Wider whaling geography
Te Awaiti, Tory Channel and Port Underwood were major shore-whaling locations linked to the Cook Strait economy.
A working sea between Kāpiti and the South Island
The whaling settlements of Cook Strait formed a maritime network rather than a series of isolated beaches. Te Awaiti in Tory Channel, Port Underwood and the waters around Kāpiti were linked by the movement of whaleboats, coastal vessels, crews, provisions and the products of the hunt.
The geography mattered. Sheltered bays gave boats access to shore stations, while Cook Strait provided a passage between the North and South Islands. A vessel recorded at Wellington might have worked or traded among several stations during a voyage. This is why shipping lists, station account books and individual recollections are especially valuable when read together.
The Kāpiti evidence includes Alexander Fraser’s Long Point account book and the 1837 register of eleven vessels associated with the island. Together with the archaeological survey of shore-whaling sites, these records allow readers to follow the industry from its working places to the wider maritime routes.
Further reading: Nigel Prickett, The Archaeology of New Zealand Shore Whaling (2002); Whale Song, Kāpiti – Blood, Oil and Bone (2025).
Kāpiti’s whaling industry relied on a network of vessels, ports and shore stations. Boats hunted close to shore while larger vessels transported provisions, workers, oil and whalebone along the coast and across Cook Strait.
Alexander Fraser’s 1840–42 Long Point accounts preserve details of the costs of establishing a station, freight between Sydney and the coast, supplies and payments to workers. Shipping notices and station ledgers together make it possible to follow this wider economy.
Sources: Nigel Prickett, The Archaeology of New Zealand Shore Whaling (2002), pp. 83–97.
