The Estonian Branch :

About the Estonian Branch we know because of the story of Michael Pul a castaway in the Antartic Southsea. Michael Pul was born on a Estonian farm ( at the time Finnish/Russian governed and therefore called a Russian-Finn) and went to sea at the age of 12. He was about 19 when his ship the Dundonald    [ 14 ]

Dundonald on the river Avon and
an artist impression on the high seas

went under on March 7th , 1907 . The Dundonald    [ 15 ] ,an iron clad four masted barque, build in 1891 in Belfast , laden with wheat and a crew of 28 people, on its way from Sydney (Australia) to Falmouth (England) was driven off course by a terrible storm and smashed on the rocks of Disappointment Island. A small uninhabited island , 10km west of the northern part of Auckland Island , about 450km south of New Zealand.

Auckland Island

Partly due to his efforts, almost all 16 crew members who managed to come ashore during the disaster survived.

Huts on Disappointment Island

One person 'Jabez Peters' died of exposure within 18 days. The others build huts and hunted for seals , albatrosses and mollyhawks. They made several attempts to reach the Auckland Island where they knew was a depot with stored food and clothes . Read more about his adventure in the Strip Story . In 1926, in Great Britain, he married Karen Huskonnen and moved to Australia. There he has worked in the harbor of Sydney untill his death in 1960 . He left a son and a daughter.

(picture thanks to : The Canterbury Museum, Christchurch , New Zealand    [ 16 ])
Here, by the frame of their hide boat, which had been their rescue, some of the survivors aboard the Hinemoa.
From left to right Mickey Grattan, Bob Ellis, Michael Pul and Karl Knudsen.

upper left corner : Michael Pul