El Dorado Wreck occurred On the morning of Wednesday, June 11, 1913, the small American steam schooner “El Dorado” of the Sanders & Drinkwater shipping company had been sailing along the west coast of America for two months, not realizing that the Humboldt current had diverted the route of navigation to the west. Suddenly menacing black clouds approached and a strong wind pushed the ship, loaded with Oregon pine wood, into the Pacific Ocean. The schooner was 2,700 miles off the coast of Chile, too far from its final destination, Antofagasta, where the wood was to be exchanged for Chilean saltpeter, a fertilizer valued by the United States. In command was Captain N. P. Benson and officers Wilson and Johansen with eight young stevedores.
El Dorado Wreck on the High Seas
For two days the storm did not stop, turning into a true hurricane, whipping the schooner like a toy in the raging sea. The mast broke loose, thrown into the air like a feather in the wind. Dawn broke on Friday, the schooner began to flood and the crew prepared to abandon ship in the lifeboat, trying to avoid colliding with the wood scattered across the sea. There was enough water in the boat and food for a few days.
They were 560 miles from Pitcairn Island and 700 miles from Easter Island. Considering the west winds, it was less risky to sail toward Easter Island with the wind at their backs. According to the captain, they would arrive in nine to ten days. A stormy, rough sea prevailed, one of the oars broke, and the strong wind whipped sea foam across their faces. Over the following days of navigation, uncertainty took hold of the young stevedores; all were tired and weak, some hallucinating and seeing green fields and trees, others seeing ports and buildings.
Arrival on Rapa Nui
Dawn broke on Sunday, June 22, and they spotted Easter Island for the first time. At ten in the morning, the boat reached the eastern part of the Poike Peninsula, at a cliff site called Kikiri Roa by the islanders. Upon disembarking, they could still feel the motion of the sea in their bodies.
Officers Wilson and Johansen climbed the steep cliff to seek help, meeting along the way the native shepherd Casimiro Paoa Bornier, who took them on horseback to the town of Mataveri, to the house of the administrator of the sheep company “Williamson & Balfour,” the Englishman Henry Percy Edmunds. Four other crew members were able to climb the cliff and reached the leprosarium sector, where they were well received. The remaining five were eventually all rescued from Poike and very well cared for by the island community of Hanga Roa. The native population at the time was around 250 people. News of the wreck caused a great stir in the town and, according to Edmunds, the El Dorado wreck was the first recorded near Rapa Nui.
The Return to Tahiti
After a 103-day stay, with no ship having called at Rapa Nui, Captain Benson decided to fit out the same lifeboat from the wreck, with the help of Edmunds and some natives, to set sail for Tahiti. Two of the stevedores, Simoneur and Drinkwater, agreed to accompany him on the voyage. Provisioned with a good amount of food and water, they set out for Mangareva Island, 1,600 miles away. They arrived successfully after 16 days of sailing and managed to contact their families and the owners of the sunken schooner. The rest of the crew remained on Rapa Nui until December of that year, when an English ship called at Hanga Roa, picked them up, and headed for Sydney, Australia.
Descendants on the Island
On Easter Island, two of the El Dorado crew members left descendants, according to what the natives remember. Mr. Wilson, first officer, left a daughter born on May 7, 1914 to Mrs. Maria Reina Aifiti Tekena, daughter of King Atamu Tekena and future wife of the native Nicolás Pakomio Angata. She was baptized Elena Atan Atan and nicknamed “Vahiroa.” Elena’s name was given in honor of Wilson’s mother, and at his request; Vahiroa married Alberto Hucke Make, called “Papito” (1912-2001), with whom she had eleven children, the Hucke Atan siblings. Vahiroa died on March 27, 1962, from breast cancer, at age 48.
On the other hand, Mr. Simoneur, a crew member of French origin, also left descendants with the native Micaela Tuki Kaituoe on July 14, 1914. His son Juan Tuki Tuki was nicknamed “Vata” in honor of the old Frenchman Vincent Pont, patriarch of the Pont family, who was his foster father. Juan Tuki Tuki married Laura “María Hau” Pakarati Atan and they had 15 children, according to the book Te Mau Hatu O’Rapa Nui by Alberto Hotus. He died on June 19, 1997, leaving numerous descendants.
Demographic Context: Rapanui Mixed Ancestry
Following the arrival of slave ships from Peru in 1862 and the exodus of 300 people to Tahiti in 1871, French anthropologist Alfonso Pinart recorded in 1877 the lowest demographic census in Rapanui history, with only 111 souls. From that same year, new Rapanui family lines were founded with an interesting mixing of various origins, with some surnames such as Edmunds, Pont, Cardinali and Calderón, and many others of Chilean blood, still preserved today.
Like Elena Atan Atan and Juan Tuki Tuki, many are the children of foreigners and some Chilean sub-delegates, officials, and political exiles who did not receive official recognition from their fathers, but instead carry two maternal surnames. After El Dorado, many more shipwrecks were recorded whose crews remained on Rapa Nui for extended periods before being rescued, further increasing the island’s mixed ancestry.
Frequently Asked Questions About the El Dorado Wreck
When did “El Dorado” wreck near Rapa Nui?
The American schooner “El Dorado” wrecked starting June 11, 1913, after two days of hurricane-force storms in the Pacific, while sailing from the west coast of America toward Antofagasta with a cargo of Oregon pine wood.
Where did the crew land after the shipwreck?
The crew reached the eastern part of the Poike Peninsula by lifeboat, at a cliff called Kikiri Roa, on June 22, 1913, after sailing 700 miles from the wreck site.
Who helped the rescued crew?
English administrator Henry Percy Edmunds, of the Williamson & Balfour sheep company, received the survivors in Mataveri. The Hanga Roa community, about 250 people at the time, cared for the rest of the crew.
What descendants did the El Dorado crew leave on Rapa Nui?
Two crew members left descendants: officer Wilson had a daughter, Elena Atan Atan (“Vahiroa”), with María Reina Aifiti Tekena; and Frenchman Simoneur had a son, Juan Tuki Tuki (“Vata”), with Micaela Tuki Kaituoe.
