History of The Canterbury Region - Whalers and Sealers

Whalers and Sealers

Whaling at Banks Peninsula began in the mid-1830s. At least one ship, the Juno, was whaling off Banks Peninsula in 1831. Whaling from the Harbours of Banks Peninsula appears to have been pioneered in 1835 by two Weller ships. In that year, the Lucy Ann, after whaling from Port Cooper, left for Sydney on 22 September with 90 tons of oil. After 1835, Port Cooper and Akaroa were visited by considerable numbers of whaling ships, and Banks Peninsula rated second only to Cloudy Bay as a whaling base. In 1836, at least 11 whaleships were at Banks Peninsula, four being American. The 1836 whaling season brought to Port Cooper two whaling captains. The first was Captain George Hempleman who in 1837 established at Peraki the earliest shore whaling stations on Banks Peninsula, this becoming the first permanent European settlement in Canterbury. The second was Captain George Rhodes who gained such a favourable impression of the pastoral possibilities of Banks peninsula, that he returned in November 1839 to establish a cattle station at Akaroa. Hempleman's permanent establishment at Peraki had a special significance; whereas the ships represented merely transient European contact with this part of New Zealand, the shore stations were beginnings of European occupation of the land.

At Peraki on 22 March 1837, Clayton induced a Māori chief named Tohow (Tuauau) to transfer to him all rights to Peraki bay and the country for three miles (5 km) inland. The payment for the land was ‘arms and ammunition and other property’. It was by virtue of this purchase that Hempleman occupied Peraki. Clayton extended his purchase on 21 October 1837. In this second purchase, Tuauau professed to transfer to Clayton the whole of Banks Peninsula, the payment again being arms and ammunition. Leathart, master of the Dublin Packet, witnesses both these deeds.

A bond entered into on 24 October 1837 shows that Hempleman was under obligation to supply whale oil and bone to Clayton to satisfy a debt for whaling gear, and also that he occupied Peraki under licence from Clayton. After Clayton left Peraki, the Māori forced Hempleman, under threat of violence, to make a further payment for the right of occupation. Hempleton regarded this as the beginning of a purchase of Peraki on his own account. At Peraki the men, assisted by Māori, were first of all employed in erecting storehouses and a house for the captain, and in setting up try-works. The shore party brought its first whale ashore on 17 April. By 7 June 11 more whales had been taken. The figures had doubled by the time the season ended. Clayton then returned to pick up the whaling gang, and sailed with it to Sydney on 23 October. Hempleman and his wife, with eight other Europeans, remained at the Bay.

The year 1838 showed a further increase to 26 ships. The number of Americans had more than doubled, but that season is notable for the first appearance on the New Zealand coast of large numbers of French whaleships. A single French ship, the Mississippi, had worked from Cloudy Bay in 1836, but in 1838 she returned as one of a fleet of 16 French whaleships. Among these was the Cachalot, commanded by Jean Langlois, whose land purchase from the Māori led to the French attempt to establish a Colony at Akaroa in 1840. The number of French ships sharply increased in 1841 and 1842 after the establishment of the French settlement at Akaroa. In the first four months of 1843, there were 17 French, and ten American whaleships out of a total of 26. After 1843, foreign whaleships no longer came to New Zealand due to the enforcement of Customs regulations.