Whaling at Banks Peninsula began in the mid-1830s. At least one ship, the "Juno", was whaling off Banks Peninsula in 1831. Whaling from the Harbours of Banks Peninsula appears to have been pioneered in 1835 by two Weller ships. In that year, the "Lucy Ann", after whaling from Port Cooper, left for Sydney on 22 September with 90 tons of oil. After 1835, Port Cooper and Akaroa were visited by considerable numbers of whaling ships, and Banks Peninsula rated second only to Cloudy Bay as a whaling base. In 1836, at least 11 whaleships were at Banks Peninsula, four being American. The 1836 whaling season brought to Port Cooper two whaling captains. The first was Captain George Hempleman who in 1837 established at Peraki the earliest shore whaling stations on Banks Peninsula, this becoming the first permanent European settlement in Canterbury. The second was Captain George Rhodes who gained such a favourable impression of the pastoral possibilities of Banks peninsula, that he returned in November 1839 to establish a cattle station at Akaroa. Hempleman's permanent establishment at Peraki had a special significance; whereas the ships represented merely transient European contact with this part of New Zealand, the shore stations were beginnings of European occupation of the land.