🔗 Pelorus Jack

🔗 Cetaceans 🔗 New Zealand

Pelorus Jack (fl. 1888 – April 1912) was a Risso's dolphin that was famous for meeting and escorting ships through a stretch of water in Cook Strait, New Zealand, between 1888 and 1912. Pelorus Jack was usually spotted in Admiralty Bay between Cape Francis and Collinet Point, near French Pass, a notoriously dangerous channel used by ships travelling between Wellington and Nelson.

Pelorus Jack was shot at from a passing ship, and was later protected by a 1904 New Zealand law.