquarie, 248 tons, was lost in 1812, and the whaler and sealer, Caroline, 224 tons, in 1825. The Government research trawler Endeavour, 331 tons, disappeared after having left the island in 1914.

References:
Broxam and Nash [TS1] provides most of the entries. Loney [LI], and Bateson [AS1] are also represented.
[29 records]

Associated links:  TASMANIA

Aurora. Auxiliary barque. Owned by Australasian Antarctic Expedition. Concerned at no word from the schooner Clyde, arrived Macquarie Island  December 1911 where she found the Clyde wrecked. [TS2]

Awarua. Schooner. Involved in sealing expeditions to Macquarie Island. The schooner left Invercargill on 24 March 1888 on her first trip to Macquarie Island, and over the next two years a permanent station with all necessary plant was built at Lusitania Bay. The Awarua was eventually found too small for the Macquarie Island trade, and was sold early in 1890. [TS1]
Loney lists:
Awarau. Sealer. Disappeared in a storm off Macquarie Island, January 1891. [LI]
Note - this loss not mentioned by Broxam and Nash.

Bencleugh. (Benclaugh). Schooner, 66 tons. # 61013. Built at Port Chalmers, 1872; reg. Dunedin 6/1873. Lbd 71.3 x 19.3 x 7.5 ft.  Captain H. D. Bezer. From Port Chalmers, New Zealand on a sealing expedition,  dropped anchor on the north-east coast of Macquarie Island, near The Nuggets; parted cables in huge seas, driven into a cleft in the inner reef, and sank, 6 August 1877. Three crew were injured, but all hands ashore. One man died of his injuries, the other two taken off by the schooner Friendship, to New Zealand; the remainder stayed on the island to slaughter sea elephants. [TS1],[LI]
Part-owner John Thomson listed as master by Loney. See also entry for barque Spirit of the South.

Campbell Macquarie. Fully rigged ship, sealer, wood, 248 tons. Built at Calcutta. Captain Richard Siddens. Wrecked on Macquarie Island, 11 June 1812. Adverse winds had forced her close to land; one anchor was dropped, but she dragged on to rocks and began to fill.  The crew landed safely. Most of her cargo and gear was saved only to be destroyed later in a storm. On 28 June the ship was set on fire to salvage her ironwork.Some of the crew reached Sydney on board the brig Perseverance. Captain Siddins later returned with the brig Elizabeth & Mary to rescue the remainder and the surviving salvage. [LI],[TS1],[AS1],[LAH]

Caroline. Ship, whaler and sealer, wood, 224 tons. Built at Philadelphia, U.S.A., in or about 1800;  reg.London in the name of Edward Lord of Hobart. Captain Daniel Taylor. Cables parted in a gale whilst loading sea elephant oil  in the cove that now bears her name, at the south-western end of Macquarie Island, and wrecked on rocks, 17 March  1825. All hands reached shore and commenced to extend the size of the longboat in an attempt to reach Hobart. In the mantime the brig Wellington arrived in August and took off some crew, later landing in Sydney. The brig Cyprus was sent out from Hobart on 18 Saugust to search for the lost vessel, and took off the rest of the crew. [TS1],[LI],[AS1],[LAH - built London]

Clyde. Wooden topsail schooner, 94/87 tons. # 71793. Built Batemans Bay, NSW, 1874; reg. Lyttleton, NZ. Lbd 91.0 x 20.1 x 8.5 ft. Purchased by Joseph Hatch in August 1911 as a replacement for the recently wrecked Jessie Niccol to service his penguin-oil operations on Macquarie Island. Captain W. A. Smith.  Sailed from Wellington for Macquarie Island on 25 September 1911 with a crew of nine, arrived off the Nuggets, 12 November 1911. In a gale,  carried over the outer reefs by huge seas before bringing up on one of the inner reefs, with the waves passing right over her exposed broadside, 14 November 1911.  A cask was floated ashore with a line attached, and by this means a boat was passed between the wreck and the shore to rescue all hands. Although breaking up, much of her gear was salvaged. Having not heard from her, the Australasian Antarctic Expedition’s auxiliary barque Aurora arrived at Macquarie Island in Deecember, to be followed by her tender the SS Toroa from Hobart, with supplies.
[TS2],[LI],[LAH]
On 2 February 1879 she had stranded at Timutu on the Ninety Mile Beach, New Zealand.

Countess of Minto. Barque, 265 tons. Built at Whitby, UK, 1839; reg. Liverpool. Captain Allen. Drifted ashore, wrecked, near The Nuggets, Macquarie Island, 2 December 1851. She had sailed from Sydney on an expedition seeking guano. All hands landed safely but the vessel broke up within a few hours.  Fortunately the brig Lord Duncan was standing off nearby, and took the crew to New Zealand. In September 1851, was blown offshore in a cyclone from Lady Elliott Island on the Queensland coast while most of the crew were ashore, but the steward and carpenter, the only men left on board, managed to sail her to Port Macquarie, NSW. [TS1],{LI],[LAH]

Cyprus. Brig. Sent out to find the lost whaler Caroline off Macqurie Island, 1825. [TS1]

Eagle. Schooner. Wrecked on Eagle Point, Macqurie Island, 1875. All hands, nine men and a woman, landed safely, but were forced to spend two years on the island before being rescued, the woman dying on the same day that the rescue ship arrived. [TS1] See also entry for barque Spirit of the South.
Broxam and Nash add:
Unfortunately there is no contemporary evidence for this tale, which has a lot of Victorian-era sentimental fiction about it.

Elizabeth & Mary. Brig. Involved in rescue - see sealing vessel Campbell Macquarie, wrecked on Macquarie Island, 1812. [TS1]

Endeavour. Steel steamship, Government research trawler, 331/102 tons. # 132232. Built Sydney, 1908, by the New South Wales Government Dockyard, and was registered at Sydney in the name of the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, then reg. Melbourne 31/1912. Lbd 131.2 x 23.2 x 10.8 ft. Captain George W. C. Bedford. On 25 November 1914 sailed from Hobart for Macquarie Island with stores for the meteorological station established there in 1911. Having arrived safely, she left for Hobart on 3 December 1914, and disappeared, presumed foundered at sea on 5 December 1914, with the loss of all eighteen hands. Having been overdue, the following vessels were used in an extensive search: steamer  Werribee searched north of Macquarie Island, SS Grantala investigated Macquarie Island in January 1915, while the New Zealand Government’s SS. Tutanekai searched the Snares, Auckland and Campbell Islands, with similar disappointing results. [TS2],[LAH],[LI - twenty-one lost]

Friendship. Schooner, sealer. Involved in rescue - see sealing schooner Bencleugh, Macqurie Island, 1877. [TS1],[LI]

Grantala. Steamship. Searched for the Government steamer Endeavour, lost out of Macquarie Island, 1914. [TS2]

Gratitude. Ketch, 122/114 tons. # 93582. Built at Terrigal, NSW, 1888; reg. Invercargill, NZ, 1/1891. Lbd 400.76.0 x 22.4 x 9.9ft. Captain Neil McDonald. From Invercargill for Macquarie Island with a total crew of seven and a sealing team to be left on the island, arrived at Hatch’s station on the north-eastern side of Macquarie Island, on the 28 October 1898; during gales, the ketch was battered severly, so her cables were slipped and she was allowed to beach herself to save life and property, 10 November 1898.  When the storm abated the ketch was found to be damaged beyond repair, although most of her cargo and gear were recovered. The N.Z. Government steamer Tutanekai was chartered to head for Macquarie Island to investigate.  She arrived on 11 February 1899, picked up the castaways, and returned them to New Zealand. [TS1],[LI]

Hinemoa. NZ Government steamer. Searched for the missing steamer Kakanui, out of Macquarie island, 1891, without success. [TS1]
Searched Macquarie Island waters for the lost sealer Awarau, January 1891. [LI]

Jessie Nicol. Schooner. Captain Holmes. Struck by a storm and presume foundered off Macquarie Island, 18 December 1910. Three drowned. [LI]

Kakanui. Iron steamship, 83/57 tons. # 75223. Built at Dunedin , NZ, 1879; reg. Dunedin 11/1879. Lbd 97.5 x 14.5 x 7.5 ft.  Captain William Best.  Left Lusitania Bay, Macquarie Island, for New Zealand, on 3 January 1891 but was never seen or heard from again.. She had been sent to the island on a rescue mission, to find a party of sealers, which they were successful in so doing. Eighteen lives lost. The Kakanui was to be the first of a number vessels lost while supporting the seal and penguin oil operations at Macquarie Island established by Joseph Hatch of Invercargill, N.Z. [#TS1]
For a full account the circumstances of the rescue, see Broxam and Nash, TS1.
Loney lists:
Kakanui. Steamship. Visited Macquarie Island to relieve the sealers taken there on the Awarau. After making contact, a fiece storm resulted in the disappearance of the Awarau, January 1891. [LI]

Lord Duncan. Ship. Rescued the crew of the vessel Countess of Minto, Macquarie Island, 1851.  [LI],[TS1]

Lord Nelson. Whaling brig. Reported wrecked on Macquarie Island, 1838. [LI]
Broxham and Nash record the reported loss of this vessel on Macquarie Island in 1838, but express doubt as to its authenticity. [TS1]

Perserverance. Brig. Involved in rescue - see sealing shipCampbell Macquarie, wrecke don Maquarie island 1812. [TS1],[AS1]

Spirit of the South. Barque. Captain T. Burrows. From Adelaide for London on 4 June 1874, was becalmed off the southern end of Macquarie Island, 20 June 1874. The captain, a member of the Royal Geographical Society, took the opportunity to explore the island, sending his chief officer, James Ives, ashore to investigate. A landing was made at Caroline Cove with considerable difficulty, and once ashore the party found a large quantity of wreckage along the shore, and a skeleton. [TS1]
Broxam and Nash state:
There appears to have been at least two unknown wrecks on Macquarie Island between the 1850s and the 1870s. See entry for schooner Bencleugh, lost in 1877, and the schooner Eagle, wrecked in 1875.

Toroa. Steamer. Concerned at no word from the schooner Clyde, left Hobart in December 1911 for Macquarie Island where she found the Clyde wrecked. [TS2]

Tutanekai. NZ Government steamer.
Chartered to find the overdue ketch Gratitude, lost on Macquarie island, 1898. [TS1]
Searched for the Government steamer Endeavour, lost out of Macquarie Island, 1914. [TS2]

Wellington. Brig. Involved in rescue - see whaler Caroline, Macqurie island, 1825. [TS1]

Werribee. Steamer. Searched for the Government steamer Endeavour, lost out of Macquarie Island, 1914.  [TS2]

UNIDENTIFIED.

Unidentified. 1800. The remains of a large vessel was found on a reef 50 km south-south-east of Macquarie Island by  Captain Owen Smith of the American sealing brig Aurora in 1810. The vesel could ahve been a whaler, or perhaps George Bass’s 142-ton brig Venus, which sailed from Sydney for southern New Zealand on 5 February 1803 but was never seen or heard from again.

Unidentified. 1810.  When the brig Aurora returned from Macquarie island her master reported that he had seen pieces of a wreck of a large vessel well above the high water mark.  They were never identified. [LI]

Unidentified. 1874. Captain T. Burrows of the barque Spirit of the South, discovered wreckage and a skeleton on Macquarie Island in 1874. It could have been from the schooners Bencleugh, wrecked in 1877, and/or the schooner Eagle, lost in 1875 - or a completely unidentified vessel. [TS1]