Pelorus Jack

Pelorus Jack (fl. 1888 – April 1912; pronounced /pəˈlɔːrəs/) was a Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) that was famous for meeting and escorting ships through a stretch of water in Cook Strait, New Zealand. The animal was reported over a 24 year period, from 1888 until his disappearance after 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.

While it is claimed in the British book Breverton's nautical curiosities : a book of the sea that he was named after the pelorus, a marine navigational instrument, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand explains that, based on local knowledge, the name came from Pelorus Sound / Te Hoiere because it was at the entrance to that stretch of water where he would regularly meet ships to accompany them.

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