The Whaling Station History

Stromness began as a floating factory base in 1907 before a land station was built in 1912. Under manager Thoralf Sørlle, whaling started by the end of October 1912. It became one of the island’s working whaling communities along with Grytviken, Husvik and Leith Harbour.

The site was chosen in Rosita Cove but later renamed Stromness Harbour by the British authorities. The site had good access to fresh water and was built based on patterns established at whaling stations in Finnmark, in Norway. The station was built along the shoreline and from the very beginning, Stromness was equipped with electric lighting.

Thoralf Sørlle first encountered South Georgia when working on the second Jason Expedition, led by Carl Anton Larsen. He was hired as a gunner, in search of whales in the Antarctic waters. He was employed by Sandefjord’s Hvalfangerselskab’s shore station in Stromness which became the place where he spent the rest of his working life, between 1912 to 1931 when the station closed. After whaling from Stromness stopped, he remined there for several years before returning to Sandefjord, Norway. He died from a stroke aged 64 on 25 May 1939.

In 1945 the ownership of the whaling station at Stromness was passed to Christian Salvesen & Co. who operated the neighbouring Leith Harbour station. They converted the station in Stromness to a ship repair yard, hiring skilled professionals to outfit ships in their fleet and keep the stations running. The station was finally abandoned in 1961.