Whaling Days

During the convict era government vessels and ships in distress were the only vessels permitted to call at the the Island.

After the Pitcairners arrived on the island, many captains sailing in the South Pacific found it a convenient place to take on water and fresh provisions. Whalers were the most frequent callers, as many as four ships standing off the Island at one time, so it was not long before some of the young Pitcairners joined the whaling crews, picked up techniques and built their own boats.

These were modelled on two of the narrow double-ended whaleboats which were given to the islanders by the New Bedford whalers. In the 1950’s amidst the first season which had secured a quota of 150 whales, there were 61 residents on the payroll.

Many were farmers who had been discouraged by poor bean seed harvests and had taken up whaling. Many farmers still farmed the year round, some hunted whales in the season, which began in June or July when the whales were passing the Island as they migrated to warmer waters and ended then the last whales passed as they headed south a few months later.

Credit : Bounty Museum

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