Grytviken Centenary

Issue Date: December 2004









Four postage stamps and a first day cover issued by South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands celebrate the establishment of the first settlement on South Georgia at Grytviken on 16 November 1904. Before this sealers had spent periods of time on South Georgia since the early nineteenth century. Grytviken - which means 'Pot cove' in Norwegian - was named after the abandoned trypots found on the shore.

The Compania Argentina de Pesca Sociedad Anonima (PESCA) whaling company was the pioneer of modern whaling in the Antarctic and once established at Grytviken, was used as a 'rear base' by explorers such as Shackleton, Filchner and Fuchs.

24p - Capt. C A Larsen
Norwegian Capt. Carl Anton Larsen, founder of Grytviken, had visited the region on several occasions before the settlement was established. He was master of the Jason. when it passed close to South Georgia in November 1892 and in 1894 when it anchored in a harbour in Cumberland West Bay, later named Jason Harbour. Capt. Larsen was back in 1902 when commanding the ship Antarctic. The land party of the Swedish South Polar Expedition was disembarked at Snow Hill on the east of the Antarctic Peninsula whilst the Antarctic continued to Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands before anchoring at Jason Harbour 22 April 1902. In 1905 Capt. Larsen brought his family to Grytviken, his wife Andrine, their seven children and a maid (the first women and children to set foot on South Georgia).

42p - Grytviken from Mount Hodges
The site for the Grytviken whaling station had been earmarked by Larsen on his previous visits on the Jason and Antarctic, the small haven having been charted and 'sounded'. The bay was almost land-locked and well sheltered. The sailing ship Louise was home to foremen, engineers, mechanics, blacksmiths, flensers, storekeepers, workmen, cooks, stewards etc whilst the building work was undertaken. Captain Larsen and his staff were to reside in the Manager's Villa, Constructed a short distance from the factory buildings overlooking the bay (now housing the South Georgia Museum). In short time accommodation barracks, carpentry and cooper shops, tanks for storing oil, forges, machine shops and animal and poultry shelters sprang up. A small dam was also constructed behind the station in a stream in the Bore Valley. This provided electric light for the Villa and the whaling plant via a hydro-electric dynamo. Who at that time, would have expected Grytviken to still be occupied (and a growing tourist destination) 100 years later?

5Op - Whale Catcher Fortuna
Fortuna harpooned PESCA's first whale on 27 November 1904. There is some doubt as to whether it was the harpooner Carl Anton Hansen or Capt. Larsen himself who shot the humpback. In the first season of operation 1904/5 Fortuna did not even have to leave Cumberland Bay, so prodigious were the stocks of humpback, fin and blue whales. Fortuna was built at Framnaes Mekartiske Vaerksted, Sandefjord and was bigger and stronger than any modern catcher before. Three metres longer (at 33.53m) than three previously built at the shipyard, giving it bunker carrying capacity of approximately 90 tons and was powered by a 280 IHP steam engine giving a service speed of 10 knots. The ship was designed to cope with some of the world's most tempestuous seas whilst being very manoeuvrable. The catcher was launched on 19 July 1904 and put under sea trials in September. After many years service she ran aground in 1916 and was subsequently wrecked in Cumberland Bay between Hope Point and Sappho Point.

£1 - Ski Jump
Leisure activities at Grytviken were, as one can imagine, few and far between but improved after 1913 when a library was provided at the rear of the church which was inaugurated in that year. In 1927 twice weekly film shows were introduced to break up the hardship and monotony of life at the station and in 1930 an actual cinema, known locally as the Kino, was built beside the church. The Grytviken Idrettsforening - the Grytviken Sports Club managed a football and athletics field located behind the station. The largest athletics and football tournament held in 1931 (the Falkland Islands Government Cup) hosted teams from five stations. Over-wintering employees competed in a ski jumping event held in August (first held on 10 August 1913).

Further reading: PESCA A History of the Pioneer Modern Whaling Company in the Antarctic by Ian B Hart ISBN: 0 85628 299 5 Aiden Ellis Publisbing


TECHNICAL DETAILS
Designer : Nick Shewring
Printer : BDT International Security Ptinting Limited
Process : Lithography
Stamp Size : 38 x 30.56mm
Format : Sheets 20 (2 x 10)
Perforation : 14 per 2 cms
Paper : CA Spiral Watermark
Denominations : 24p 42p 50p £1

Stamps of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands may be obtained from;
Falkland Islands Philatelic Bureau
Post Office
Ross Road
Stal1ley
Falkland Islands FIQQ lZZ
Website : www.falklands.gov.fk/pb
E-mail: philate1icbureau@townhall.gov.fk

Sovereign Stamps
PO Box 123
Sutton
Surrey
SMl 4WH
Website : www.sovereignstamps.co.uk E-mail: allen.price@crownagents.co.uk



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