Whaling begins at Grytviken, South Georgia
Carl Anton Larsen establishes the first shore whaling station on South Georgia. Whaling begins on 16 November 1904 and the whale-oil factory starts production on 24 December. For the next two decades South Georgia is the principal base for land-based whaling in the Southern Hemisphere, and the Southern Ocean blue whale population begins to be worked systematically for the first time.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Grytviken Whaling Station · site · South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (UK overseas territory)
- South Georgia · region · South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (UK overseas territory)
- Antarctic Blue Whale (B. m. intermedia) · species · Southern Ocean and adjacent temperate South Atlantic, Indian and Pacific sectors · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
Whaling stations of South Georgia
The first shore whaling station on South Georgia was established by Carl Anton Larsen at Grytviken in 1904; whaling began there on 16 November 1904 and the whale-oil factory started production on 24 December 1904. Grytviken operated until 1965, first under the Compania Argentina de Pesca and later under Albion Star, and during this period South Georgia was the principal location for land-based whaling in the Southern Hemisphere. V55 verification basis: retrieved in search summary attributed to the territorial government and museum records; neither page was fetched.
Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands · accessed 2026-08-08 · Partly verified
https://gov.gs/whaling-stations/ ; with the South Georgia Museum record for Grytviken, https://sgmuseum.gs/the-museum/grytviken/
Recorded on Grytviken Whaling Station
- Whaling begins at Grytviken, South Georgia
- The longest blue whale on record is measured at South Georgia
- The Antarctic blue whale catch reaches its all-time peak
- The heaviest blue whale on record is weighed
- Soviet fleets take protected whales and file false returns
- Whaling ends at South Georgia
- The IWC protects blue whales from commercial hunting
- The commercial whaling moratorium takes effect
- Dedicated Antarctic Blue Whale Project voyages
- Blue whales are found back at South Georgia
- The only published Antarctic blue whale satellite tracks are released as data
- A capture-recapture abundance estimate for Antarctic blue whales is published
- An individual Antarctic blue whale is re-sighted at South Georgia
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- An individual Antarctic blue whale is re-sighted at South Georgia · 2026
- A capture-recapture abundance estimate for Antarctic blue whales is published · 2025
- The only published Antarctic blue whale satellite tracks are released as data · 2023
- Blue whales are found back at South Georgia · 2020-02
- Dedicated Antarctic Blue Whale Project voyages · 2013, 2015, 2019
- The commercial whaling moratorium takes effect · 1986 (coastal); 1985/86 pelagic season
- The IWC protects blue whales from commercial hunting · 1966
- Whaling ends at South Georgia · 1965 (Grytviken); island operations described as running to 1971