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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

Captain Peter Williams

Captain Peter Williams was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales, on the 17th of October, 1794. At the age of fourteen he went to sea in a merchantman. In 1829 he took his vessel with whaling crews for three boats to Cuttle Cove, Preservation Inlet, and formed a whaling station there, giving it the Maori name of Cuttle Cove—Rakituma. It was the first whaling station started in what is now the Otago provincial district. His schooner. “The Caroline,” belonged to Mr. Bunn, merchant,
The Late Captain P. Williams.

The Late Captain P. Williams.

Sydney. In 1829 he obtained 120 tuns of oil, in 1830 143 tuns, in 1831 152 tuns, in 1832 115 tuns, in 1833 156 tuns, besides whale-bone, which was valuable in those days. In 1836 Captain Williams left Preservation Inlet, and returned to Sydney. He arrived at Waikouaiti in 1839, and remained some time with Mr. John Jones. In 1841 he was in Auckland, and purchased lot 54 at the first sale of town sections on the 19th of April, 1841. He did not remain long at Auckland, but came to Otago, and settled near the Kaika at Otakou, at a place named Musselborough. In 1849 he married the widow of Mr. Benjamin Coleman, nee Mary Carey, who came to Otago in the “Magnet,” which arrived at the Bluff (then known to the Maoris as Awarua and to the sealers as Bloomfield harbour) on the 16th of March, 1840. She has never since left Otago, and still (1904) resides at Port Chalmers. Captain Williams died in Dunedin on the 26th of June, 1868, aged seventy-four. He left two children; one daughter, who married Mr. W. H. S. Roberts, and one son, Peter, who resides in Dunedin.