Port Molyneux : the story of Maori and pakeha in South Otago : a centennial history : commemorating the landing of George Willsher and his companions at Willsher Bay, June 28, 1840 : with a programme for the unveiling of the centennial cairn, erected by the Clutha County Council, June 28, 1940
Shortland Compiles Whaling Statistics
Shortland Compiles Whaling Statistics.
In 1844 Edward Shortland travelled by land and sea right down our East Coast. He sailed from Waikouaiti to Molyneux Bay, but did not land, the schooner going on to Waikawa. Here the weather was bad, and they came back to Tautuku, where the whaling station was “on the point of being abandoned, as, during the past year, the oil procured had not been sufficient to pay its expenses.”
On the trip Shortland collected “Statistics of Whaling Stations South of Banks's Peninsula.”
page 8William Palmer is given as the owner of Tautuku and Matau or Molyneux; Taiari is given as Weller.
| Place. | Year. | Fish caught. | Oil in tuns. |
| Tautuku | 1839 | 11 | 74 |
| Tautuku | 1840 | 11 | 72 |
| Tautuku | 1841 | 11 | 53 |
| Tautuku | 1842 | 9 | 36 |
| Tautuku | 1843 | 2 | 10 |
| Matau | 1838 | 5 | 25 |
| Taiari | 1839 | ? | 70 |
| Taiari | 1840 | 3 | 15 |
| Taiari | 1841 | 2 | 8 |
This table would seem to indicate that 1838 saw the end of the shore whaling at Molyneux. To–day there is evidence of the big bones of whales at Willsher Bay, but these are the remains of whales cast up in rcent times.