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University of Cambridge

The Southern Whale Fishery Company, Auckland Islands

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The Southern Whale Fishery Company was a colonising whaling company, with a Royal Charter granted in early 1849. The Company was set up as an attempt to re~establish the declining British Southern Whale Fishery, and was actively promoted by Charles Enderby. The Company was formed after The Messrs. Enderby were granted a lease to the Auckland Islands in 1847 and subsequently based their whaling operation from there in 1849. The Company was undercapitalised for the project they were undertaking and a reduction in the abundance of Right whales in the South Pacific meant that whaling returns were less than estimated. It was hoped that there may be a viable stock in the Antarctic Seas, and this was investigated but no Right whales were found. The Company soon exhausted its capital and were forced to abandon its settlement at Port Ross and later wound up the company after the last of eight whaling vessels owned by the Company returned to England in 1854. The Company had underestimated fixed capital expenditure and overestimated potential revenue, particularly after the capital was reduced to one third of the original estimate. The colony was a private venture and had little impact upon British colonial history. It had a shortterm impact upon the whale fishery but its short life and relatively small scale limited this to the early 1850s

Degree

thesis:*
Name dc:type.qualificationname
Master of Philosophy (MPhil)
Level dc:type.qualificationlevel
Masters
Grantor dc:publisher.institution
University of Cambridge
Year dc:date.issued
1995

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Fotheringham, Brett
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • Speak, Peter

Rights

dc:rights
Language dc:language
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
DOI dc:identifier.doi
https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.8086
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/262798

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Cambridge University
Base URL
api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
related terms
citation

Fotheringham, Brett. The Southern Whale Fishery Company, Auckland Islands. Masters thesis, University of Cambridge, 1995. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.8086