The Whaling Museum, Sandefjord
Ann-Christin with the bust of Captain Carl
Anton Larsen. (1860-1924)
The bust shown here in the Kommandør
Christen Christensens Hvalfangstmuseum in Sandefjord is the original of the one to be found in the Grytviken Whaler's Church in South Georgia.
His four main achievements were:
1. Leader of the "Jason" expeditions to
(at the time) the unknown Weddell Sea.
2. Skipper of the "Antarctic", an
Otto Nordenskjöld expedition in 1901-1903
to the same area.
3. Founder of the whaling station at Grytviken in 1904.
4. Leader of the
"Rosshavet" expeditions in 1923 and 1924, which opened up the Ross Sea
for whaling.
Captain Larsen was also instrumental in making "Pelagic Whaling"
possible.
We
can see one of two Tri-Pots or Cauldrons that were used to render the oil from
the seal blubber. Normally two cauldrons would have been joined together and
bricked in to make a cooker. (Note the removable side plates.) One would run
into the other, then into a settling container. The two cauldrons in the exhibit
were found at Cauldron Bay, South Georgia, around 1800.
The
museum houses exhibits from different types of whaling from the Bronze Age to
the present day. There are models of ships and shore
stations, harpoon guns and
the history of their development, a Natural History section with a stuffed animal and bird collection, a
reference library and a large exhibit of the bow of a whale
catcher. A
twenty-five minute video also runs during opening hours.
