Jacob Hagen, John Baker, John Hart in South Australian whale push with 'John Pirie' and Trial Bay station
Southern right or bay whales were the favourite target for onshore whaling stations along the South Australian coast.
Prominent early South Australian colonists – Jacob Hagen, John Baker (future premier) and John Hart (future premier) – were owners of the whaling boat John Pirie and a whaling station at Trial Bay, 40 kilometres southeast of Streaky Bay on Eyre Peninsula, in 1845.
Hagen operated the Trial Bay station that employed up to 40 men. Hagen and brother Edward had a share in Captain John Hart's barque Augustus that he brought to Adelaide with passengers from England in 1843. Hagen also shared a shipping business using the barque East London with Baker and in the Montacute copper find in the Adelaide Hills with Hart. Hart had run the South Australian Company’s whaling station at Encounter Bay.
The South Australian Company also set up whaling stations on Thistle Island and Sleaford Bay near Port Lincoln. But a scarcity of whales shut them down as the mid 1840s signalled the start of the decline in South Australian whaling. By 1841, South Australian Company abandoned whaling and sold most of its whaling ships and stores, some of them, including the John Pirie, bought by Captain Hart.
In 1840, explorer Edward John Eyre noticed Fowlers Bay of the future Eyre Peninsula to be littered with whale bones and carcasses after a successful season by an American whaler. And a report by Hart, Hagen & Baker noted 30 foreign whaling ships in South Australian waters in 1841.
These offshore whalers were strong competition for more than 15 whaling sites identified on the shores of South Australia. Some were depots or lookouts. Others were occupied for many years. Remains of huts, hearths, slipways, trypots, whale bones and objects such as clay pipes and glass bottles marked these sites. The station at Fishery Bay near Cape Jervis lasted until 1855 with several different owners. Other were at Cape Buffon (south east), Onkaparinga, Hog Bay (Kangaroo Island), Port Collinson (near Streaky Bay) and Spalding Cove (near Port Lincoln).
Whaling ships visited Port Lincoln at the start and end of the season for food, water and wood. The season went from April to October when the whales sought warmer waters for calving. After summer in the Antarctic, the whales swam along Van Diemen's Land reaching Portland Bay in April and continued along the coast to Cape Leeuwin in Western Australia, returning south in October.
South Australia’s southern coast took a heavy toll on whaling ships. Several, including the Camilla, were wrecked near Hagen, Baker and Hart’s Trial Bay station. The Frances was smashed on the rocks of South Neptune Island in 1840. The crew stayed alive for nearly two months before being rescued.
The newspapers reported on whales smashing boats, with men drowning and others breaking legs. At the end of the 1844 season, Captain J.T. Haynes, his headsman George McGeehan and crew were sailing from Kangaroo Island to Port Adelaide when a gale blew up. They were never seen again. Their boat the Sophia Jane was found washed up at Rivoli Bay.