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"American Whaling on the Chathams Grounds" Last fall the Nantucket Historical Association published a 70-page pamphlet entitled "American Whaling on the Chathams Grounds," by Rhys Richards. The author is a young New Zealand scholar, and his account of the American whaling activities in this remote region is the first study made of this particular part of our whaling history. The Chathams are well off the southeast ern coast of New Zealand, and consist of Chatham and Pitt Is lands. They were used for provisioning whaleships, whose masters found that the waters around them comprised good whaling grounds. Among the American whalers were eleven Nantucket ships, as well as vessels from other New England ports which were commanded by Nantucket men, or with officers from this Island. Most of the ships in this area from 1830 to 1880, the period cov ered by the study, were from New Bedford and vicinity. One of the Nantucket ships provisioning at the Chathams was the Phoenix, under Captain Israel Morey, and the captain's wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Morey, in a private journal, told of going ashore at Pitt Island. This interesting pamphlet may be purchased directly from the headquarters of the Association or at the Whaling Museum or Peter Foulger Museum. The price is $1.25, tax and postage .included. It makes a fine addition to whaling literature in private or public libraries.
A whaling trypot on a farm at Pitt Island.
