Samuel Enderby & Sons
Encyclopedia
Samuel Enderby & Sons was a whaling
and sealing
company based in London
, England
, founded circa 1775 by Samuel Enderby
(1717-1797). The company encouraged their captains to combine exploration with their business activities, and sponsored several of the earliest expeditions to the subantarctic
, Southern Ocean
and Antarctica itself.
and Boston
. All of the captains and harpooners were American loyalists. The vessels transported finished goods to the American colonists, and brought whale oil
back from New England
to England. Some of Enderby's ships were reportedly chartered for the tea cargoes that were ultimately dumped into Boston Harbor
during the Boston Tea Party
incident.
An embargo was placed on whale oil exports from New England in 1775, as a result of the American Revolutionary War. Enderby therefore elected to pursue the whaling trade in the South Atlantic. Samuel Enderby founded the Samuel Enderby & Sons company the following year, when he and his business partners Alexander Champion
and John St. Barbe assembled a fleet of twelve whaling vessels on the Greenwich Peninsula
, in the London Borough of Greenwich
.
By 1785, Samuel Enderby & Sons controlled seventeen ships engaged in this business. All were commanded by American Loyalists. That year, whales in the South Atlantic had become nearly extinct due to pressure from the whaling industry. The Enderby family therefore shifted its focus to the seas around New Zealand, with the Bay of Islands
as its main base of operations.
In early 1786, the Enderby family lobbied the government for the right to go into the South Pacific (an area in which the East India Company
had historically enjoyed a monopoly). The lobbying efforts were evenyually successful, and on 1 September 1788, the 270 ton whaling vessel Amelia, owned by Samuel Enderby & Sons and commanded by Captain James Shields, departed London. The ship went west around Cape Horn
into the Pacific Ocean
to become the first ship of any nation to conduct whaling operations in the Southern Ocean
. A crewman, Archelus Hammond of Nantucket, killed the first sperm whale
there off the coast of Chile
on 3 March 1789. Amelia returned to London on 12 March 1790 with a cargo of 139 tons of sperm oil
. The Amelia voyage marked the beginning of a new era for the company---one in which many great voyages of oceanographic and geographic exploration were accomplished, but which would ultimately prove to be a drain on company profits.
By 1791, the company owned or leased 68 whaling ships operating in the subantarctic region and the Southern Ocean. Whaling vessels owned by Samuel Enderby & Sons were part of the Third Fleet
taking convicts to New South Wales
in 1791. These vessels included Britannia, William and Ann, Mary Ann, Matilda, and Active
. Captain Eber Bunker
, the enterprising American captain of the William and Ann, not wanting to return to England with an empty vessel, became the first to hunt whales in New Zealand waters in December 1791. From this time forward, Enderby's ships Speedy, Britannia, and Ocean made frequent whaling voyages from Port Jackson
.
Over the next decade the area became more attractive as the East India Company’s monopoly on fishing in South Pacific waters was progressively lifted, and Governor Phillip King
of New South Wales worked to attract the whaling industry.
From January 1793 to November 1794, Enderby sent the Rattler to survey whaling grounds in the southeastern Pacific, under the command of Lieutenant James Colnett
, Royal Navy
. Colnett surveyed the Galapagos Islands on this expedition.
Samuel Enderby died in 1797, leaving the company to his three sons Charles, Samuel
, and George.
On 18 August 1806, Captain Abraham Bristow
, commander of the Ocean, a whaling ship owned by Samuel Enderby & Sons, discovered the Auckland Islands
archipelago
in the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand
. Finding them uninhabited, he named them "Lord Auckland's" after his father's friend William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland. Bristow returned on the Sarah in 1807, in order to claim the archipelago
for England.
On 3 August 1819, the whaling vessel Syren, owned by Samuel Enderby & Sons and commanded by Captain Frederick Coffin
of Nantucket, Massachusetts
, visited the whaling grounds off of Japan
. The ship returned to London on 21 April 1822 with a cargo of 346 tons of sperm oil.
In 1830, after the death of their father, Samuel Enderby Junior
(1756-1829), Samuel Enderby's grandsons, Charles
and George Enderby, bought a site on the Thames River which became known as Enderby's Wharf
. This site became the new headquarters of the Messrs Enderby company. There they built a ropewalk
and a factory, known as Enderby's Hemp Rope Works, for the production of sail canvas and rope from hemp
and flax
.
From 1830-1833, Samuel Enderby & Sons sponsored the Southern Ocean Expedition
as part of an effort to locate new sealing grounds in the Southern Ocean. This expedition, involved two company-owned vessels: the whaling brig
Tula, and the cutter Lively. The expedition, led by Captain John Biscoe
of the Tula, was the third ever to circumnavigate
the Antarctic continent. (Captain James Cook
being the first, and Fabian von Bellingshausen
being the second.) The expedition discovered and charted a large coastal land mass in East Antarctica
which Biscoe named Enderby Land
. Biscoe also charted many other terrain features, including Cape Ann
, Mount Biscoe
, Adelaide Island
, the Biscoe Islands
, and Graham Land
. Despite the loss of several men to scurvy and the wreck of the Lively at the Falkland Islands
in July 1832, the expedition successfully returned to London in early 1833.
From 1838-1839, Captain John Balleny
led another expedition to the Southern Ocean. Commanding the Eliza Scott, another whaling schooner
, this expedition led to the discovery of the Balleny Islands
.
In 1846, Samuel Enderby's grandson Charles Enderby
founded the Southern Whale Fishery Company
in England. In December 1849, he established the Enderby Settlement in Erebus Cove, Port Ross
, at the north-eastern end of Auckland Island
, close to Enderby Island. This was the beginning of the community named Hardwicke
. The Hardwicke settlement was based on agriculture
, resupply and minor repair of ships, and whaling. Ultimately unsuccessful, the colony was abandoned in August 1852.
Charles Enderby returned to London in 1853. The ill-fated Enderby Settlement finally bankrupted the Enderby family business, which was liquidated in 1854. Charles Enderby died in poverty in London on 31 August 1876.
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
and sealing
Seal hunting
Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. The hunt is currently practiced in five countries: Canada, where most of the world's seal hunting takes place, Namibia, the Danish region of Greenland, Norway and Russia...
company based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, founded circa 1775 by Samuel Enderby
Samuel Enderby
Samuel Enderby was a successful whale oil merchant. In the 18th century, he founded Samuel Enderby & Sons, a prominent shipping and whaling and sealing company....
(1717-1797). The company encouraged their captains to combine exploration with their business activities, and sponsored several of the earliest expeditions to the subantarctic
Subantarctic
The Subantarctic is a region in the southern hemisphere, located immediately north of the Antarctic region. This translates roughly to a latitude of between 46° – 60° south of the Equator. The subantarctic region includes many islands in the southern parts of the Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and...
, Southern Ocean
Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions...
and Antarctica itself.
History of the company: 1773-1800
In 1773 Enderby began the Southern Fishery, a whaling firm with ships registered in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. All of the captains and harpooners were American loyalists. The vessels transported finished goods to the American colonists, and brought whale oil
Whale oil
Whale oil is the oil obtained from the blubber of various species of whales, particularly the three species of right whale and the bowhead whale prior to the modern era, as well as several other species of baleen whale...
back from New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
to England. Some of Enderby's ships were reportedly chartered for the tea cargoes that were ultimately dumped into Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeast.-History:...
during the Boston Tea Party
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government and the monopolistic East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies...
incident.
An embargo was placed on whale oil exports from New England in 1775, as a result of the American Revolutionary War. Enderby therefore elected to pursue the whaling trade in the South Atlantic. Samuel Enderby founded the Samuel Enderby & Sons company the following year, when he and his business partners Alexander Champion
Alexander Champion (businessman)
Alexander Champion was a London based merchant and was active as a whaler in the late 18th century.Alexander Champion was born on 11 Nov 1751, the son of another Alexander Champion who was considered to be the father of British Whaling...
and John St. Barbe assembled a fleet of twelve whaling vessels on the Greenwich Peninsula
Greenwich Peninsula
Greenwich Peninsula is an area of South London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.The peninsula is bounded on three sides by a loop of the Thames, between the Isle of Dogs and Silvertown. To the south is the rest of Greenwich, to the south-east is Charlton.The peninsula lies...
, in the London Borough of Greenwich
London Borough of Greenwich
The London Borough of Greenwich is an Inner London borough in south-east London, England. Taking its name from the historic town of Greenwich, the present borough was formed in 1965 by the amalgamation of the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich with part of the Metropolitan...
.
By 1785, Samuel Enderby & Sons controlled seventeen ships engaged in this business. All were commanded by American Loyalists. That year, whales in the South Atlantic had become nearly extinct due to pressure from the whaling industry. The Enderby family therefore shifted its focus to the seas around New Zealand, with the Bay of Islands
Bay of Islands
The Bay of Islands is an area in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located 60 km north-west of Whangarei, it is close to the northern tip of the country....
as its main base of operations.
In early 1786, the Enderby family lobbied the government for the right to go into the South Pacific (an area in which the East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
had historically enjoyed a monopoly). The lobbying efforts were evenyually successful, and on 1 September 1788, the 270 ton whaling vessel Amelia, owned by Samuel Enderby & Sons and commanded by Captain James Shields, departed London. The ship went west around Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
into the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
to become the first ship of any nation to conduct whaling operations in the Southern Ocean
Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions...
. A crewman, Archelus Hammond of Nantucket, killed the first sperm whale
Sperm Whale
The sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, is a marine mammal species, order Cetacea, a toothed whale having the largest brain of any animal. The name comes from the milky-white waxy substance, spermaceti, found in the animal's head. The sperm whale is the only living member of genus Physeter...
there off the coast of Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
on 3 March 1789. Amelia returned to London on 12 March 1790 with a cargo of 139 tons of sperm oil
Whale oil
Whale oil is the oil obtained from the blubber of various species of whales, particularly the three species of right whale and the bowhead whale prior to the modern era, as well as several other species of baleen whale...
. The Amelia voyage marked the beginning of a new era for the company---one in which many great voyages of oceanographic and geographic exploration were accomplished, but which would ultimately prove to be a drain on company profits.
By 1791, the company owned or leased 68 whaling ships operating in the subantarctic region and the Southern Ocean. Whaling vessels owned by Samuel Enderby & Sons were part of the Third Fleet
Third Fleet (Australia)
The Third Fleet consisted of 11 ships which set sail from United Kingdom in February, March and April 1791 bound for the Sydney penal settlement, with over 2000 convicts. The passengers consisted of convicts, military personnel and notable people sent to fill high positions in the colony...
taking convicts to New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
in 1791. These vessels included Britannia, William and Ann, Mary Ann, Matilda, and Active
Active (ship)
For other ships of the same name, see HMS Active, USCGC Active, USRC Active, and USS Active.The Active was a ship that disappeared in the Tasman Sea in 1810....
. Captain Eber Bunker
Eber Bunker
Eber Bunker was a sea captain and pastoralist, born on 7 March 1761 at Plymouth, Massachusetts. His parents were James Bunker and his wife Hannah, née Shurtleff.-1776-1786: Background:...
, the enterprising American captain of the William and Ann, not wanting to return to England with an empty vessel, became the first to hunt whales in New Zealand waters in December 1791. From this time forward, Enderby's ships Speedy, Britannia, and Ocean made frequent whaling voyages from Port Jackson
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...
.
Over the next decade the area became more attractive as the East India Company’s monopoly on fishing in South Pacific waters was progressively lifted, and Governor Phillip King
Phillip King
Phillip King PRA is a British sculptor. He is one of Anthony Caro's best known students, even though the two artists are near contemporaries. Their education followed similar trajectories and they both worked as assistants to Henry Moore...
of New South Wales worked to attract the whaling industry.
From January 1793 to November 1794, Enderby sent the Rattler to survey whaling grounds in the southeastern Pacific, under the command of Lieutenant James Colnett
James Colnett
James Colnett was an officer of the British Royal Navy, an explorer, and a maritime fur trader. He served under James Cook during Cook's second voyage of exploration...
, Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. Colnett surveyed the Galapagos Islands on this expedition.
Samuel Enderby died in 1797, leaving the company to his three sons Charles, Samuel
Samuel Enderby Junior
Samuel Enderby Junior was one of three sons of Samuel Enderby and his wife Mary, née Buxton, a daughter of Enderby's partner at St Paul's Wharf, London. The senior Samuel Enderby founded the Samuel Enderby & Sons company in 1775, when he assembled a fleet of whaling vessels on the Greenwich...
, and George.
History of the company: 1800-1854
By 1801, Governor Phillip King of New South Wales reported six ships engaging in the whaling industry off the northeast coast of New Zealand, and in 1802 he declared that whaling was established in that area.On 18 August 1806, Captain Abraham Bristow
Abraham Bristow
Abraham Bristow was a British sealer and whaler. It is documented that he started his career in 1797. In August 1806 he discovered the Auckland Islands.-References:* // Notes and Queries , 17 : 369-371....
, commander of the Ocean, a whaling ship owned by Samuel Enderby & Sons, discovered the Auckland Islands
Auckland Islands
The Auckland Islands are an archipelago of the New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands and include Auckland Island, Adams Island, Enderby Island, Disappointment Island, Ewing Island, Rose Island, Dundas Island and Green Island, with a combined area of...
archipelago
Archipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
in the Southern Ocean, south of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. Finding them uninhabited, he named them "Lord Auckland's" after his father's friend William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland. Bristow returned on the Sarah in 1807, in order to claim the archipelago
Archipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
for England.
On 3 August 1819, the whaling vessel Syren, owned by Samuel Enderby & Sons and commanded by Captain Frederick Coffin
Coffin (whaling family)
The Coffin family were a group of whalers operating out of Nantucket, Massachusetts from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Some members of the family gained wider exposure due to their discovery of various islands in the Pacific Ocean....
of Nantucket, Massachusetts
Nantucket, Massachusetts
Nantucket is an island south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the United States. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and the coterminous Nantucket County, which are consolidated. Part of the town is designated the Nantucket...
, visited the whaling grounds off of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. The ship returned to London on 21 April 1822 with a cargo of 346 tons of sperm oil.
In 1830, after the death of their father, Samuel Enderby Junior
Samuel Enderby Junior
Samuel Enderby Junior was one of three sons of Samuel Enderby and his wife Mary, née Buxton, a daughter of Enderby's partner at St Paul's Wharf, London. The senior Samuel Enderby founded the Samuel Enderby & Sons company in 1775, when he assembled a fleet of whaling vessels on the Greenwich...
(1756-1829), Samuel Enderby's grandsons, Charles
Charles Enderby
Charles Enderby was one of three sons of Samuel Enderby Junior . He was the grandson of Samuel Enderby , who founded the Samuel Enderby & Sons company in 1775. Samuel Enderby & Sons was one of the most prominent English sealing and whaling firms, active in both the Arctic and Southern Oceans...
and George Enderby, bought a site on the Thames River which became known as Enderby's Wharf
Enderby's Wharf
Enderby's Wharf is a wharf and industrial site on the south bank of the Thames in southeast London, associated with Telcon and other companies...
. This site became the new headquarters of the Messrs Enderby company. There they built a ropewalk
Ropewalk
A ropewalk is a long straight narrow lane, or a covered pathway, where long strands of material were laid before being twisted into rope.Ropewalks historically were harsh sweatshops, and frequently caught on fire, as hemp dust forms an explosive mixture. Rope was essential in sailing ships and the...
and a factory, known as Enderby's Hemp Rope Works, for the production of sail canvas and rope from hemp
Hemp
Hemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...
and flax
Flax
Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...
.
From 1830-1833, Samuel Enderby & Sons sponsored the Southern Ocean Expedition
Southern Ocean Expedition
-Background:In 1830, the English whaling company Samuel Enderby & Sons appointed John Biscoe master of the brig Tula and leader of an expedition to find new seal-hunting grounds in the Southern Ocean. Accompanied by the cutter Lively, the Tula left London and by December had reached the South...
as part of an effort to locate new sealing grounds in the Southern Ocean. This expedition, involved two company-owned vessels: the whaling brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
Tula, and the cutter Lively. The expedition, led by Captain John Biscoe
John Biscoe
John Biscoe was an English mariner and explorer who commanded the first expedition known to have sighted the areas named Enderby Land and Graham Land along the coast of Antarctica...
of the Tula, was the third ever to circumnavigate
Circumnavigation
Circumnavigation – literally, "navigation of a circumference" – refers to travelling all the way around an island, a continent, or the entire planet Earth.- Global circumnavigation :...
the Antarctic continent. (Captain James Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
being the first, and Fabian von Bellingshausen
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen
Fabian Gottlieb Thaddeus von Bellingshausen was an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy, cartographer and explorer, who ultimately rose to the rank of Admiral...
being the second.) The expedition discovered and charted a large coastal land mass in East Antarctica
East Antarctica
East Antarctica, also called Greater Antarctica, constitutes the majority of the Antarctic continent, lying on the Indian Ocean side of the Transantarctic Mountains...
which Biscoe named Enderby Land
Enderby Land
Enderby Land is a projecting land mass of Antarctica, extending from Shinnan Glacier at to William Scoresby Bay at .Enderby Land was discovered in February 1831 by John Biscoe in the whaling brig Tula, and named after the Enderby Brothers of London, owners of the Tula, who encouraged their...
. Biscoe also charted many other terrain features, including Cape Ann
Cape Ann and Mount Biscoe
Cape Ann is a cape on the coast of East Antarctica, surmounted by Mount Biscoe rising to a peak of 700 metres.It was first photographed from the air in December 1929 during a Norwegian expedition led by explorer and aviator Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen...
, Mount Biscoe
Cape Ann and Mount Biscoe
Cape Ann is a cape on the coast of East Antarctica, surmounted by Mount Biscoe rising to a peak of 700 metres.It was first photographed from the air in December 1929 during a Norwegian expedition led by explorer and aviator Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen...
, Adelaide Island
Adelaide Island
Adelaide Island or Isla Adelaida or Isla Belgrano is a large, mainly ice-covered island, long and wide, lying at the north side of Marguerite Bay off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. The island lies within the Argentine, British and Chilean Antarctic claims, at .Adelaide Island was...
, the Biscoe Islands
Biscoe Islands
Biscoe Islands is a series of islands, of which the principal ones are Renaud, Rabot, Lavoisier and Watkins, lying parallel to the W coast of Graham Land and extending some in a NE–SW direction...
, and Graham Land
Graham Land
Graham Land is that portion of the Antarctic Peninsula which lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee and the US Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names, in...
. Despite the loss of several men to scurvy and the wreck of the Lively at the Falkland Islands
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...
in July 1832, the expedition successfully returned to London in early 1833.
From 1838-1839, Captain John Balleny
John Balleny
John Balleny was the English captain of a whaling schooner, the Eliza Scott, who led an exploration cruise for the English whaling firm Samuel Enderby & Sons to the Antarctic in 1838-1839....
led another expedition to the Southern Ocean. Commanding the Eliza Scott, another whaling schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
, this expedition led to the discovery of the Balleny Islands
Balleny Islands
The Balleny Islands are a series of uninhabited islands in the Southern Ocean extending from 66°15' to 67°35'S and 162°30' to 165°00'E. The group extends for about in a northwest-southeast direction. The islands are heavily glaciated and are of volcanic origin. Glaciers project from their slopes...
.
In 1846, Samuel Enderby's grandson Charles Enderby
Charles Enderby
Charles Enderby was one of three sons of Samuel Enderby Junior . He was the grandson of Samuel Enderby , who founded the Samuel Enderby & Sons company in 1775. Samuel Enderby & Sons was one of the most prominent English sealing and whaling firms, active in both the Arctic and Southern Oceans...
founded the Southern Whale Fishery Company
Southern Whale Fishery Company
The Southern Whale Fishery Company was established by the granting of a Royal Charter in 1846 to Charles Enderby, for the purpose of operating a permanent whaling station on the Auckland Islands...
in England. In December 1849, he established the Enderby Settlement in Erebus Cove, Port Ross
Port Ross
Port Ross is a natural harbour on Auckland Island in the Auckland Islands Group, a subantarctic chain that forms part of the New Zealand Outlying Islands....
, at the north-eastern end of Auckland Island
Auckland Island
Auckland Island is the main island of the Auckland Islands, an uninhabited archipelago in the south Pacific Ocean belonging to New Zealand. It is inscribed in the together with the other subantarctic New Zealand islands in the region as follows: 877-004 Auckland Isls, New Zealand S50.29 E165.52...
, close to Enderby Island. This was the beginning of the community named Hardwicke
Hardwicke, New Zealand
Hardwicke was the name of an agricultural and whaling community set up at Port Ross, a natural harbour on Auckland Island in the Auckland Islands Group in the Southern Ocean south of New Zealand. Although a short-lived settlement was established, it was abandoned within three years.-History:This...
. The Hardwicke settlement was based on agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, resupply and minor repair of ships, and whaling. Ultimately unsuccessful, the colony was abandoned in August 1852.
Charles Enderby returned to London in 1853. The ill-fated Enderby Settlement finally bankrupted the Enderby family business, which was liquidated in 1854. Charles Enderby died in poverty in London on 31 August 1876.
Terrain features named after the Enderby family
Terrain features named after the Enderby family include:- Enderby LandEnderby LandEnderby Land is a projecting land mass of Antarctica, extending from Shinnan Glacier at to William Scoresby Bay at .Enderby Land was discovered in February 1831 by John Biscoe in the whaling brig Tula, and named after the Enderby Brothers of London, owners of the Tula, who encouraged their...
, a large coastal land mass located in East AntarcticaEast AntarcticaEast Antarctica, also called Greater Antarctica, constitutes the majority of the Antarctic continent, lying on the Indian Ocean side of the Transantarctic Mountains...
extending from Shinnan GlacierShinnan GlacierShinnan Glacier is a glacier which flows northwest to the coast just east of Shinnan Rocks and marks the division between Queen Maud Land and Enderby Land. Mapped from surveys and air photos by Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition , 1957–62, and named Shinnan Hyōga ....
at 44°0′S 38°0′E to William Scoresby BayWilliam Scoresby BayWilliam Scoresby Bay is a coastal embayment at the western side of William Scoresby Archipelago, Antarctica. It is 5 mi long and 3.5 mi wide, with shores marked by steep rock headlands and snow-free hills rising to 210 m. The practical limits of the bay are extended 4 mi northward from the coast by...
at 59°0′S 34°0′E. - Enderby Island, part of the uninhabited Auckland IslandsAuckland IslandsThe Auckland Islands are an archipelago of the New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands and include Auckland Island, Adams Island, Enderby Island, Disappointment Island, Ewing Island, Rose Island, Dundas Island and Green Island, with a combined area of...
archipelagoArchipelagoAn archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
in New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. - Enderby PlainEnderby PlainEnderby Plain , is an undersea plain , located off the coast of Enderby Land and Queen Maud Land, East Antarctica. Name approved by U.S...
, an undersea plain located at 60°0′S 40°0′E.
Fictional References
- In Chapter 100 of the novel Moby-DickMoby-DickMoby-Dick; or, The Whale, was written by American author Herman Melville and first published in 1851. It is considered by some to be a Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod,...
, the PequodPequod (Moby-Dick)The Pequod is a fictitious 19th century Nantucket whaleship that appears in the 1851 novel Moby-Dick by American author Herman Melville. The Pequod and her crew, commanded by Captain Ahab, are central to the story, which, after the initial chapters, takes place almost entirely aboard the ship...
of Nantucket meets a whaling ship of London named the Samuel EnderbySamuel EnderbySamuel Enderby was a successful whale oil merchant. In the 18th century, he founded Samuel Enderby & Sons, a prominent shipping and whaling and sealing company....
, which has also encountered the White Whale. The Samuel Enderby was a real ship, which was in fact among the three Enderby company ships (the other two were the Fancy and the Brisk) from England that arrived at Port Ross in 1849 carrying the 150 colonists for the new Enderby Settlement. Chapter 101 of Moby Dick discusses Samuel Enderby & Sons whaling company in further detail.