A volume from the WhaleLIBRARY
Evans’s party takes an unusually early whale
1840-04-16
An 1840 report states that Evans’s whaling party took a whale on 16 April, described as unusually early for the season. It also reports a cow whale killed on 2 June. The record helps establish the timing of the Cook Strait whaling season and the activities of a named local crew.
An unusually early catch
The report of Evans’s party taking an early whale is significant because a whaling season could depend heavily on the timing of animals entering coastal waters. The reported event is evidence of a catch, not proof of a consistently early migration.
Evans in the station network
Thomas Evans is named as headsman at Fraser’s Long Point operation in 1841; another Evans attribution occurs in the Tokomapuna history. Similar names and changing crews require attention to date and location.
Explore connected books
Explore connected history
- Early offshore whaling at Kāpiti
- Te Ātiawa early migration and named ancestors
- Tokomapuna: Evans’s station and an unresolved date conflict
- Tokomapuna: Tommy Evans’s station in stone
- Tokomapuna: the physical remains of Tommy Evans’s station
- Puketapu ki Paraparaumu — History and Living Connections
- The archaeology of New Zealand shore whaling
- Waikanae: Report on Te Ātiawa/Ngāti Awa Claims
- Kāpiti — Blood, Oil and Bone
- Eleven ships off Kāpiti in 1837