1874: A Fleet of American Whalers
May 14, 2019
By AHNZ
1874: Looking south west from Flagstaff Hill over Kororareka. American whaling ships are seen in the harbour.
Are you thinking this is a bit odd? Have they dated this picture incorrectly? 1874 is rather late in the day for American Whalers by a good half century, isn’t it?
Northland historian Lindsay Alexander’s thesis is that the general assumption that American whalers stopped visiting New Zealand waters in the 1820s is a myth. Having just read his book, Whaleship arrivals and departures on the north-east coast of New Zealand¹, I must concede he is right.
“What I’ve found is that a lot more ships arrived than anyone ever thought,” Mr Alexander says.
“People were saying that the shipping here really tailed off after 1850, and whaling wasn’t all that important, but actually that isn’t the case at all.”- Whaling away with history; Stuff
My belief was that the whale fishery boom dried up after a stint of 25 years or so the same way that sealing had before it. After all, that’s why Riverton in Southland was founded in 1850 by whalers who transitioned from ‘ploughing the sea to ploughing the land‘ as they put it. See previous post: 1830s: The Spice of Danger and wild, rough, romance. So how can the above picture be from 1874?
Hi. Thank you for your email. The date is based on two comments:
* Third wharf (Government Wharf) completed 1875, so the painting must be after that date – Lindsay Alexander (June 2016).
* This is after 1874. The wharf to the left of centre with the steamer depicted in the image is the public wharf which was constructed late 1874. The wharf in the foreground is that of Samuel Stephenson. The other (in the middle) was constructed for Alcide Vilcoq who later died at the Provincial Lunatic asylum in 1874. The business was taken over from Vilcoq’s Estate by James McFarlane (anonymous)- Keith Giles, Principal Photographs Librarian, Auckland Libraries
As you see from Alexander’s chart and the information supplied to Giles’ library there were indeed Yanks about our waters. After this point in history things tale off, finally ending in 1894. Alexander even has on record the last of these Yank ships to visit New Zealand. It was the Charles W. Morgan (built 1841) under captain James Earle and it’s still sailing. It’s the last of its kind.
Captain Earlie stayed at Russell for 11 days at that point and deprived New Zealand of one of our school teachers. The 15yo teacher, Honor Mathews, left to become Mrs Earlie. The two were married in Honolulu. One last fish to catch for the Americans before closing the book on Yankee whaling in New Zealand!
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1 Whaleship arrivals and departures on the north-east coast of New Zealand; Alexander (2013)
image ref. Old Russell from Flagstaff Hill with fleet of American whalers in harbour; Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections
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