New England Whalers in New Zealand Waters, 1800-1850

Abstract

New Zealanders are constantly reminded of their whaling heritage. The numerous gates and arches formed by whales' jaw-bones, the trypot prominently displayed in Timaru's Caroline Bay, the lingering fame of Dicky Barret in New Plymouth, the legends of the Bay of Islands, and the relics held by every museum, are some of the many remnants which emphasise the role of whaling in New Zealand's history. Present-day events play their part, too; the continued success of the Tory Channel station, and the visits by Russian and Japanese fleets from the Antarctic, maintain the tradition of New Zealand as a centre of whaling. Possibly it is because of these present-day examples that the tradition has become more legendary than factual in nature, for the Tory Channel party, with their fast chasers, and the Russian fleet, with its radar, sonar and helicopters, seem almost divorced from the old methods. Consequently, there has been a tendency to glamourise the men who rowed out after whales, risking death with every stroke, and, if successful, towing the carcass tedious miles back to the trying-works. While bravery and fortitude are always commendable, only the passage of a century could make heroes out of the old-time whalers. In a similar way, legend has distorted the size and significance of the old whaling industry. To take just one example, the editor of the Marsden papers goes out of his way to add this comment: "An old settler informed me in the 1880's", writes Mr. S. Percy Smith, "that he had seen over sixty whale ships at one time anchored in the Kawakawa River opposite Opua". In the same way, it seems that the American contribution to the industry, and the American respect for New Zealand as a whaling centre, have also been over-rated. We find an Hawaiian anthropologist writing: “Of the one hundred eighty-six whale ships visiting the Bay of Islands in 1836, no less than ninety-eight were American.” Both figures quoted are great exaggerations. Even the respectable McNab refers to the "immense fleet of American whalers which … filled every bay in the South Island with vessels." All these comments reflect legend rather than fact, and it would seem profitable to establish as definitively as possible the extent of American whaling in New Zealand in the early years of its history. Only in this way can the significance of each upon the other be determined.