Stromness, South Georgia

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

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 sits at the center of three harbours on the western side of Stromness Bay. Early maps sometimes named the harbour “Fridtjof Nansen,” but since about 1920 the name Stromness has been used. The name comes from Stromness in the Orkney Islands, Scotland.

In 1907 a floating factory was set up in Stromness Harbour, and a land station was built in 1912. From 1912 to 1931 Stromness operated as a whaling station. Its first manager was Thoralf Sørlle, who ran the station in most seasons (except 1917/18 and 1918/19) until it closed as a whaling station in 1931. It was then turned into a ship repair yard with a machine shop and a foundry, remaining in use until 1961, when the site was abandoned.

In 1916, Shackleton and a small crew landed at King Haakon Bay after a difficult voyage from Elephant Island in the lifeboat James Caird. Shackleton, Tom Crean, and Frank Worsley then crossed the island’s interior to reach help on the northern shore. After about 36 hours, they arrived at Stromness and were taken to the manager’s dwelling. At every whaling station the manager’s home is called the “Villa” because it is comparatively luxurious.

All the men were later rescued from Elephant Island. In the years after its closure, Stromness has suffered from the elements and many buildings are now ruins. There have been proposals to restore the Villa and to clear debris to make the site safe for visitors. Outside Stromness is a small whalers’ cemetery with 14 grave markers.