Wallaby crew absconded at Kāpiti
Charles Bayley and Wallaby
Captain Charles Bayley’s career belongs to the mobile whaling world linking Kāpiti and the southern ports. The vessel Wallaby appears in the collection’s accounts of Kāpiti in 1842, including its movement between whaling grounds and ports.
The documentary trail is developed in Rhys Richards’s Captain Charles Bayley: Whaling Master 1813–1875 (2014), alongside Whale Song’s records of Wallaby. Vessel movements, crew changes and catches belong to the same maritime story, but should be read from the dated entries rather than treated as one undifferentiated voyage.
Sources: Rhys Richards, Captain Charles Bayley: Whaling Master 1813–1875 (2014); existing WhaleLIBRARY Bayley and Wallaby records.
Rhys Richards reports three men absconded from Wallaby at Kāpiti on 12 May 1842: Richard Wagstaff, James Butler and Thomas Brown.
Whaling crews were mobile
The report of crew members absconding from Wallaby at Kāpiti illustrates the difficulty of retaining skilled labour in a region with competing shore stations and visiting ships. The report establishes a labour episode involving the named vessel; the motives of individual men cannot be assumed without their own testimony.
Following the crew ashore
Whaleboat crews needed rowing, boat-handling and hunting skills. A departure could disrupt a ship’s voyage or a station’s season. The Wallaby’s southern voyages and 1842 catch report offer the immediate documentary context for this incident.
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