Jack the Whaleboy

New Zealand’s first whaling station was set up in Fiordland, in the late 1820s.

Amongst the crew was a ten-year-old boy. This story is his imagined journal of the year 1830, and although fiction, it is based on actual events and is a realistic portrayal of conditions at the home.

Jack Fletcher is a typical boy in many ways but he faces life with courage, humour and honesty.

Lloyd Esler is a writer, teacher and historian who lives in Invercargill in the far south of New Zealand. He has a special interest in the history of whaling. He hopes this book will provide readers with an insight into life on a whaling station.