Stromness is an abandoned

whaling Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...

station on the northern coast of

South Georgia South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. ...

Island in the South Atlantic. It was the destination of Sir

Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarcti ...

's rescue journey in 1916. It is the central of three harbours in the west side of

Stromness Bay Stromness Bay is a bay wide, entered between Cape Saunders and Busen Point on the north coast of South Georgia. Stromness Bay, like Leith Harbour takes its name from a location in Scotland, Stromness, on the Orkney Mainland. This is partially b ...

, South Georgia. The name "Fridtjof Nansen" or Nansen appeared for this harbour on some early charts, but since about 1920, the name Stromness has been consistently used. Its name, Stromness, derives from the similarly named town in the

Orkney Islands Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland ...

, Scotland.

History

In 1907, a "floating factory" was erected in Stromness Harbour; a land station was built in 1912. From 1912 until 1931, Stromness operated as a whaling station, the first manager of which was Thoralf Sørlle, who was manager every season (except 1917/18 and 1918/19) through to its closure as a whaling station in 1931. It was then converted into a ship repair yard with a machine shop and a foundry. It remained operational until 1961, when the site was abandoned. In 1916,

and a small crew landed on the unpopulated southern coast of South Georgia at

King Haakon Bay King Haakon Bay, or King Haakon Sound, is an inlet on the southern coast of the island of South Georgia. The inlet is approximately 13 km (8 miles) long and 4 km (2.5 miles) wide. The inlet was named for King Haakon VII of Norway by ...

after an arduous sea voyage from

Elephant Island Elephant Island is an ice-covered, mountainous island off the coast of Antarctica in the outer reaches of the South Shetland Islands, in the Southern Ocean. The island is situated north-northeast of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, west-so ...

in the lifeboat, . Shackleton, along with

Tom Crean Tom or Thomas Crean may refer to: *Thomas Crean (1873–1923), Irish rugby union player, British Army soldier and doctor *Tom Crean (explorer) (1877–1938), Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer *Tom Crean (basketball) Thomas Aaron Crean (born Ma ...

and

Frank Worsley Frank Arthur Worsley (22 February 1872 – 1 February 1943) was a New Zealand sailor and explorer who served on Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1916, as captain of ''Endurance''. He also served in the Royal ...

, then trekked across South Georgia's mountainous and glaciated interior in an effort to reach help on the populated northern shore of the island. After 36 hours of crossing the interior, they arrived at Stromness and asked to see the manager and were taken to his dwelling. At each of the whaling stations on the island the managers dwelling is called the "Villa" because it represents relative luxury compared to its surroundings. All men were later rescued from Elephant Island. In the decades following its closure, Stromness has been subject to damage from the elements and many of its buildings have been reduced to ruins. However, recent proposals have been made to restore the "Villa" and clean up debris from the rest of the site in order to make it safe for visitors. Outside of Stromness is a small whalers' cemetery with 14 grave markers.

References

{{Coord, 54.16, S, 36.7116, W, scale:10000, display=title Ghost towns in South America Whaling stations of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

History

See also

References