1837.

After the completion of the bay whaling of the 1836 season, the American fleet of whalers separated, the full vessels making for home, and those not yet ready to leave following the whales off the coast.

Of the homeward bound vessels the Nile sailed direct from Port Cooper to New Bedford, and negotiated the voyage in 137 days. Generally, however, the whalers made for the Bay of Islands, where were to be obtained first-class provisioning and equipping facilities for the long homeward journey. Some made a call at one or other of the Brazilian ports of Bahia, Pernambuco, St. Catharina, or Rio Janeiro. The Warren, the Martha, and the Erie called in at the first-named port; the Columbus, the Favourite, and the Vermont stopped at Pernambuco; the Jasper at St. Catherina; and the Navy, the Mechanic, and the Rosalie at Rio Janeiro.

While on the coast of Brazil, trading was sometimes indulged in. The Warren sold 1400 barrels of her oil at Bahia, and the Rosalie 2000 at Rio and loaded up with coffee for home.

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More whalers sailed from the Bay of Islands than direct from the bays where they had taken the whales, and the great bulk of them relieved the tedium of the long homeward journey by a run ashore in Brazil. The length of the home voyage varied from 90 days in the case of the James Stewart, to 137 days in the case of the Nile.

Of the whalers recorded as being on the coast in 1836 there appeared there in 1837, the Gratitude, the Erie, the Tuscaloosa, and the Jasper. On the other hand we have mentioned for the first time, the Mechanic and the Margaret Rait, of St. Johns; the Courier, the Orozimbo, the Virginia and the Julian, of New Bedford; the Thule, of Nantucket; and the Rosalie and the Chariot, of Warren. There were, therefore, thirteen American whalers recorded as being on the coast during 1837.

The following was the distribution of the whaling fleet on the various bay whaling grounds:—

		Cloudy bay.
Ship.	Port.	Master.	Recorded dates.
Tuscaloosa	New Bedford	Hussey	May 6 to July 18
Erie	Newport	Dennis	June 17 to Aug. 1
Thule	Nantucket	Coleman	July 18 to Aug. 1
Virginia	New Bedford	Krudup	July 18 to Aug. 24
Orozimbo	New Bedford	Sherman	Oct. 13
Chariot	Warren	Champlin	Oct. 13
Mechanic	St. John's	Cudlip	Oct. 13
		Banks peninsula.
Jasper	Fairhaven	Raymond	Feb. 18 to Mar. 1
Mechanic	St. John's	Cudlip	July
Orozimbo	New Bedford	Sherman	July 7
		Otago.
Rosalie	Warren	Pickens	Aug. 17
		Stewart island and foveaux strait.
Mechanic	Newport	Doggett	Jan. 10
Courier	New Bedford	Worth	May to Oct. 6
Gratitude	New Bedford	Fisher	May
Margaret Rait	St. John's		May to Oct. 6
Julian	New Bedford	Trapp	Aug. to Sept. 18

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The above disposition shows that the American whalers had been disappointed with the results at Cloudy Bay the previous season. The Tuscaloosa and the Erie were the only two which returned to the Bay, and they mated from 11th May onwards. The Thule alone put in a first appearance. No other Americans cast anchor at this celebrated station until the Orozimbo, the Chariot, and the Mechanic came up from the Southern bays with good cargoes in their holds towards the end of the season.

The log of the Tuscaloosa shows that she came to anchor in Cloudy Bay on 6th May and had her boats out on the bay on the eighth. On the eleventh she mated with the Erie, and the first whale of the partnership was killed the following day, which was a Friday. On the Saturday the whale was towed in and cut up, on the Sunday boiling down was commenced, and on Tuesday that process was completed and the coopering done. On 20th May three whales were killed, and another on the twenty-sixth, one on 2nd June, two on the fourth, one on the sixth, one on the eleventh, two on the twelfth, one on the fifteenth. These figures will serve to indicate how often whales were captured when two vessels were acting in concert.

Nothing is said in the log of the Tuscaloosa about other ships being in the Bay until 16th June, when it records the arrival of H.M.S. Rattlesnake. That there were other ships in the vicinity is shown by the fact that the journal of Captain Symond's brother records the fact that while the Rattlesnake lay there several whales were killed and that there were no less than 30 boats out manned by Maoris, Englishmen, Americans, and Frenchmen. Beyond the knowledge that the American boats were those of the Tuscaloosa and the Erie we have no further information.

The entries towards the latter part of the season indicate that comparatively few whales were captured, and the Tuscaloosa sailed on 18th July.

Banks Peninsula is only known to have been used by the Mechanic and the Orozimbo. The captain of the former vessel is given as Doggett, when in Foveaux Strait. page 202 Cudlip, when at Banks Peninsula and in Cloudy Bay, and Pease, on arrival at St. John's. The Jasper simply called in for refreshments while whaling along the coast in the early part of the year before leaving for home. Her log records the fact that she was at anchor at Akaroa during the period given.

The information regarding the Otago harbours was brought to New Bedford by the Courier, which sailed home from Stewart Island under Captain Worth on 6th October, and reached New Bedford under the command of Captain Crowell on 12th January, 1838, Captain Worth having died when the vessel was eight days out from Stewart Island. In May, the Courier, the Gratitude, and the Margaret Rait were all at the Neck, Stewart Island, but it is probable that they visited the Bluff and other ports during the bay whaling season.

The following are the particulars of the return home of the whalers not already given:—

Ship.	Tons.	Return.		Cargoes, in barrels and lbs.
		1838.	Black.	Sperm.	Bone.
Courier	381	Jan. 12	2550		26,000
Virginia	346	Mar. 24	2260	240
Julian	350	July 25	3217
Mechanic		July 27	2860	260	27,500
Chariot	355	Sept. 20
Orozimbo	588	Oct. 3	3297	305
		1839.
Rosalie	323	May 2		120	10,000
Thule	285	July 19	2085	68

No particulars are available of the Margaret Rait beyond the fact that she had 2000 barrels on board when at Stewart Island.

The cargoes of the seven vessels ascertained amounted to 18,259 barrels of oil, and from the few cases where the weight of bone has been given it can be seen that 10lbs. of bone went to 1 barrel of black oil.

Of all the American whalers none has a greater interest to New Zealanders than has the Julian, of New Bedford, page 203 which “fished” the Foveaux Strait bays during this season. Taking to himself a wife from among the daughters of a Foveaux Strait chief, there was born to Captain Trapp, the commander, a son, who, in the person of the Hon. Tama Parata, M.L.C., represented the South Island in the Parliament of New Zealand for nearly a quarter of a century, and retired to the Legislative Council, from which elevated political station he now sees his former position filled by his son, Charles Parata, M.P. The third generation of this talented and distinguished family is represented by Miss Te Kahureremoa Hinehoukiterangi Parata.