138 NOTES ON TASMANIAN WHALING, 



During the samel week a Mr. Innes, an expert harpoon- 

 er, killed a 4-tun whale off Hobart Town, and the Editor 

 remarks: — "Our river and bays are at this moment full 

 "of whales." An account of a trip to the South Cape 

 taken in this year mentions the whaling station of Messrs. 

 Kelly and Bethune located on Bruny Island, probably at 

 N. Bruny. 



By 1830, in addition to local whaling, our H.T. Ships 

 had commenced to sail to the High Seas, and Ross, H . T . 

 Almanacl-, 1830, states that' in this year the "Clarence" 

 was despatched to the Whale Fishery. This was the first 

 H. T. Vessel to do this, and one of her officers was the 

 late Captain McArthur (father of Capt. McArthur, the 

 Shipping Master of Hobart). There is no word of the 

 result of her voyage. 



On Octobeir 2 of this year the Brig Deveron arrived 

 from Cloudy Bay, New Zealand, with 200 tuns of Oil and 

 20 tons of bone. While there she had thei misfortune to 

 lose in a squall six men, including the first and third 

 >m.ates, one of the former being a native of Hobart Town, 

 named Williams. 



The value of the Cargo obtained on the six months' 

 voyage was £5,000, and she was owned by Captain Wilson. 

 These two ships are mentioned as Bay Whalers, as their 

 catch was taken off the coast of New Zealand, and not on 

 the high seas. The industry continued to be very suc- 

 cessful both locally and at N.Z. 



The "Dragon" in 1831 obtained a full catch in N.Z. 

 waters, and in 1833 the same ship, which had been con- 

 cerned with the Brig Elizabeth of Sydney in the massacre 

 of Maoris, was burned by the natives. Two whales were 

 followed into an inlet, where the crews were massacred ^and 

 eaten by the Maoris and the ship burned. In the same 

 year the "Marianne" arrived at Hobart Town from New 

 Zealand with the splendid catch of 260 tuns of Oil (100 

 barrels Sperm) and 15 tons of whalebone. Only 7 months 

 at sea, her cargo was valued at £4,500. The owners were 

 Messrs. Hewitt and Gore. This success led to proposals 

 to form a settlement from Hobart Town on the South 

 ■Island of New Zealand, but nothing eventuated. 



The following extract is of interest, particularly as it 

 shows the rise of Launceston and its importance from the 

 whaling standpoint, by 1834 : — 



"In this year there were 7 ships and 24 boats employed 

 "in the Black Whale Fishing from Hobart Town, which 



