Story: Southland region

Whaling in Foveaux Strait, 1820s to 1840s

Whaling in Foveaux Strait, 1820s to 1840s

From the late 1820s many whalers operated from shore-based stations around Foveaux Strait. The first shore station operated at Preservation Inlet (Rakituma) for 10 years from 1829. Short-lived operations ran from Toetoes (Fortrose), Waikawa, Oue and Omāui in the 1830s. Those at Bluff and Jacobs River (Riverton/Aparima) lasted into the 1840s. Captain John Lort Stokes, calling at Bluff in 1850, commented on ‘the remnants of some large whaling establishment which, to judge from the bones scattered in immense quantities along the beach, must have been as prosperous as [it is] now unproductive. Not a whale spout is now to be seen where ten years ago, that number of fish were caught daily.’ (John Lort Stokes, ‘Cruize of HMS Acheron on the coast of New Zealand.’ The Nautical Magazine and Naval Chronicle, June 1851.)

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How to cite this page:

David Grant, 'Southland region - Early settlement', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/map/20100/whaling-in-foveaux-strait-1820s-to-1840s (accessed 28 March 2024)

Story by David Grant, updated 1 May 2015