I am writing the story of Joseph Crocome born in Bath, Somerset, England in 1811.
He trained as a surgeon in London qualifying a Member of the College of Surgeons in 1833.
He became surgeon on a whaling ship in early 1836 and sailed to the South Seas but was shipwrecked near New Caledonia in 1838.
They sailed in their whaling boats to Australia.
He worked on whaling stations in New Zealand. A few months at the Otakou station before moving to Waikouaiti in 1839 and stayed their for the rest of his life. He died in 1874.
Along his way he had three wives and sired 18 children.