Leith Harbour
Encyclopedia
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
station up on the northeast coast of South Georgia, established and operated by Christian Salvesen Ltd
Christian Salvesen Ltd
Christian Salvesen was a European transport and logistics company with a long and varied history, employing 13,000 staff and operating in seven countries in the United Kingdom and western Europe...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. The station was in operation from 1909 until 1965. It was the largest of seven whaling stations, situated near the mouth of Stromness Bay
Stromness Bay
Stromness Bay is a bay 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, on the Orkney Mainland...
. One man prominently involved in setting up Leith Harbour was William Storm Harrison.
History
South Georgia was once the world's largest whaling centre, with shore stations at GrytvikenGrytviken
Grytviken is the principal settlement in the British territory of South Georgia 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 render seal oil at the site. It is the best harbour on the island, consisting of a...
(operating 1904-64), Leith Harbour (1909-65), Ocean Harbour (1909-20), Husvik
Husvik
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...
(1910-60), Stromness
Stromness (South Georgia)
Stromness is a former whaling station on the northern coast of South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic. Its historical significance is that it represents the destination of Ernest Shackleton's epic rescue journey in 1916. See also Stromness Bay...
(1913-61) and Prince Olav Harbour (1917-31). The Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese companies Kokusai Gyogyo Kabushike Kaisha and Nippon Suisan Kaisha
Nippon Suisan Kaisha
is a marine products company based in Japan. It had annual revenues in 2004 of 4.7 billion USD. The company was established in 1911, and is a commercial fishing and marine product procurement operation. Its goal is to “Establish a global supply chain of marine products.” The company is the...
sub-leased Leith Harbour in 1963-65, the last seasons of South Georgia whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
. In 1912 Leith Harbour was the site of the second introduction of Reindeer
Reindeer in South Georgia
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...
to South Georgia, at attempt that failed when the entire herd was killed by an avalanche
Avalanche
An avalanche is a sudden rapid flow of snow down a slope, occurring when either natural triggers or human activity causes a critical escalating transition from the slow equilibrium evolution of the snow pack. Typically occurring in mountainous terrain, an avalanche can mix air and water with the...
in 1918.
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
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
raiders
Commerce raiding
Commerce raiding or guerre de course is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt the logistics of an enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging the combatants themselves or enforcing a blockade against them.Commerce raiding was heavily criticised by...
, while the rest were called up to serve under Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
command. The resident British Magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
s (W. Barlas and A.I. Fleuret) attended to the island’s defense throughout the War. The Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
armed the merchant vessel Queen of Bermuda to patrol South Georgian and Antarctic waters, and deployed two four-inch guns at key locations protecting the approaches to Cumberland Bay
Cumberland Bay
Cumberland Bay, wide at its entrance between Larsen and Barff Points, which separates into two extensive arms that recede inland along the northern coast of South Georgia. Discovered and named in 1775 by a British expedition under James Cook....
and Stromness Bay
Stromness Bay
Stromness Bay is a bay 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, on the Orkney Mainland...
, i.e. to Grytviken and Leith Harbour respectively. These batteries (still present) were manned by volunteers
Military volunteer
A military volunteer is a person who enlists in military service by free will, and is not a mercenary or a foreign legionaire. Volunteers often enlist to fight in the armed forces of a foreign country. Military volunteers are essential for the operation of volunteer militaries.Many armies,...
from among the Norwegian whalers who were trained for the purpose.
The Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
was precipitated on March 1982 when a group of around fifty Argentines
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, posing as scrap metal merchants, occupied the abandoned whaling station at Leith Harbour. They were understood to have a commercial contract to remove scrap metal at Leith Harbour but they arrived aboard a ship chartered by the Argentine Government. 32 special forces
Special forces
Special forces, or special operations forces are terms used to describe elite military tactical teams trained to perform high-risk dangerous missions that conventional units cannot perform...
troops from Corbeta Uruguay
Corbeta Uruguay
Corbeta Uruguay was an Argentine military outpost established in November 1976 on the island of Thule, Southern Thule, in the South Sandwich Islands. The base was established by order of the then-military junta governing Argentina as a way to back up its territorial claims on British territory in...
were brought by the Argentine Navy
Argentine Navy
The Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Army and the Air Force....
ship Bahía Paraiso to South Georgia and landed at Leith Harbour on March 25, 1982.
On April 25, 1982 the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
damaged and captured the Argentine submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
Santa Fé at South Georgia. The Argentine garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
in Grytviken
Grytviken
Grytviken is the principal settlement in the British territory of South Georgia 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 render seal oil at the site. It is the best harbour on the island, consisting of a...
surrendered without returning the fire and so did on the following day the detachment in Leith Harbour commanded by Captain Astiz
Alfredo Astiz
Alfredo Ignacio Astiz was a Commander, intelligence office and maritime commando in the Argentine Navy during the dictatorial rule of Jorge Rafael Videla in the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional...
.
Today
There is a gun emplacement on the hill behind the station, and another at Hansen PointHansen Point
Hansen Point is a point lying between Factory and Harbour Points on the west side of Leith Harbor, Stromness Bay, on the north coast of South Georgia. The name appears on a chart showing the results of surveys by DI personnel in 1927 and 1929, and is probably for Leganger Hansen, manager of the...
with the original 4.1" gun still in position. Leith Harbour boasted a hospital, a library, a cinema, and a narrow gauge railroad. The centre of Leith Harbour is occupied by the so-called Portuguese graveyard. Due to its nature, the station also contained a factory and a flensing
Flensing
Flensing is the removing of the outer integument of whales. English whalemen called it "flenching", while American whalemen called it "cutting-in".-Open-boat:-Shore and Bay whaling:...
plan or platform.
See also
- Christian Salvesen LtdChristian Salvesen LtdChristian Salvesen was a European transport and logistics company with a long and varied history, employing 13,000 staff and operating in seven countries in the United Kingdom and western Europe...
- History of South Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsHistory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsThe history of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is relatively recent. When European explorers found the islands, they were uninhabited, and their hostile climate, mountainous terrain, and remoteness made subsequent settlement difficult...