On the 4th May 1866 the General Grant, a 179-foot clipper, came to grief on the cliffs of the Auckland Islands of New Zealand. At the time it was travelling from Melbourne to London carrying 83 passengers and reportedly 2,576 ounces of gold?
Robbie, a Southland (New Zealand) sheep farmer suspects that his uncle a famous treasure hunter salvaged this treasure but the secret dies on his uncle's deathbed. He inherits his uncle's estate but is also left with the unanswered question about the General Grant. Robbie's obsession to resolve this mystery takes him down a dangerous path where he brushes with unsavoury characters who have more than a passing interest in the gold. Did his uncle salvage the gold and who really was his uncle?
This thriller involves historical events woven into a work of fiction and is of particular interest to those in New Zealand. Australia and England. In the early history of New Zealand and Australia, ships took the dangerous but fastest route to England sailing west to east through the Southern Ocean. Many ships disappeared hitting icebergs, coming to grief around the horn or ending up as wrecks like the General Grant on sub-Antarctic islands.
My book covers the laidback, rural, New Zealand lifestyle of a Southland farmer caught up in this mystery. In reading this book one will not only enjoy a gripping thriller but will be left learning what is known about the General Grant and deciding whether the treasure has been salvaged.
