Husvik is a former whaling station on the north-central coast of South Georgia Island . It was one of three such stations in Stromness Bay , the other two being Stromness and Leith Harbour . Husvik initially began as a floating, offshore factory site in 1907. In 1910, a land station was constructed and remained operational until 1930; business resumed again between 1945 and 1960. Husvik Harbour was also the site of the third introduction of reindeer to South Georgia in 1925.
48-400: The three whaling stations, Husvik, Stromness, and Leith, were linked by a rough track along the beach. During the whaling era, whalers from Stromness and Husvik would use it to get to Leith Harbour to use the cinema. The track can still be used, but in some places is rendered impassable by aggressively territorial fur seals during their breeding season (November and December). The freezer plant
96-459: A shipmaster . Upon becoming a shipmaster, Larsen needed a ship of his own. This was more than he could afford so instead he bought a share of an old barque called the Freden . It was not smooth sailing for Larsen as the barque Freden was all but wrecked after his first voyage. He soon got her fixed, only to be faced with another setback: nobody had any freight he could carry. This turned out to be
144-419: A tundra climate ( Köppen ET ) with long, cold winters and short, cool summers. The highest temperature ever recorded at Grytviken/King Edward Point was 28.8 °C (83.8 °F) on 10 March 1922. Carl Anton Larsen Carl Anton Larsen (7 August 1860 – 8 December 1924) was a Norwegian -born whaler and Antarctic explorer who made important contributions to the exploration of Antarctica ,
192-509: A whaling station and the largest settlement on the island. It is located at the head of King Edward Cove within the larger Cumberland East Bay , considered the best harbour on the island. The location's name, meaning "pot bay", was coined in 1902 by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition and documented by the surveyor Johan Gunnar Andersson , after the expedition found old English try pots used to render seal oil at
240-550: A Norwegian whaling reconnaissance expedition to Antarctica, in command of the Jason . The Jason was a ship Larsen was familiar with as he had been aboard it during the voyage that carried Fridtjof Nansen to Greenland during his east–west crossing in 1888. They spent the 1892-93 summer exploring the waters and shores of Graham Land , returning the following summer to investigate the Weddell and Bellingshausen Seas . The sea ice
288-580: A brief battle with Royal Marines . The Royal Marines, SAS and SBS retook the settlement three weeks later without a shot being fired in return. Supported by the corvette ARA Guerrico on 3 April 1982, ARA Bahía Paraíso landed a party of Argentine marines who attacked the platoon of 22 Royal Marines deployed at Grytviken . The two-hour battle resulted in ARA Guerrico being damaged and an Argentine Puma helicopter shot down. The Argentine forces sustained three men killed and
336-518: A long time." His family in Grytviken included his wife, three daughters and two sons. As the manager of Compañía Argentina de Pesca, Larsen organised the construction of Grytviken, a remarkable undertaking accomplished by a team of sixty Norwegians between their arrival on 16 November and commencement of production at the newly built whale-oil factory on 24 December 1904. Larsen chose the whaling station's site during his 1902 visit while in command of
384-491: A rescue operation to bring home the remaining men. He again returned to Grytviken during the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition and this is where he died, aged just 47, shortly after New Year's Day, prior to the expedition heading south to Antarctica. His widow chose South Georgia as his final resting place so this is where he remained. His grave is located south of Grytviken, alongside those of whalers who had died on
432-801: A resource for recreational hunting for the people involved in the whaling industry. Larsen, like other managers and senior officers of the South Georgia whaling stations, lived in Grytviken together with his family including his wife, three daughters and two sons. In 1910, they obtained British citizenship , following an application filed with the British Magistrate of South Georgia in which Larsen declared: "I have given up my Norwegian citizens rights and have resided here since I started whaling in this colony on 16 November 1904 and have no reason to be of any other citizenship than British, as I have had and intend to have my residence here still for
480-499: A similar number of wounded, with one wounded on the British side. The British commanding officer Lieutenant Keith Mills was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for the defence of South Georgia. While the British magistrate and other civilians and military present in Grytviken were removed from South Georgia, another 15 Britons remained beyond Argentine reach. The losses suffered at Grytviken prevented Argentina from occupying
528-518: A stroke of luck as he decided to go on his first whaling experience, hunting bottlenose whales just off the coast of Norway. Larsen was a born whaler and soon filled the Freden with whales and went on filling her until 1885 when he realized that he could not use the Svend Foyn gun with little chaser-steamers like the modern whalers . It was time for a newer ship. Between 1892 and 1894 Larsen led
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#1732781188408576-456: A supply of fresh water, and an abundance of whales. The expedition archaeologist found numerous sealers’ artefacts and named the site Grytviken (‘Pot Cove’). Larsen saw the possibilities to establish a land-based whaling station, which he was to develop from 1904. Returning south in December 1902 to collect Nordenskjöld’s party, Larsen found Antarctic Sound choked with ice. Before attempting
624-406: A whaling station for his Compañía Argentina de Pesca (Argentine Fishing Company). It was successful, with 195 whales taken in the first season. The whalers used every part of the animals – the blubber, meat, bones and viscera were rendered to extract the oil, and the bones and meat were turned into fertiliser and fodder. Elephant seals were also hunted for their blubber. Around 300 men worked at
672-421: Is a popular stop for cruise ships visiting Antarctica, and tourists usually land to visit Shackleton's grave. The South Georgia Museum is housed in the manager's house of the former whaling station, and is open during the summer tourist season. The station's church is the only building which retains its original purpose; it is still used occasionally for services. There have been several marriages in Grytviken,
720-684: Is also temporarily inhabited during summer months by a few staff who manage the South Georgia Museum . The settlement has become a popular attraction for Antarctic cruise lines, with many tourists visiting the resting places of polar explorers Sir Ernest Shackleton and Frank Wild in Grytviken's graveyard . The settlement at Grytviken was established on 16 November 1904 by the Norwegian sea captain Carl Anton Larsen , as
768-490: Is close to the station. South of Husvik is a whaler's cemetery where 34 men were buried between 1924 and 1959. 54°10′48″S 36°42′42″W / 54.18°S 36.7116°W / -54.18; -36.7116 Grytviken Grytviken ( / ˈ ɡ r ɪ t v iː k ən / GRIT -vee-kən Norwegian: [ˈɡɾŷːtviːkn̩] ) is a hamlet on South Georgia in the South Atlantic and formerly
816-552: Is not usable, and is in a very dilapidated state. A colony of blue-eyed shags nests on its end each year. In the southern summer of 2005/6, the South Georgia Heritage Trust hired a team of Norwegian craftsmen to restore some of the buildings at Husvik. In March 2006, the Manager's Villa, a building known as the "Radio Shack", and a small generator shed were successfully repaired and restored. Admiralty Peak
864-588: The Antarctic , starting a new era of whaling. On Christmas Eve, 1904, he produced the first whale oil of the season in the newly built whaling station of Grytviken . With capital from Argentine, Norwegian and British sources, he founded the first Antarctic whaling corporation, the Compañía Argentina de Pesca (Argentine Fishing Company). Within a few years the Antarctic was producing about 70% of
912-474: The Antarctic Convergence , on 8 October 1913. Several more children have been born on South Georgia: recently even aboard visiting private yachts. The whale population in the seas around the island was substantially reduced over the following sixty years until the station closed in December 1966, by which time the whale stocks were so low that their continued exploitation was unviable. Even now,
960-584: The Falkland Islands . The writer Angie Butler discovered the ashes in the vault of Braamfontein Cemetery, Johannesburg , while researching her book The Quest for Frank Wild . She said "His ashes will now be where they were always supposed to be. It just took them a long time getting there." During the Falklands War , Grytviken was captured by Argentine forces in early April 1982 following
1008-532: The Foyn Coast in Graham Land , King Oscar Land , and Robertson Island . He also identified two active volcanoes and many groups of islands, and was first to record a colony of emperor penguins although, as the species was unknown to him, he mis-identified them as king penguins . The colony was not rediscovered until 2014. His expedition also discovered fossilised plant remains on Seymour Island , and
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#17327811884081056-509: The North Atlantic with Britain , returning to go to school during the fall and winter. He continued this for a number of years, until his curiosity for the sea was so strong he enrolled himself in navigation school where he passed the exam for foreign-going mate at the age of 18. Having been to Britain a few times in the previous years he realized the importance of knowing more languages and taught himself English and Spanish . Larsen
1104-586: The Larsen ice shelf and Jason Peninsula during the summer; unaware of the fate of the Antarctic but better supplied than the ship’s crew, they too settled in for another winter when the Antarctic failed to arrive. With summer, in late 1903, the three men at Hope Bay decided to make another attempt to reach Nordenskjöld; his location was known to potential rescuers, while theirs was not. Although they veered south-west towards Prince Gustav Channel , by chance Nordenskjöld’s team had also decided to explore that area and
1152-586: The first being registered on 24 February 1932, between A.G.N. Jones and Vera Riches. On 28 January 2007, a service was conducted in remembrance of Anders Hansen (a Norwegian whaler buried at Grytviken Cemetery in 1943) and to celebrate his great-great-grandson Axel Wattø Eide's baptism occurring in Oslo the same day. Multiple wrecks dot Grytviken, and its environs. The ships Petrel , Dias and Albatross were beached, and left to rust, after decades of service. Grytviken and King Edward Point have
1200-546: The funeral service for Sir Ernest Shackleton was conducted in the church before his burial in the church cemetery. Larsen established a meteorological observatory at Grytviken, which from 1905 was maintained in cooperation with the Argentine Meteorological Office under the British lease requirements of the whaling station until these changed in 1949. Larsen was also instrumental, with his brother, in introducing Reindeer to South Georgia in 1911, as
1248-437: The inscription ‘Johnson and Sons, Wapping Dock, London’ is preserved at the South Georgia Museum in Grytviken. Managers and other senior officers of the whaling stations often had their families living together with them. Among them was Fridthjof Jacobsen whose wife Klara Olette Jacobsen gave birth to two of their children in Grytviken; their daughter Solveig Gunbjørg Jacobsen was the first child ever born and raised south of
1296-418: The island. On 27 November 2011, the ashes of Frank Wild , Shackleton's "right-hand man," were interred on the right side of Shackleton's grave-site. The inscription on the rough-hewn granite block set to mark the spot reads "Frank Wild 1873–1939, Shackleton's right-hand man." Wild's relatives and Shackleton's only granddaughter, Alexandra Shackleton, attended a service conducted by Richard Hines, rector of
1344-508: The more treacherous route around Joinville Island , Larsen therefore left three men (Duse, Andersson and Grunden) at Hope Bay with instructions to sledge south, contact Nordenskjöld’s team, and bring them back to Snow Hill Island in case the Antarctic was unable to reach them. While Larsen headed into the Weddell Sea , the three men found their route blocked by open water and returned to Hope Bay to await Larsen’s return. The pack ice
1392-803: The most significant being the first discovery of fossils for which he received the Back Grant from the Royal Geographical Society . In December 1893 he became the first person to ski in Antarctica on the Larsen Ice Shelf which was subsequently named after him. In 1904, Larsen re-founded a whaling settlement at Grytviken on the island of South Georgia . In 1910, after some years' residence on South Georgia, he renounced his Norwegian citizenship and took British citizenship. The Norwegian whale factory ship C.A. Larsen
1440-730: The rest of the island, with Bird Island base, and field camps at Schlieper Bay , Lyell Glacier and St. Andrew's Bay remaining under British control. On 25 April, the Royal Navy damaged and captured the Argentine submarine ARA Santa Fe at South Georgia. The Argentine garrison in Grytviken surrendered without returning fire. The following day the detachment in Leith Harbour commanded by Captain Alfredo Astiz also surrendered. One prisoner, Felix Artuso,
1488-523: The ship Antarctic of the Swedish Antarctic Expedition (1901–03) led by Otto Nordenskjöld . On that occasion, the name Grytviken ("The Pot Cove") was given by the Swedish archaeologist and geologist Johan Gunnar Andersson who surveyed part of Thatcher Peninsula and found numerous artefacts and features from sealers’ habitation and industry, including a shallop (a type of small boat) and several try-pots used to boil seal oil. One of those try-pots, having
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1536-462: The ship passed through the iceberg-infested Antarctic Sound now named after it – the expedition was unable to get further south than Snow Hill Island . Nordenskjöld’s party of six scientists was left there in January 1902 to overwinter, and Larsen planned to return the following summer to pick them up. Larsen spent the southern winter exploring South Georgia , where he found a sheltered harbour,
1584-430: The shore around Grytviken is littered with whale bones and the rusting remains of whale oil processing plants and abandoned whaling ships. Grytviken is closely associated with the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton . Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition set out from London on 1 August 1914, to reach the Weddell Sea on 10 January 1915, where the pack ice closed in on their ship, Endurance . The ship
1632-695: The site. Settlement was re-established on 16 November 1904 by Norwegian Antarctic explorer Carl Anton Larsen on the long-used site of former whaling settlements. Grytviken is built on a substantial area of sheltered, flat land and has a good supply of fresh water. Although it was the largest settlement on South Georgia, the island's administration was based at the nearby British Antarctic Survey research station at King Edward Point . The whaling station closed in December 1966 when dwindling whale stocks made it financially unviable. Grytviken no longer has permanent residents but occasionally accommodates researchers and British administrative and military personnel. It
1680-481: The station during its heyday, operating during the southern summer from October to March. A few remained over the winter to maintain the boats and factory. Every few months a transport ship would bring essential supplies to the station and take away the oil and other produce. The following year the Argentine Government established a meteorological station . Carl Anton Larsen, the founder of Grytviken,
1728-462: The two teams met on 12 October 1903 near Vega Island . Meanwhile Larsen had rowed across Hope Bay from Paulet Island with five men, to rescue the men he had left there. Arriving, they found the deserted hut and a note saying the men had left in another attempt to find Nordenskjöld. Larsen’s boat therefore headed south to Snow Hill Island to attempt to find them there. On 8 November the Argentine ship ARA Uruguay reached Snow Hill Island to rescue
1776-463: The two teams now re-united there; miraculously, Larsen and the five men from his boat arrived later in the afternoon, having seen the Uruguay in the distance. The Uruguay then sailed north to collect the remaining crew from Paulet Island. Only one crew member had been lost, succumbing to illness while overwintering on Paulet Island. In 1904, Larsen settled on the British island of South Georgia in
1824-572: The whaling station has been declared by the South Georgia Government as being too dangerous to visit, due to the danger from collapsing buildings and asbestos . Visitors must stay 200 m (656 ft) from the buildings and structures. Access to the Managers' Villa was prohibited in 2011 when the boundary of the 200m Prohibited Area was formalised in legislation. The jetty is within the 200 m (656 ft) 'danger area' so
1872-502: The world's whale oil. Larsen had chosen the whaling station's site during his 1902 visit while in command of the Antarctic . Larsen organized the construction of Grytviken ― a remarkable undertaking accomplished by a team of 60 Norwegians. As with other buildings, a church was pre-built in Norway and erected in Grytviken. This typical Norwegian-style church was consecrated as a Church of Norway church, on Christmas Day, 1913. In 1922,
1920-501: Was a naturalised Briton born in Sandefjord , Norway . In his application for British citizenship, filed with the magistrate of South Georgia and granted in 1910, Captain Larsen wrote: "I have given up my Norwegian citizen's rights and have resided here since I started whaling in this colony on the 16 November 1904 and have no reason to be of any other citizenship than British, as I have had and intend to have my residence here still for
1968-484: Was broken by the ice on 27 October 1915. The 28 crew members managed to flee to Elephant Island off Antarctica, bringing three small boats with them. Shackleton and five other men managed to reach the southern coast of South Georgia in James Caird . They arrived at Cave Cove , and camped at Peggotty Bluff , from where they trekked to Stromness on the northeast coast. From Grytviken, Shackleton organised
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2016-598: Was dismantled and moved to Grytviken in 1960, and whaling operations at Husvik permanently ceased. Afterwards, scientists from the British Antarctic Survey used the whaling managers' villa as a temporary shelter when doing work in the area until the mid-1990s. More recent inhabitants include the BSES expedition of December 2003, who used it as a base camp for a number of scientific and exploratory projects. As with Leith, Stromness, and Prince Olav Harbour ,
2064-468: Was eager to get work as an officer on a ship, but due to economic difficulties in Norway at the time, he could not achieve that. This was a setback, but he went to work at sea as a cook, learning the importance food played in keeping men happy. He finally got a position aboard the barque Hoppet out of Larvik, as second mate , then first mate and senior officer below the captain. He was 21 and knew he had to study again so he came ashore and soon became
2112-471: Was named after him. Carl Anton Larsen was born in Østre Halsen, Tjolling , the son of Norwegian sea captain Ole Christian Larsen and his wife Ellen Andrea Larsen (née Thorsen). His family subsequently relocated to nearby Sandefjord , the home of the Norwegian whaling industry, where at the young age of 9 he went to sea in a small barque with his father chasing seals and trading across
2160-651: Was particularly light in 1893, allowing the Jason to sail to 68° 10' south, further south than had previously been achieved, and indeed no other traveller would penetrate so far south along the Larsen ice shelf for nearly a century. Larsen added significantly to understanding of the geography of the area, discovering the Larsen Ice Shelf and the Jason Peninsula , two of 12 features named in Larsen’s honour, as well as
2208-597: Was shot when guards mistakenly believed he was trying to sabotage Santa Fe , and was buried at Grytviken Cemetery . The Argentine personnel were removed from the South Sandwich Islands by HMS Endurance on 20 June. Due to evidence of an unauthorised visit, the closed station Corbeta Uruguay was destroyed in January ;1983. Along with the surrounding area, the station has been declared an Area of Special Tourist Interest (ASTI). Grytviken
2256-416: Was the first to return fossils from the region; the site has continued to yield significant paleontological results. After reading of Larsen’s journey, Otto Nordenskjöld contracted him to convey a scientific expedition to the area. Larsen thus captained the ship Antarctic , transporting the Swedish Antarctic Expedition south between 1901 and 1904. The sea ice was heavier than in 1893, and – although
2304-515: Was thick in the Weddell Sea and Larsen, trapped several times, was eventually unable to free his ship. After several weeks, on 12 February 1903, the trapped ship was crushed and sank; the nineteen remaining crew (and the ship’s cat) took what they could and crossed the ice to the nearest land, Paulet Island , where they overwintered, surviving (like the team at Hope Bay) on penguins and seals they captured. Nordenskjöld and his team had explored
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