From a distance Grytviken looks like a small, peaceful, Norwegian town set deep inside a fjord. By 2030 on Feb 1, after a days sail up the coast of South Georgia, Pelagic is tied to the jetty of this once busy town. From afar everthing has an appearance of order and neatness, but a closer look reveals a different reality. Apart from the building, once called the "Villa", which housed the directors of the whaling station and is now the Grytviken Museum, everything is in ruin.

Today Grytviken is the ghost town of what was a bustling whaling station with a population of 500 hard working men. The history of South Georgia is largely the history of whales and men.

Grytviken Today
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Grytvikens literal translation is 'pot cove' and is named after the 2 big iron "Trypots" found by a Swedish expedition on the foreshore in 1902. "Trying out" means boiling down and was the process used to render seal blubber. The town was established by the pioneer of whaling in the Antarctic, a Norwegian, Captain C.A. Larsen.

In 1904, he formed the Compania Argentina de Pesca with Argentine investment, and came to lay the foundations of the whaling industry in what he considered the safest harbour of South Georgia. Larsen sailed on various ships to the Antarctic but is particularly famous for having been the captain of the Swedish expedition ship 'Antarctic', used by Otto Nordenskjold. This ship, like Shackletons 'Endurance,' was trapped and crushed by ice in the Weddell Sea and Larsens crew was rescued after protracted hardships.

Larsen arrived in Grytviken on a ship with 11 crew, 65 other men, the prefabricated plant for the whaling station and the worker's accomodation. These men were the first 'permanent' settlers of South Georgia. The whaling operations were an immediate success as whales were abundant in the bays and close inshore. As a result, within the first few years, investors were being paid 50% dividends. Grytviken lays claim to the largest blue whale harpooned on record. That was in 1912, during the height of the industry. The whale measured 112 feet and was estimated to weigh over 100 tons.

Mainly Norwegian managed, the station operated for 60 years catching blue, fin, sei and sperm whales. The blubber was made into precious oil, margarine, soap and glycerine for the war industry. Subsequently the meat, bones, viscera and the whole carcass were exploited. In the beginning, whale catches were made in the bay in front of the town, but as the whale population around South Georgia was depleted, the whalers had to go up to 250 miles at sea, in order to secure a catch.

Grytviken station was virtually self-sufficient. Every spring transport ships brought the materials for the summers season's whaling; provisions for the men and the essential coal, later fuel oil, to fire the steam boilers. These boilers powered everything including bone saws, hauling winches, blubber boilers, skinners and drive shafts for the machine shops. When in full operation the bay was filled with clouds of foul smelling vapour and smoke. The town was a true entity, with foundries, blacksmiths, laboratories, a hospital, a hydroelectric power station, a church, a cinema, and even a ski jump for recreation. Pigs and chickens were raised. Larsen also introduced reindeer for food and hunting which have successfully reproduced on the island. The only women permitted on the station were the wives of the managers, and alcohol was prohibited. A trade union was formed in 1910 and strikes followed. Captain Larsen became a dual British and Norwegian citizen and left the island as a rich man in 1914.

Whaling ended at Grytviken in 1965, because inshore whale stocks had become fished out. The development of the offshore 'factory ship' some years before, also contributed to the abandonment of the town . Grytviken became front page news once more- although only for a few months- when Argentine forces occupied South Georgia on 3 April 1982, at the beginning of the Falklands War. The island was recaptured by British forces 3 weeks later. Grytviken is now inhabited by a British army garrison, a civilian harbour, and post, master Pat Lurcock and travellers Pauline and Tim Carr who run the museum and supervise the preservation of the station. I'll tell you about them in the next story.

Elena Caputo