The Perano whalers of Cook Strait, 1911-1964 By Don Grady. Hardback 1982. FIRST EDITION.
The Perano Whalers of Cook Strait, 1911-1964 By Don Grady.
Publisher: A.H. & A.W. Reed Ltd., Wellington, 1982. FIRST EDITION.
Very good hardback, minor bumping to edges/corners, with dust jacket. small name and date inside, some rubbing and bumping to edges. End-papers and edges are foxed, the rest are very good. 238 pages.
The Perano family operated shore whaling stations inside the narrow entrance to Tory Channel in Cook Strait, utilising small high speed whale chasing boats. This extensively illustrated book is an outstanding chronicle of a unique industry. The Peranos' kind of whaling involved small, high-speed chasers which sometimes actually mustered humpback whales like a shepherd's dog rounds up sheep, driving them into the narrow entrance of Tory Channel for killing and processing at their shore factory. In compiling this book Christchurch journalist Don Grady interviewed more than 80 former whalers employed by the Peranos and examined thousands of old diaries, records and photographs. Grady's extensively illustrated book is an outstanding chronicle of a colourful era in New Zealand's history, an immensely readable "inside story" of a unique industry and a unique way of life.
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