Description
By John McCraw
Coastmaster: The Story of Captain James B. Greig by John McCraw. ‘James Brown Greig was a major figure in the maritime history of Southern New Zealand. A Scottish sea captain, he married a Prussian aristocrat, and came to New Zealand in 1862. While Harbourmaster at Invercargill during its boom period as a port, he took the tug Southland, a small paddle steamer, to the Auckland Islands to search for castaways. After a period as a ship owner Greig was appointed, in 1873, Resident Magistrate and Customs Officer on Stewart Island but he combined these offices with so many other Government appointments that he became known as the ‘King of the Island’. One of Captain Greig’s many tasks was to take charge of a huge barracks built in the bush at Port William as part of an ill-fated immigration scheme.’
In 1882 Greig was given command of the Government schooner Kekeno to patrol the ocean south of New Zealand for seal poachers. For four years he made two or three voyages each year round the Sub-Antarctic islands battling ferocious storms in a vessel smaller than the present America’s Cup yachts. Captain Greig was responsible for building and replenishing the castaway depots on the islands and for searching for shipwrecked sailors. For his part in rescuing some of the crew of an American sealing vessel Greig was presented with a gold watch by the President of the United States.
Captain Greig retired in 1886 and died in 1896.
- Publisher : Craig Printing
- Publication date : December 31, 1999
- Language : English
- ISBN-13 : 978-0473062002
