Stromness, South Georgia Island
In January, 1775, as the great geographer – explorer Captain James Cook – was leaving South Georgia Island (recently named for his king), he wrote in his journal that there was nothing on this bleak and dreary island to attract the interest or attention of mankind. Perhaps he was tired from the toils of this, his second voyage around the world, but how wrong he was! He did not appreciate the delight that visitors such as us would find in the steep mountain peaks, cloaked in snow and glacial ice, rising up from an ice-strewn sea, and surrounded by beaches teaming with exotic wildlife. And he did not realize the economic gain to be had from exploitation of the wildlife. Within nine years of Capt. Cook’s voyage, sealers from England and America had arrived at South Georgia. Millions of fur seals were killed, their hides packed in barrels and taken to China where the outer guard hairs were removed to reveal the dense, silky fur beneath. Profit returned to the home port in the form of tea, silk, and other rich treasures of the Orient. It was lucrative trading… until the fur seals were slaughtered to near extinction and the sealers moved on to newly-discovered grounds.
In 1904 whaling came to South Georgia Island. Land-based whaling stations were established at Grytviken, in Cumberland Bay, and at Stromness and Leith Harbour, in Stromness Bay. This trade, too, waxed and then waned as whales in the waters around South Georgia were exploited to near extinction and the whalers moved on to floating factories to extend their range and efficiency.
Today we visited the whaling stations at Grytviken and Stromness, now abandoned heaps of rusting buildings, machinery, and spare parts. The wonderful museum at Grytviken captures some of the whaling history. The whales remain seriously and tragically depleted, but we can attest from personal experience that the recovery of the fur seals defies belief! Fur seals on the beach at Stromness were at the peak of the breeding season. Huge male “beachmasters” battled for control of sections of the beach and the right to breed with any females contained therein. The much smaller females attended their single small, black, puppy-like young. Any male who chanced to stray into a neighbor’s territory was promptly and violently evicted. The present population of fur seals is probably above five million and increasing annually at a rate of ten percent. As a final punctuation to this story, last night we had a close encounter with a Southern right whale skimming plankton from the surface water all around the ship, giving hope that perhaps the whales, too, can recover in abundance from their previous exploitation.
In January, 1775, as the great geographer – explorer Captain James Cook – was leaving South Georgia Island (recently named for his king), he wrote in his journal that there was nothing on this bleak and dreary island to attract the interest or attention of mankind. Perhaps he was tired from the toils of this, his second voyage around the world, but how wrong he was! He did not appreciate the delight that visitors such as us would find in the steep mountain peaks, cloaked in snow and glacial ice, rising up from an ice-strewn sea, and surrounded by beaches teaming with exotic wildlife. And he did not realize the economic gain to be had from exploitation of the wildlife. Within nine years of Capt. Cook’s voyage, sealers from England and America had arrived at South Georgia. Millions of fur seals were killed, their hides packed in barrels and taken to China where the outer guard hairs were removed to reveal the dense, silky fur beneath. Profit returned to the home port in the form of tea, silk, and other rich treasures of the Orient. It was lucrative trading… until the fur seals were slaughtered to near extinction and the sealers moved on to newly-discovered grounds.
In 1904 whaling came to South Georgia Island. Land-based whaling stations were established at Grytviken, in Cumberland Bay, and at Stromness and Leith Harbour, in Stromness Bay. This trade, too, waxed and then waned as whales in the waters around South Georgia were exploited to near extinction and the whalers moved on to floating factories to extend their range and efficiency.
Today we visited the whaling stations at Grytviken and Stromness, now abandoned heaps of rusting buildings, machinery, and spare parts. The wonderful museum at Grytviken captures some of the whaling history. The whales remain seriously and tragically depleted, but we can attest from personal experience that the recovery of the fur seals defies belief! Fur seals on the beach at Stromness were at the peak of the breeding season. Huge male “beachmasters” battled for control of sections of the beach and the right to breed with any females contained therein. The much smaller females attended their single small, black, puppy-like young. Any male who chanced to stray into a neighbor’s territory was promptly and violently evicted. The present population of fur seals is probably above five million and increasing annually at a rate of ten percent. As a final punctuation to this story, last night we had a close encounter with a Southern right whale skimming plankton from the surface water all around the ship, giving hope that perhaps the whales, too, can recover in abundance from their previous exploitation.
