1.
Leith
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Leith /ˈliːθ/, Scottish Gaelic, Lìte, is a district to the north of the city of Edinburgh at the mouth of the Water of Leith. The earliest surviving references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of Holyrood Abbey in 1128. The medieval settlements of Leith had grown into a burgh by 1833, historically part of Midlothian, Leith is sited on the coast of the Firth of Forth and lies within the council area of the City of Edinburgh. The port remains one of its most valuable enterprises, handling over 1.5 million tonnes of cargo a year in 2003, previous to the bridge being built in the late 15th century, Leith had settlements on either side of the river, lacking an easy crossing. South Leith was larger and was controlled by the lairds of Restalrig and it was based on trade and had many merchants houses and warehouses. This was where ships offloaded their cargoes at The Shore where they were collected by Edinburgh merchants, leithers were explicitly forbidden by statute to participate directly in the trade at the port, to ensure that landed goods were not sold elsewhere. North Leith was smaller but proportionately richer, coming under the jurisdiction of Holyrood Abbey and it was effectively a fishing village consisting of one street, now Sandport Street and Quayside Lane. Burgage plots ran down to the river from each house and this has traditionally been the shipbuilding side of Leith with several wet and dry docks built over time. The first dry dock in Scotland was built here in 1720, a small peninsula of land on the east bank also came under the same jurisdiction on what is now Sheriff Brae/Sheriff Bank. The first bridge to both banks of the river was built in 1493 by Abbot Bellenden, who controlled the church at North Leith. The bridge was a bridge, the revenue supplementing the churchs income. Reputedly Leiths oldest building, it was demolished in 1780 to allow ships to sail further upstream, the earliest evidence of settlement in Leith comes from several archaeological digs undertaken in the Shore area in the late 20th century. Amongst the finds were medieval wharf edges from the 12th century and this date fits with the earliest documentary evidence of settlement in Leith - the foundation charter of Holyrood Abbey. Leith has played a long and prominent role in Scottish history, as the major port serving Edinburgh, it has been the stage on which many significant events in Scottish history have taken place. Mary of Guise ruled Scotland from Leith in 1560 as Regent while her daughter, Mary, Mary of Guise moved the Scottish Court to Leith, to a site that is now Parliament Street, off Coalhill. According to the 18th-century historian William Maitland, her palace was situated on Rotten Row, now Water Street. Artifacts from the residence are held by the National Museum of Scotland. In June 1560, Mary of Guise died, and the Siege of Leith ended with the departure of the French troops in accordance with the Treaty of Leith, also known as the Treaty of Edinburgh
2.
Stromness Bay
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Stromness Bay is a bay 3 miles wide, entered between Cape Saunders and Busen Point on the north coast of South Georgia. Stromness Bay, like Leith Harbour takes its name from a location in Scotland, Stromness and this is partially because both places called Stromness were whaling centres. The headland forming the southeast side of the entrance to Stromness Bay is named Busen Point and it was probably first seen in 1775 by Captain James Cook, and named in about 1912, presumably by Norwegian whalers who frequented its harbours. Its historical significance is that it represents the destination of Ernest Shackletons epic rescue journey in 1916, during the Second World War the whaling stations were closed excepting Grytviken and Leith Harbour. Most of the British and Norwegian whaling factories and catchers were destroyed by German raiders, the resident British Magistrates attended to the island’s defence throughout the War. e. to Grytviken and Leith Harbour respectively. These batteries were manned by volunteers from among the Norwegian whalers who were trained for the purpose, the three whaling stations, Husvik, Stromness and Leith Harbour 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 islands one cinema, Stromness Whaling Station Husvik Leith Harbour Scottish placenames in other countries This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document Stromness Bay
3.
Husvik
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Husvik is a former whaling station on the north-central coast of South Georgia Island. It was one of three 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 introduction of reindeer to South Georgia in 1925. The three whaling stations, Husvik, Stromness, and Leith, were linked by a 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. The freezer plant was dismantled and moved to Grytviken in 1960, 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 camp for a number of scientific. Visitors must stay 200 m 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 200 m danger area so is not usable, 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 Managers Villa, a known as the Radio Shack. Admiralty Peak is close to the station, South of Husvik is a whalers cemetery where 34 men were buried between 1924 and 1959. Brain Island an island at the side of Husvik Harbor. South Georgia Heritage Trust, Photos at Husvik
4.
Stromness, South Georgia
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Stromness is a former whaling station on the northern coast of South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic. It was the destination of Ernest Shackletons rescue journey in 1916 and it is the central of three harbours in the west side of Stromness Bay, South Georgia. The name Fridtjof Nansen or Nansen appeared for this harbour on some early charts, the name Stromness comes from the town of that name in Orkney, Scotland. In 1907 a floating factory was erected in Stromness Harbour, the station being built in 1912. From 1912 until 1931 Stromness operated as a station, the first manager of which was Petter Sørlle. In 1931 it was converted into a repair yard with a machine shop. It remained operational until 1961 when the site was abandoned, shackleton, along with Tom Crean and Frank Worsley, then trekked across South Georgias mountainous and glaciated interior in an effort to reach help on the populated northern shore of the island. After 36 hours of crossing the interior they arrived at the Stromness administration center which also was the home of the Norwegian whaling stations manager and this building has been dubbed the Villa at Stromness because it represents relative luxury compared to its surroundings. All men were rescued from Elephant Island, in the decades following its closure, Stromness has been subject to damage from the elements and many of its buildings have been reduced to ruins. However, recent efforts have made to restore the Villa. Outside of Stromness is a whalers cemetery with 14 grave markers. Research stations in Antarctica Stromness Bay This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document Stromness, South Georgia
5.
Whaling
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Whaling is the hunting of whales for their usable products like meat, oil and blubber. Its earliest forms date to at least circa 3000 BC, various coastal communities have long histories of subsistence whaling and harvesting beached whales. By the late 1930s, more than 50,000 whales were killed annually In 1986, contemporary whaling is subject to intense debate. Pro-whaling countries, notably Japan, Norway, and Iceland, wish to lift the ban on certain whale stocks for hunting, anti-whaling countries and environmental groups oppose lifting the ban. Whaling began in times and was initially confined to coastal waters. Early whaling affected the development of disparate cultures – such as Norway. The Basques were the first to catch whales commercially, and dominated the trade for five centuries, spreading to the far corners of the North Atlantic and even reaching the South Atlantic. Although prehistoric hunting and gathering is considered to have had little ecological impact. Whale oil is used today and modern commercial whaling is primarily done for food. The primary species hunted are the common minke whale and Antarctic minke whale, recent scientific surveys estimate a population of 103,000 in the northeast Atlantic. International cooperation on whaling began in 1931 and culminated in the signing of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in 1946. Its aim is to, provide for the conservation of whale stocks. The International Whaling Commission was set up under the ICRW to decide hunting quotas, non-member countries are not bound by its regulations and conduct their own management programs. The IWC voted on July 23,1982, to establish a moratorium on commercial whaling beginning in the 1985–86 season. Since 1992, the IWCs Scientific Committee has requested that it be allowed to give proposals for some whale stocks. At the 2010 meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Morocco, Japan, Norway and Iceland have urged the organisation to lift the ban. A coalition of anti-whaling nations has offered a plan that would allow these countries to continue whaling. Their plan would also completely ban whaling in the Southern Ocean, opponents of the compromise plan want to see an end to all commercial whaling, but are willing to allow subsistence-level catches by indigenous peoples
6.
South Georgia Island
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South Georgia is an island in the South Atlantic that is part of the British Overseas territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. South Georgia is 167.4 kilometres long and 1.4 to 37 km wide. The Island of South Georgia is said to have been first sighted in 1675 by Anthony de la Roché, a London merchant and it was sighted by a commercial Spanish ship named León operating out of Saint-Malo on 28 June or 29 June 1756
7.
Christian Salvesen
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Christian Salvesen was a Scottish whaling, transport and logistics company with a long and varied history, employing 13,000 staff and operating in seven countries in western Europe. Since December 2007 it has been a wholly owned subsidiary of French-listed transport group Norbert Dentressangle, Christian Frederik Salvesen was born in Mandal, Vest-Agder, Norway. Christian Salvesen was the son of Norwegian merchant shipowner, Thomas Salvesen, Christian Salvesen joined the partnership after migrating from Mandal in 1851. In 1868 Christian Salvesen, together with Wilhelm August Thams founded the mining company Ørkedals Mining Company and bought a number of mines around Løkken. In 1872, Christian Salvesen left the partnership and set up Christian Salvesen & Co. based in Leith, initially the company operated as shipping and forwarding agents, shipbrokers and timber merchants. Christian Salvesen & Co. began buying steamers in the 1880s, in 1883 Christian Salvesen, delegated management of shipping operations to his eldest sons, Thomas and Frederick, who became partners in the firm. In the early 1900s, the company developed significant interests in whaling, initially in the Arctic and they established and operated from a base at Leith Harbour on the island of South Georgia, to the south east of the Falkland Islands. In the years 1950-1962 the whaling ships Southern Harvester and Southern Venturer belonged to the company and these ships were floating factories, and the core of a whaling expedition. Each expedition consisted of a factory as well as a team of whale-catchers which were equipped with an onboard hangar which housed a Westland Whirlwind which was used for whale spotting. One of the companys whale-catchers, Southern Actor, now lies at the museum in Sandefjord, Norway. As the boom in whaling ended after World War II, Salvesen moved into the commercial trawler business and it traded primarily in housebuilding, general food freezing and oil before moving back into the transport business by buying Swift Services. Christian Salvesens house stood at Goldenacre in Edinburgh, on Ferry Road opposite Inverleith Row and his offices were on the south side of Bernard Street, Leith, in a building that doubled as the Norwegian Consulate for Edinburgh. He is buried in Rosebank Cemetery on Pilrig Street in Leith, Christian Salvesens whaling ships brought the first penguins back to Edinburgh and donated them to Edinburgh Zoo. Edinburgh therefore became the first zoo in the world to house penguins, the Salvesen family lost many sons and nephews during World War I. Partly as a result of this they built several housing developments, most on Scottish Veterans Garden City principles, Earl Haig Gardens off East Trinity Road in Edinburgh. For injured and retired army personnel, with memorial tablets over the doors to several of the Salvesen family killed in the conflict such as 2nd Lt Edward Maxwell Salvesen. Salvesen Gardens in Muirhouse, Edinburgh, for army personnel, Salvesen Crescent also in Muirhouse, for retired lighthouse keepers. Salvesens exited the industry in 1963, thus ending whaling in Scotland
8.
Edinburgh
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Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 local government council areas. Located in Lothian on the Firth of Forths southern shore, it is Scotlands second most populous city and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The 2014 official population estimates are 464,990 for the city of Edinburgh,492,680 for the authority area. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is home to the Scottish Parliament and it is the largest financial centre in the UK after London. Historically part of Midlothian, the city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scots law, literature, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of four in the city, was placed 17th in the QS World University Rankings in 2013 and 2014. The city is famous for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe. The citys historical and cultural attractions have made it the United Kingdoms second most popular tourist destination after London, attracting over one million overseas visitors each year. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and the Canongate, Edinburghs Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. It appears to derive from the place name Eidyn mentioned in the Old Welsh epic poem Y Gododdin, the poem names Din Eidyn as a hill fort in the territory of the Gododdin. The Celtic element din was dropped and replaced by the Old English burh, the first documentary evidence of the medieval burgh is a royal charter, c. 1124–1127, by King David I granting a toft in burgo meo de Edenesburg to the Priory of Dunfermline. In modern Gaelic, the city is called Dùn Èideann, the earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area was at Cramond, where evidence was found of a Mesolithic camp site dated to c.8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have found on Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat, Craiglockhart Hill. When the Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, at some point before the 7th century AD, the Gododdin, who were presumably descendants of the Votadini, built the hill fort of Din Eidyn or Etin. Although its location has not been identified, it likely they would have chosen a commanding position like the Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat. In 638, the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria and it thenceforth remained under their jurisdiction. The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, in 1638, King Charles Is attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In the 17th century, Edinburghs boundaries were defined by the citys defensive town walls
9.
Grytviken
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Grytviken is a settlement on the island of South Georgia, part of a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic. It was so named in 1902 by the Swedish surveyor Johan Gunnar Andersson who found old English try pots used to seal oil at the site. It is the best harbour on the island, consisting of a bay within a bay, the site is quite sheltered, provides a substantial area of flat land suitable for building, and has a good supply of fresh water. The settlement at Grytviken was established on 16 November 1904 by the Norwegian sea captain Carl Anton Larsen and it was phenomenally successful, with 195 whales taken in the first season alone. The whalers used every part of the animals – the blubber, meat, bones and viscera were rendered to extract the oil, Elephant seals were also hunted for their blubber. Around 300 men worked at the station during its heyday, operating during the summer from October to March. A few remained over the winter to maintain the boats and factory, every few months a transport ship would bring essential supplies to the station and take away the oil and other produce. The following year the Argentine Government established a meteorological station, Carl Anton Larsen, the founder of Grytviken, was a naturalised Briton born in Sandefjord, Norway. His family in Grytviken included his wife, three daughters and two sons, Larsen chose the whaling stations site during his 1902 visit while in command of the ship Antarctic of the Swedish Antarctic Expedition led by Otto Nordenskjöld. One of those try-pots, having the inscription ‘Johnson and Sons, Wapping Dock, managers and other senior officers of the whaling stations often had their families living together with them. Several more children have been born on South Georgia, recently even aboard visiting private yachts, even now, the shore around Grytviken is littered with whale bones and the rusting remains of whale oil processing plants and abandoned whaling ships. Grytviken is closely associated with the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, Shackletons Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition set out from London on 1 August 1914, to reach the Weddell Sea on 10 January 1915, where the pack ice closed in on their ship, Endurance. The ship was broken by the ice on 27 October 1915, the 28 crew members managed to flee to Elephant Island off Antarctica, bringing three small boats with them. Shackleton and five men managed to reach the southern coast of South Georgia in the James Caird. They arrived at Cave Cove, and camped at Peggotty Bluff, from Grytviken, Shackleton organised a rescue operation to bring home the remaining men. He again returned to Grytviken, but posthumously, in 1922 he had died unexpectedly from a heart attack at the beginning of another Antarctic expedition. His widow chose South Georgia as his resting place. His grave is located south of Grytviken, alongside those of whalers who had died on the island, on 27 November 2011, the ashes of Frank Wild, Shackletons right-hand man, were interred on the right side of Shackletons grave-site
10.
Ocean Harbour
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Ocean Harbour is a deeply indented bay on the north coast of South Georgia which is entered 1.5 miles west-northwest of Tijuca point. It was a whaling station between 1909–1920. At one point, South Georgia was the capital of the world. The names New Fortune Bay and Neufortuna Bay, probably for the whaling catcher Fortuna, were used for this site in 1922 by Filchner, following the German Antarctic Expedition, 1911-12. The name Ocean Harbour is approved for this feature on the basis of local usage, old sealing trypots can still be seen here, and there is also the wreck of the Bayard here, a 1300 tonne,67 m long, iron hulled boat, built in 1864. She was moored at the station at 1911, when a gale blew her loose across the bay. Ocean Harbour was the site of the first introduction of reindeer to South Georgia by Pescas whaling station manager Carl Anton Larsen, Ocean Harbour has a small cemetery with eight graves including the oldest known grave on the island - that of Frank Cabrial of the sealer Francis Allen. The marker has gone some of the others are still marked. This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document Ocean Harbour
