Grytviken was once the most important town on the almost 4000 square kilometer island of South Georgia. Due to its location off the Antarctic continent, it served as an important port of call for seafarers, whalers and explorers.
In the King Edward Cove the ships could anchor sheltered from the wind. Here there was fresh water for provisions and flat land for cultivation in the otherwise very mountainous island. About 120 years ago the place Grytviken was established, which mainly served the industrial production of blubber. Thousands of whales and seals gave their lives for it.
The Norwegian name of the place says it all: “Gryte” means cauldron or pot, “vik” means bay. The liquid oil was bunkered in the boilers, some of which are still intact today, until it could be shipped to Europe in the Antarctic summer.
Final resting place of Ernest Shackleton
Today only in the summer season do a few people live in Grytviken, taking care of the South Georgia Museum and cruise guests, as well as opening the church door to the renovated Whalers Church.
The cemetery is also worth seeing, because here is the grave of Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874 to 1922). The British polar explorer and his 27 men survived the sinking of their ship “Endurance”, which was crushed by the Antarctic pack ice in 1915.
It was thanks to Shackleton’s crisis management that the crew was rescued physically healthy and emotionally stable after the struggle for survival under the toughest conditions on Elephant Island. He and a small team had reached South Georgia in an open boat, where they crossed the mountains to the other side of the island to organize help.
On August 30, 1916, all 22 remaining expedition members were rescued on Elephant Island – one of the greatest exploits in the history of polar research.
Those: https://sgmuseum.gs and https://jamescairdsociety.com
Also read:
– 13,700 kilometers non-stop: Lufthansa flies to the Falkland Islands
– This woman is preparing the aviators for the greatest Arctic expedition of all time
– Leaked, stranded and abandoned – the fate of forgotten ships