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In this episode of Shipwreck Tales, Graeme Hill is joined by John McCrystal to revisit the wreck of the Invercauld, a British ship lost on the bleak Auckland Islands in 1864. What begins as a navigation disaster in fog and wild weather becomes a stark survival story, marked by starvation, fractured leadership, grim choices, and the extraordinary resilience of seaman Robert Holding. Set against the eerie contrast of the better-known Grafton castaways elsewhere on the same island, the episode explores how leadership, morale, and human endurance can determine who survives when everything else is stripped away.
In this episode, Graeme Hill is joined by shipwreck storyteller John McCrystal to revisit the haunting story of the General Grant, one of the most famous wrecks of the Auckland Islands. The conversation follows the ship’s disastrous collision with the island’s cliffs and caves, the desperate evacuation, and the extraordinary ordeal of the few survivors who endured 18 months in the sub-Antarctic before rescue. It is a story of treasure, myth, endurance and loss but above all, a powerful human account of survival against impossible odds.
In this episode, Graeme Hill is joined by maritime historian John McCrystal to revisit the tragic wreck of the SS Penguin, the Cook Strait ferry that sank off Wellington’s south coast in 1909 with the loss of 75 lives. McCrystal sets the scene of a routine crossing turned fatal by wild weather, uncertain currents, and the limits of early navigation, before exploring the human stories of courage and loss that followed. The conversation also examines the enduring mystery of what the Penguin struck that night, including the compelling theory that it may have collided with the drifting remains of another lost vessel, the Rio Loge.
In this episode of Shipwreck Tales, Graeme Hill is joined by John McCrystal to revisit the wreck of the Tararua, New Zealand’s worst civilian shipping disaster in its own waters. What begins as a routine coastal voyage in 1881 becomes a slow-motion tragedy off Waipapa Point, as passengers and crew find themselves stranded within sight and sound of shore, yet beyond reach of rescue. It is a gripping account of misjudgment, false hope, and the brutal power of the sea.
In this episode of Shipwreck Tales, Graeme Hill is joined by John McCrystal to revisit the tragic 1894 wreck of the Wairarapa, a fast and popular Trans-Tasman steamer bound from Sydney to Auckland. What begins as a routine crossing becomes a disaster of fog, misplaced confidence and dangerous speed, ending on the cliffs of Great Barrier Island. Graeme and John unpack the ship’s final hours, the confusion on board, the desperate struggle for survival, and the extraordinary acts of courage that emerged from one of New Zealand’s most haunting maritime tragedies.
In this episode, Graeme Hill is joined by John McCrystal for a gripping account of the wreck of the Batavia, the Dutch East India Company flagship that ran aground off Western Australia in 1629. What begins as a maritime disaster quickly descends into mutiny, violence and a brutal struggle for survival among the stranded passengers and crew. Walk through the ship’s doomed voyage, the leadership failures and conspiracies that preceded the wreck, and the terrifying events that unfolded before rescue finally arrived. It is a dark, extraordinary story of power, desperation, and human behavior pushed to its limits.
In this episode, Graeme Hill is joined by John McCrystal to revisit one of New Zealand’s most haunting maritime disasters: the 1968 wreck of the Wahine. Through chilling archival audio, vivid eyewitness detail, and a clear account of the storm, the ship, and the rescue effort, the conversation traces how a routine overnight ferry crossing became a national tragedy, and why the images and memories of that day still sit so heavily in New Zealand’s collective memory.
In this episode of Shipwrecked Tales, Graeme Hill is joined by John McCrystal to revisit the most famous maritime disaster of them all: the sinking of the Titanic. Beyond the familiar story of an iceberg and a doomed maiden voyage, they explore the ambition, technology, class divisions and human decisions that shaped the tragedy. From the ship’s construction in Belfast and the confidence of Edwardian engineering, to the wireless messages, lifeboat failures and rescue efforts that followed. It is a story of hubris, heroism and lasting change in safety at sea.
In this episode of Shipwreck Tales, Graeme Hill is joined by maritime historian John McCrystal to unravel the strange fate of the USS Memphis, a once-powerful American naval cruiser wrecked off Santo Domingo in 1916. What begins as a story of an ageing warship, superstition, and naval routine becomes something far stranger: a calm Caribbean afternoon, an unexplained wall of water, and a desperate race to raise steam before the sea overtakes the ship. Hill and McCrystal bring the tale to life with sharp curiosity and vivid detail, exploring whether the disaster was caused by a tsunami, a hurricane-driven storm surge, or simply one of the most freakish waves ever recorded.
In this episode of Shipwreck Tales, Graeme Hill is joined by John McCrystal to revisit the grim and morally complex story of the Mignonette, a small British yacht bound for Sydney in 1884. What begins as a delivery voyage becomes a desperate fight for survival when the vessel sinks in the South Atlantic, leaving four men adrift in a tiny dinghy with almost no food or water. McCrystal traces the ordeal from shipwreck to rescue, and then into the courtroom, where the survivors’ actions forced one of maritime law’s most enduring questions: can necessity ever justify taking an innocent life?