T 



WHALING IN THE DOMINION OF 

 NEW ZEALAND 



By F. D. Ommanney, a.r.c.s., b.Sc. 

 (Plates XI-XIII; text-fig. i.) 



INTRODUCTION 



HE following account does not pretend to be more than a brief outline of the 

 history of the whaling industry in New Zealand from the beginning of the nine- 

 teenth century, and a sketch of the small industry as it exists to-day. No claim is made 

 that it embodies in any way the result of direct observations made by the author. 



The chief sources of information in the first section of the paper were Dr Robert 

 McNab's The Old Whaling Days (Whitcombe and Toombs, Melbourne and London) and 

 the writings of Dr Ernest Dieff"enbach {Travels in New Zealand, Murray, London, 1843), 

 who was naturalist on board the 'Tory', the exploration ship of the New Zealand 

 Company. In addition to the above very little has been written on the subject of 

 whaling in the Dominion. A few other references, however, were used and appear in 

 the list of literature. 



The second section of the paper, dealing with the two modern whaling stations, is 

 compiled almost entirely from conversations with Mr H. F. Cook, manager and part 

 owner of the station at Whangamumu, who visited the R.R.S. 'Discovery 11' at 

 Auckland, and with Mr Joseph Perano, owner and manager of the whahng station at 

 Te-Awaiti, Tory Channel. 



The author takes this opportunity of thanking these gentlemen for their courtesy in 

 supplying information and for their interest in the work of the Discovery Committee. 

 When the R.R.S. ' Discovery II ' was at Wellington in August 1932 some of the scientific 

 staff, including the author, paid a visit to Te-Awaiti and were received by Mr Perano 

 and his family with the greatest hospitality. The author is also indebted to Messrs 

 A. W. B. Powell and R. A. Falla, of the Auckland Museum and Institute, who reviewed 

 the manuscript of this paper and made certain corrections. 



HISTORY 



Attention was first drawn to the whaling grounds of New Zealand by the writings of 

 Cook, who visited the islands in 1770, 1773 and 1774. In 1791 a fleet of whalers, bound 

 for the coast of South America, was carrying convicts and stores to Australia. They 

 reported great numbers of Sperm whales in Australian waters. After the convicts and 

 stores had been landed they made a trial of the grounds, but reported that, while whales 

 were abundant, the weather was too bad for profitable fishing. They continued to the 

 old grounds oflF the coast of Chile and Peru. 



In 1798 it became no longer possible for whalers to recruit their ships at Pacific ports 



