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Carl Anton Larson established Grytviken as the first whaling station on South Georgia in 1904. It was a wise choice for such an enterprise because there was a remarkable abundance of whales in the waters around South Georgia. Harvesting was profitable with whales rendered into oil for foods, cosmetics, medicines and chemical products, including explosives. Flexible baleen was the plastic of its day, and whale bones and meat were separated, boiled and ground into fertilizer. Six other whaling stations were established over the next 8 years, and there were permits for 2 more that were never built.
Twenty years later, whales were becoming scarcer around South Georgia, and so whaling ships ventured into the Southern Ocean. Floating factory ships replaced the whaling stations. Whale catchers, faster modern craft with radar, fired explosive-tipped harpoons that killed their prey, and then towed the carcasses to the floating factories The whaling stations were used for storage and for repairing whaling vessels. But it takes a long time to grow a great whale. The whaling stopped when there were not enough whales to make whaling profitable anymore. Whaling was an honorable profession in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Alas, whaling has taught us that we can hunt even the largest animals on Earth to the brink of extinction. Armed now with that knowledge, what valid reason can there be for a whaling ship to work the Southern Ocean the 21st Century? |
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This sperm whale skeleton is on display in the Whaling Museum of the Nantucket Historical Association. It came from a 46 foot long bull sperm whale that beached on Jan 1, 1998 at Sconset's Low Beach.
Many Nantucketers participated in the messy process of extracting and preparing the bones for display. Tools from the NHA's collection of whaling implements were used in this process and found to work remarkably well. The museum shows a movie about this project regularly. Read more about the Whaling Museum here: http://www.nha.org/history/hn/HNwhalingmuseum.html More on sperm whales here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sperm_whale This image made with the permission of the museum and the kind assistance of museum staff. |
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Grytviken means "pot cove" in Norwegian, and this whaling station was named for the sealers' trypots that were found there. The whaling station was established by C. A. Larsen in 1904, and it closed in December of 1962 after the large-scale whaling activity depleted the whale population The remains of the station, the church and some of the original houses are now a museum. Ernest Shackleton, the legendary Antarctic explorer, is buried in the whalers cemetery on the south shore. This panorama was shot from the deck of our ship which was anchored in King Edward Cove. |
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Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea is a great place to visit whenever you are in Connecticut. The seaport is a replica of an 1800's New England coastal town. Visitors get a chance to explore the wooden ships that are moored at the docks, and to see how a seaport supported the ships and crews. Don't forget to stop by the planetarium for a star show or for lessons in navigation.
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Henry Chapman Mercer, an archaeologist, collector, and tile-maker, designed and built this six-story reinforced concrete structure to house his collection of tools and other everyday artifacts from pre-industrial America. Mercer chose concrete to protect his collection from fire; it is used in every aspect of the building's construction, right down to the window muntins. Completed in 1916, the museum today contains over 50,000 items and is open to the public.
This interior view portrays the grand scale of his unique building and collection: even the roof of this central chamber is used to store artifacts. http://www.mercermuseum.org/ NOTE: For optimal viewing, see this panorama in Google Earth, which minimizes the geometric distortion in the panoramic image. |
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This was once an inlet for trade vessels - now a restaurant/bar area and overly-priced flats and apartments of course. |
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Here are the remains of the whaling factory that lies at the head of North Bay in Prince Olav Harbour on South Georgia.
The station supported a floating whaling factory named the Restitution from 1911 to 1916. The shore-based factory that you see here was set up after the Restitution sank in 1916. The machines remained in service until the station closed in 1931. Today fur seals have reclaimed the bay. You can see lots of them swimming by the shore and even more of them on the shoreline and among the buildings. This panorama was made from 38 images captured with a hand-held Nikon D80 while I was standing in a moving zodiac. It was stitched on terra firma with Autopano Pro . |
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The rusty buildings of this abandoned whaling community lie on the south shore of North Bay in Prince Olav Harbour. In 1911, this 18th-19th Century sealing center became a whaling center under the last whaling lease granted by the Falkland Islands. At first Prince Olav Harbour's whaling was run from the Restitution, a floating whaling factory. From the sinking of the Restitution in 1916 until the closing of the station in 1931, whaling operations were shore-based. You might want to look at the separate panorama of the station's machinery which was taken at the west end of the bay.
This is a strange place with thousands of seals wandering among the rusty buildings and swimming around metal and wood debris in the water. This panorama was stitched from 22 images captured with a hand-held Nikon D80 in a moving zodiac on choppy water. I was happily surprised when Autopano Pro managed to stitch it this well. |