Provenance:

Private Collection, Christchurch

Exhibited:

Louise Beale Gallery, Journeys - Northland and Southland, June 1989

Reference:

Years ago Alison gave me a copy of the Anglers' Eldorado, which was the book Zane Grey wrote to publicise deep sea fishing in New Zealand. Ever since I read that I thought I would like to go up there and have a crack at that.

Moffitt saw deep-sea fishing as another very 'Kiwi' activity to record in paint - the sportive interaction between man and huge fish.

In February 1988 Trevor Moffitt and Sue Mercer spent six days in the Bay of Islands, staying at the Duke of Marlborough Hotel in Russell. He was looking for a small boat to hire, I said, Is there any chance that Zane Grey's boat, he had built for the whole thing, is still operating? It turned out it was. It's called the Alma G and is built in kauri to his specifications. Absolutely on impulse I booked to go on this boat. That had the locals somewhat astonished because I hired out the Alma G on my own and normally they have about four people sharing the hire of it, since it's around $350 a day. I think they thought they'd discovered a new South Island millionaire. Sue was on board to take photographs because I knew damn well the moment I put my head down and tried to draw, I'd be sick. So it proved to be, so I didn't do any drawing . .. The big swells you got there off the coast were really amazing - twenty-five to thirty foot swells. That was a great trip .... had wonderful fresh fish the Duke of Marlborough provided every day. That was great - paradise on earth really. Wonderful, but I didn't catch a big fish. We got a few kingfish . . . but we didn't even see a marlin or a shark out on the deep blue water. That was for the deep-sea fishing series. It was a fulfilment of a dream.

Excerpt from chapter 15, Trevor Moffitt A Biography, Chris Ronayne, David Ling Publishing 2006