South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) is a British Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands known as the South Sandwich Islands. South Georgia is 165 kilometres (103 mi) long and 35 kilometres (22 mi) wide and is by far the largest island in the territory. The South Sandwich Islands lie about 700 kilometres (430 mi) southeast of South Georgia. The territory's total land area is 3,903 km2 (1,507 sq mi). The Falkland Islands are about 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) west from its nearest point.
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.
South Georgia is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around 1,400 kilometres (870 mi) east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east–west direction, South Georgia is around 170 kilometres (106 mi) long and has a maximum width of 35 kilometres (22 mi). The terrain is mountainous, with the central ridge rising to 2,935 metres (9,629 ft) at Mount Paget. The northern coast is indented with numerous bays and fjords, serving as good harbours.
Cumberland Bay is a bay, 4 miles (6.4 km) wide at its entrance between Larsen Point and Barff Point, which separates into two extensive arms, Cumberland West Bay and Cumberland East Bay, which recede inland 9 miles (14 km) along the northern coast of South Georgia. It was discovered and named in 1775 by a British expedition under James Cook.
Fortuna Glacier is a tidewater glacier at the mouth of Cumberland Bay on the island of South Georgia. It flows in a northeast direction to its terminus just west of Cape Best, with an eastern distributary almost reaching the west side of Fortuna Bay, on the north coast of South Georgia. It was named in about 1912, presumably after the whale catcher Fortuna, and is notable for two major events in the 20th century.
The Salvesen Mountains or Salvesen Range is a mountain range on the southern tip of South Georgia, rising to a maximum elevation of 2,330 metres (7,644 ft). They were created 127 million years ago and are made mainly from granite. The Cretaceous granite is embedded into the Jurassic basaltic lavas and dolerite dykes. Both of which are black so they create a striking colour contrast in exposures. Both the granite and the basalt were formed from rising magma formed on the divergent plate boundary where the southern Atlantic Ocean opened. The main ranges of South Georgia famously crossed by Ernest Shackleton in 1916, are less rugged and precipitous than the Salvesen Mountains as they are formed from folded sandstone. These were formed from sand deposition, the sediment for which was derived from erosion of the igneous rocks and rifting continental blocks.
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.
The history of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is relatively recent. When European explorers discovered the islands, they were uninhabited, and their hostile climate, mountainous terrain, and remoteness made subsequent settlement difficult. Due to these conditions, human activity in the islands has largely consisted of sealing, whaling, and scientific surveys and research, interrupted by World War II and the Falklands War.
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.
Stromness Bay is a bay 3 miles (4.8 km) wide, entered between Cape Saunders and Busen Point on the north coast of South Georgia.
Mount Cunningham is a mountain at the west end of South Georgia's Esmark Glacier. It is situated between Jossac Bight and Queen Maud Bay. With an elevation of 1,218 metres (3,996 ft), it is the 16th highest mountain in South Georgia. The mountain was named after Scottish mountaineer John Crabbe Cunningham as a memorial after his death on 31 January 1980, following a climbing accident when struck by waves off Holyhead.
Gulbrandsen Lake is a lake 0.5 miles (0.8 km) long lying north of Neumayer Glacier in South Georgia. It is now an empty basin; the moraine and or ice dam formed by the Neumeyer Glacier no longer contains this lake. It was charted and named "White City" by the British expedition under Ernest Shackleton, 1921–22, but this name is considered unsuitable and has never been used locally. Gulbrandsen Lake was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1957 for Gunnar Gulbrandsen, a pattern-maker at the Compañía Argentina de Pesca station at Grytviken, 1927–30, carpenter at Stromness, 1945–46, and variously carpenter, dock foreman, dockmaster, and junior officer at the South Georgia Whaling Company station, Leith Harbour, for several years beginning in 1946.
Verner Duncan Carse was an English explorer and actor known for surveying South Georgia and for the portrayal of Special Agent Dick Barton on BBC Radio.
Larsen Harbour is a narrow 2.6 miles (4.2 km) long inlet of indenting volcanic rocks and sheeted dykes known as the Larsen Harbour Formation. It is a branch of Drygalski Fjord, entered 2.5 miles (4 km) west-northwest of Nattriss Head, at the southeast end of South Georgia Island. It was charted by the Second German Antarctic Expedition, 1911–12, under Filchner, who named it for Captain Carl Anton Larsen a Norwegian explorer, who made significant contributions to the exploration of Antarctica. The most significant of these was the first discovery of fossils on the continent, for which he received the Back Grant from the Royal Geographical Society. Larsen is also considered the founder of the Antarctic whaling industry and the settlement and whaling station of Grytviken, South Georgia.
The South Georgia Museum is situated in Grytviken, near the administrative centre of the UK overseas territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Polar explorers Ernest Shackleton and Frank Wild are buried in Grytviken's graveyard. The museum was established in 1991 by Nigel Bonner.
British sovereignty of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is disputed by Argentina. The United Kingdom claimed South Georgia in 1775, annexed the islands in 1908, and has exercised de facto control with the exception of a brief period during the Falklands War in 1982, when the islands were partially controlled by Argentina. The dispute started in 1927 when Argentina claimed sovereignty over South Georgia, and subsequently expanded in scope with Argentina claiming the South Sandwich Islands in 1938. The islands have no indigenous population, and currently only have about 30 inhabitants.
The Viola is a steam trawler built in 1906 in Hull. She is the oldest surviving steam trawler in the world. During her long career, she was known as HMTViola, Kapduen, and Dias. She is currently beached at Grytviken in South Georgia, though there are currently plans afoot to return her to Hull.
Quest, a low-powered, schooner-rigged steamship that sailed from 1917 until sinking in 1962, is best known as the polar exploration vessel of the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition of 1921–1922. It was aboard this vessel that Sir Ernest Shackleton died on 5 January 1922 while the vessel was in harbour in South Georgia. Prior to and after the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition, Quest operated in commercial service as a seal-hunting vessel or sealer. Quest was also the primary expedition vessel of the British Arctic Air Route Expedition to the east coast of the island of Greenland in 1930–1931.
Alec Trendall was an English geologist, poet, and explorer. He is known for his work in mapping the island of South Georgia and for surveying the geology of Western Australia.
William Nigel Bonner was a British zoologist, Antarctic marine mammal specialist, author and ecologist. The topics of his books and scientific publications included marine animals, reindeer and the ecology of the Antarctic. He headed the Life Sciences Division of the British Antarctic Survey from 1974 to 1986, and served as deputy director from 1986 to 1988. Bonner received the Polar Medal in 1987, in recognition of his work in Antarctica.
