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.
The three whaling stations, Husvik, Stromness, and Leith, were linked by a rough track along the beach. During the whaling era, whalers from Stromness and Husvik would use it to get to Leith Harbour to use the cinema. The track can still be used, but in some places is rendered impassable by aggressively territorial fur seals during their breeding season (November and December).
The freezer plant was dismantled and moved to Grytviken in 1960, and whaling operations at Husvik permanently ceased. Afterwards, scientists from the British Antarctic Survey used the whaling managers' villa as a temporary shelter when doing work in the area until the mid-1990s. More recent inhabitants include the BSES expedition of December 2003, who used it as a base camp for a number of scientific and exploratory projects.
As with Leith, Stromness, and Prince Olav Harbour, the whaling station has been declared by the South Georgia Government as being too dangerous to visit, due to the danger from collapsing buildings and asbestos. Visitors must stay 200m (656ft) from the buildings and structures. Access to the Managers' Villa was prohibited in 2011 when the boundary of the 200m Prohibited Area was formalised in legislation.
The jetty is within the 200m (656ft) 'danger area' so is not usable, and is in a very dilapidated state. A colony of blue-eyed shags nests on its end each year.
In the southern summer of 2005/6, the South Georgia Heritage Trust hired a team of Norwegian craftsmen to restore some of the buildings at Husvik. In March 2006, the Manager's Villa, a building known as the "Radio Shack", and a small generator shed were successfully repaired and restored. Admiralty Peak is close to the station.
South of Husvik is a whaler's cemetery where 34 men were buried between 1924 and 1959.
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.
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.
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.
Leith Harbour, also known as Port Leith, was a whaling station on the northeast coast of South Georgia, established and operated by Christian Salvesen Ltd, Edinburgh. The station was in operation from 1909 until 1965. It was the largest of seven whaling stations, situated near the mouth of Stromness Bay. One man prominently involved in setting up Leith Harbour was William Storm Harrison.
Stromness is an abandoned whaling station on the northern coast of South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic. It was the destination of Sir Ernest Shackleton's rescue journey in 1916. It is the central of three harbours in the west side of Stromness Bay, South Georgia.
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.
Prince Olav Harbour is a small harbour in the south west portion of Cook Bay, entered between Point Abrahamsen and Sheep Point, along the north coast of South Georgia.
Ocean Harbour is a deeply indented bay on Barff Peninsula on the north coast of South Georgia which is entered 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west-northwest of Tijuca point. It was a whaling station between 1909 and 1920. At one point, South Georgia was the whaling capital of the world.
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.
The only official language of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is English, and this is spoken by almost everyone on a day-to-day basis. The islands' population is transient, and there never were any native South Georgians, although a handful of people have been born there.
Bucentaur Rock is the outermost of three rocks lying close northeast of Busen Point, at the southeast side of the entrance to Stromness Bay, South Georgia. The name Low Rock was given for this feature during a survey in 1927, but this name is used elsewhere in the Antarctic. Following the survey by the South Georgia Survey, 1951–52, the feature was renamed Bucentaur Rock after the floating factory Bucentaur, which was anchored at Husvik in the early years of the whaling station after 1907, and from which the Husvik transport Busen and the catchers Busen I, II, III, etc., derive their names.
Alert Channel is a small channel between Whaler Channel and Bar Rocks, and leading to the head of Husvik Harbor in Stromness Bay, South Georgia. It was charted by Discovery Investigations (DI) personnel in 1928 and named after Alert, the motorboat used by the DI survey party.
Berntsen Ridge is a ridge on the north coast of South Georgia, running west from Tonsberg Point and rising to about 580 metres (1,900 ft) at the west end. The ridge partly occupies the peninsula between Stromness Harbor and Husvik Harbor. It was named in 1991 by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee after Captain Søren Berntsen, a Norwegian whaler who established Husvik whaling station for Tonsberg Hvalfangeri and became its first manager in 1910; later Master of SS Orwell, a whaling factory ship.
Olsen Valley is a valley extending from Husvik Harbor in Stromness Bay to Carlita Bay in Cumberland West Bay, on the north side of South Georgia. The feature was known to early whalers and sealers at South Georgia. It was surveyed by the SGS in the period 1951–57, and named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) for Nils E. Olsen, Manager of Tonsberg Hvalfangeri, Husvik, 1950–56.
Factory Point is a small point on the west side and close to the head of Leith Harbour, in Stromness Bay, South Georgia. The name was probably given by whalers because of its nearness to Messrs. Salvesen and Company's whaling station near the head of Leith Harbour.
Hansen Point is a point lying between Factory Point and Harbour Point on the west side of Leith Harbour, Stromness Bay, on the north coast of South Georgia. The name appears on a chart showing the results of surveys by Discovery Investigations personnel in 1927 and 1929, and is probably for Leganger Hansen, the manager of the whaling station at Leith Harbour at that time.
Kanin Point is a rocky point lying 2 nautical miles (4 km) west-southwest of Kelp Point on the south side of Husvik Harbor, in Stromness Bay, South Georgia. The descriptive name "Rocky Point" was given for this feature, probably by Discovery Investigations personnel who surveyed Husvik Harbor in 1928, but this name is used elsewhere in the Antarctic. The South Georgia Survey, 1951–52, reported that this feature is known at the Husvik whaling station as Kanin Point. The name presumably arose from one of several attempts made since 1872 to introduce rabbits into the island. Kanin Point is approved on the basis of local usage.
Reindeer in South Georgia are an example of an animal which has been introduced outside its native range. The reindeer, a species of deer adapted to arctic and subarctic climates, was introduced to the subantarctic island of South Georgia by Norwegian whalers in the early 20th century.
Petter Sørlle was a Norwegian whaling captain and inventor.
The Southern Whaling and Sealing Company Ltd (SWSC) were a United Kingdom-based whaling and sealing company, originally formed in 1911 by the partnership of Richard Irvin & Sons of North Shields and the South African-based fishing company Irvin & Johnson. Latterly they were sold to Lever Bros., in 1919 and re-sold to Christian Salvesen Ltd in 1941.
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