Hektor Station is the name of a now-abandoned whaling station located on the shore of Deception Island, Antarctica
Hektor Station is the name of a now-abandoned whaling station located on the shore of Deception Island, Antarctica
In 1911, The government of the Falkland Islands Dependencies granted the Hektor Whaling Company (based in Tønsberg, Norway) a license to establish a whaling station on the coast of Deception Island. The purpose of the factory, which was built in 1912 on 500 acres of land, was to more efficiently extract oil from whale corpses. While whale fat was processed aboard factory boats, the whale's bodies were boiled at the station on land and the oil was stored in large iron tanks. [1]
The station was most active each year from November through March, and regularly employed around 150 people. [2] As J. Stephen Dibbern has noted, "The land factory was a complete operation needing very little in outside support other than resupply of fuels." [1] Indeed, the site was equipped with barracks, a mess hall and kitchen, a magazine, a hospital, various production shops, storehouses, a guano mill, and a tank farm. The station even had its own cemetery, where 35 men were buried, making it the largest in Antarctica. (This cemetery was later buried by volcanic mudflow in 1970.) [2] [3]
Hektor Station was highly profitable before World War I, but during the war, the station was temporarily closed. During the 1920s, the company was facing financial challenges, and by April 1931, the price of whale oil had reached a low, necessitating that Hektor Station be closed for good. [1] In 1944, as part of Operation Tabarin, the British military established a base (Base B) in the remains of Hektor Station. This base, which conducted meteorological and geographical research, was manned until 1969, when it was destroyed by a volcanic eruption. [2] [3] [4] Today, the site is in a state of disrepair. However, the station's tank farm, though "tilted and rusted", is still a prominent feature. [1]
Deception Island is in the South Shetland Islands close to the Antarctic Peninsula with a large and usually "safe" natural harbor, which is occasionally affected by the underlying active volcano. This island is the caldera of an active volcano, which seriously damaged local scientific stations in 1967 and 1969. The island previously held a whaling station. It is now a tourist destination with over 15,000 visitors per year. Two research stations are operated by Argentina and Spain during the summer season. While various countries have asserted sovereignty, it is still administered under the Antarctic Treaty System.
Grytviken is a hamlet on South Georgia in the South Atlantic and formerly 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 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.
New Island is one of the Falkland Islands, lying north of Beaver Island. It is 238 km (148 mi) from Stanley and is 13 km (8.1 mi) long with an average width of 750 m (820 yd). The highest point is 226 metres (741 ft). The northern and eastern coasts have high cliffs but the eastern coasts are lower lying, with rocky shores and sandy bays. There are several smaller offshore islands in the group; North Island and Saddle Island have high cliffs but Ship Island and Cliff Knob Island are lower lying.
Operation Tabarin was the code name for a secret British expedition to the Antarctic during World War Two, operational 1943–46. Conducted by the Admiralty on behalf of the Colonial Office, its primary objective was to strengthen British claims to sovereignty of the British territory of the Falkland Islands Dependencies (FID), to which Argentina and Chile had made counter claims since the outbreak of war. This was done by establishing permanently occupied bases, carrying out administrative activities such as postal services and undertaking scientific research. The meteorological observations made aided Allied shipping in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Funningsfjørður is a village located at the end of a fjord of the same name. It was founded in 1812 and has since 2005 been part of the municipality of Runavík.
Carl Anton Larsen was a Norwegian-born whaler and Antarctic explorer who made important contributions to the exploration of Antarctica, 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 was named after him.
Norðdepil is a town on the east coast of the island of Borðoy in the Norðoyar Region of the Faroe Islands.
Whaling in Australian waters began in 1791 when five of the 11 ships in the Third Fleet landed their passengers and freight at Sydney Cove and then left Port Jackson to engage in whaling and seal hunting off the coast of Australia and New Zealand. The two main species hunted by such vessels in the early years were right and sperm whales. Humpback, bowhead and other whale species would later be taken.
Stromness is an abandoned whaling station on the northern coast of South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic. It was the destination of Sir Ernest Shackleton's rescue journey in 1916. It is the central of three harbours in the west side of Stromness Bay, South Georgia.
Whaling was one of the first viable industries established in the Swan River Colony following the 1829 arrival of British settlers to Western Australia. The industry had numerous ups and downs until the last whaling station closed in Albany in 1978.
Whaling in Norway involves hunting of minke whales for use as animal and human food in Norway and for export to Japan. Whale hunting has been a part of Norwegian coastal culture for centuries, and commercial operations targeting the minke whale have occurred since the early 20th century. Some still continue the practice in the modern day, within annual quotas.
Lopra is a village on the island of Suðuroy in the Faroe Islands, with the postal code FO 926. In 2009 its population was 96.
The Nisshin Maru (日新丸) was the primary vessel of the Japanese whaling fleet and was the world's only whaler factory ship. It was the research base ship for the Institute of Cetacean Research for 2002 to 2007. It had a tonnage of 8,145 GT and is the largest member and flagship of the five-ship whaling fleet, headed by leader Shigetoshi Nishiwaki. The ship was based in Japan in Shimonoseki harbor and was owned by Tokyo-based Kyodo Senpaku, which is a subsidiary of the Institute of Cetacean Research.
SS Medic was a steamship built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast for the White Star Line which entered service in 1899. Medic was one of five Jubilee-class ocean liners built specifically to service the Liverpool–Cape Town–Sydney route. The ship's name pertained to the ancient Persian region of Media and was pronounced Mee-dic.
Whalers Bay is a small bay entered between Fildes Point and Penfold Point at the east side of Port Foster, Deception Island, in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. The bay was so named by the French Antarctic Expedition, 1908–10, under Charcot, because of its use at that time by whalers.
The first evidence for whaling in Scotland is from Bronze Age settlements where whalebones were used for constructing and decorating dwelling places. Commercial whaling started in the Middle Ages, and by the 1750s most Scottish ports were whaling, with the Edinburgh Whale-Fishing Company being founded in 1749. The last company still engaged in whaling was Christian Salvesen, which exited the industry in 1963.
Glover Island is a small islet off the southern peninsula of Grenada.
President Pedro Aguirre Cerda Station was a Chilean Antarctic base, located at Pendulum Cove in Deception Island in the South Shetland Islands, inaugurated in 1955. The same year, the Falkland Islands and Dependencies Aerial Survey Expedition was established at Deception Island to help the survey of the Antarctic Peninsula, operating aircraft from Hunting Aerosurveys Ltd.
Whaling was an important economic activity in Chile from the 19th century to 1983, when the last whale was hunted in Chilean waters.
International competition extended to the continent of Antarctica during the World War II era, though the region saw no combat. During the prelude to war, Nazi Germany organised the 1938 Third German Antarctic Expedition to preempt Norway's claim to Queen Maud Land. The expedition served as the basis for a new German claim, called New Swabia. A year later, the United States Antarctic Service Expedition established two bases, which operated for two years before being abandoned. Responding to these encroachments, and taking advantage of Europe's wartime turmoil, the nearby nations of Chile and Argentina made their own claims. In 1940 Chile proclaimed the Chilean Antarctic Territory in areas already claimed by Britain, while Argentina proclaimed Argentine Antarctica in 1943 in an overlapping area.
