This is the fourth and final report covering four of the seven abandoned whaling stations on the UK dependency of South Georgia in the Southern Ocean, 8,000 miles from Britain. This time it is the whaling station in Prince Olav Harbour. I’ve included a map in this report so that the relative locations of each of the stations can be seen.
In my South Georgia - Grytviken, post of 4th February, I outlined a little of the history of whaling operations on the island. I also covered my trip to the island in more detail.
The seven abandoned whaling stations are at Prince Olav Harbour, Leith Harbour, Stromness, Grytviken, Husvik, Godthul and Ocean Harbour. They were operating on the island for various periods of time between 1906 and 1962. I was able to visit the first four given the available time and prevailing weather conditions. Of course I’d loved to have seen the other three and even better had the opportunity to explore them all in more detail but it wasn’t to be.
Prince Olav Harbour is the location of a former whaling station, initially a floating factory ship site, and with a relatively short period of operation. The name was in use from around 1912 and was given by Norwegian whalers, after Crown Prince Olav V of Norway. It was operated by the UK based Southern Whaling and Sealing Company. It was the last South Georgia whaling station to be built and first to be closed, having been completed in 1912 and closed at the end of the 1930/31 season. Subsequently, some of the equipment was transported to the larger station at Leith Harbour.
To the south of the bay is the wreck of the ship ‘Brutus’. She was originally built in Glasgow in 1883 as the 1,686 ton ‘Sierra Pedrosa’. Having spent time as a coal hulk in Cape Town, she was towed to South Georgia around 1912 and beached to serve as a coaling station. When the whaling station was closed ‘Brutus’ was left behind. Sometime afterwards she broke free and ran aground.
As with other whaling stations, except Grytviken, a 200 metre land and sea exclusion zone now exists around the site due to the partially collapsed state of many of the buildings and quantity of asbestos which is known to be there. It’s understood that access can be gain by applying to the Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands’, but undoubtedly they aren’t easily obtained due to the dangerous state of the site.
Photos were taken on 10th November 2024 from a zodiac inflatable boat off shore.
In my South Georgia - Grytviken, post of 4th February, I outlined a little of the history of whaling operations on the island. I also covered my trip to the island in more detail.
The seven abandoned whaling stations are at Prince Olav Harbour, Leith Harbour, Stromness, Grytviken, Husvik, Godthul and Ocean Harbour. They were operating on the island for various periods of time between 1906 and 1962. I was able to visit the first four given the available time and prevailing weather conditions. Of course I’d loved to have seen the other three and even better had the opportunity to explore them all in more detail but it wasn’t to be.
Prince Olav Harbour is the location of a former whaling station, initially a floating factory ship site, and with a relatively short period of operation. The name was in use from around 1912 and was given by Norwegian whalers, after Crown Prince Olav V of Norway. It was operated by the UK based Southern Whaling and Sealing Company. It was the last South Georgia whaling station to be built and first to be closed, having been completed in 1912 and closed at the end of the 1930/31 season. Subsequently, some of the equipment was transported to the larger station at Leith Harbour.
To the south of the bay is the wreck of the ship ‘Brutus’. She was originally built in Glasgow in 1883 as the 1,686 ton ‘Sierra Pedrosa’. Having spent time as a coal hulk in Cape Town, she was towed to South Georgia around 1912 and beached to serve as a coaling station. When the whaling station was closed ‘Brutus’ was left behind. Sometime afterwards she broke free and ran aground.
As with other whaling stations, except Grytviken, a 200 metre land and sea exclusion zone now exists around the site due to the partially collapsed state of many of the buildings and quantity of asbestos which is known to be there. It’s understood that access can be gain by applying to the Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands’, but undoubtedly they aren’t easily obtained due to the dangerous state of the site.
Photos were taken on 10th November 2024 from a zodiac inflatable boat off shore.
