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Abstract
This paper considers the 1864 wreck of Grafton in the Auckland Islands, and its implications for wreck analysis and pre‐Cook exploration claims. The captain of Grafton, Thomas Musgrave, stated that the schooner was built from the wreck of a Spanish man‐o‐war, and archaeological analysis of the wreck found that the timbers are a tropical South American species, and had possibly been reused. The implications of this are clear; it is possible that timbers that originated in pre‐Cook (1769) ships lie in New Zealand, but without a full understanding of the historical and archaeological context of any such timbers, including their reuse in later ships, it is not possible to claim proof of pre‐Cook European exploration of New Zealand.
Acknowledgements
The original fieldwork that this paper was based on was funded by the New Zealand Department of Conservation, which also paid for the two radiocarbon dates. The Royal New Zealand Navy transported both archaeological expeditions to the Auckland Islands on New Zealand's last steam powered warship, the HMNZS Canterbury, itself now a maritime archaeological site since it was scuttled in 2007. Bill Day of Seaworks provided information on the present location and condition of the main Grafton hull remains. Dr Fiona Petchey of the Waikato Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory provided assistance with the interpretation of the radiocarbon dates. We would also like to thank the two anonymous referees for their constructive comments.