Soon after Cook landed, British and American sealing ships came to the island to exploit the large number of fur seals present on South Georgia. Within 50 years seal populations were over exploited making sealing uneconomical.  The large number of whales around South Georgia also led to a rapid increase in whaling around the island. The first land-based whaling station was established at Grytviken within Cumberland Bay on the north east side of the island in 1904. A total of six whaling stations were operating on the island soon after. All these sites were abandoned by the 1960’s as whale stocks declined and large–factory whaling ships became more efficient than land based stations.

Grytviken Whaling Station

Today we sailed to the abandoned whaling station at Grytviken. It is located  within a small cove called King Edward Cove within the larger Cumberland Bay. In addition to being the oldest land-based whaling station it is also famous for having the great Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton buried in its small cemetery. Shackleton died here of a heart-attack while preparing for his last Antarctic expedition in 1922.

Shackleton’s Grave

 This cove is also home to a British research station at King Edward Point. Tom and I had a chance to visit the station and meet with some of our colleagues. Together, we all hiked over to nearby Maiviken Cove where we installed a time-lapse camera on a breeding colony of Gentoo penguins. We also sampled body feathers and tail feathers from 20 breeding adults at this colony. Penguin body feathers are grown at the end of the breeding season and tail feathers are grown slowly during the early winter months. By analyzing the stable isotope composition of these feathers we can estimate the winter diets of Gentoo penguins at this site. We are collecting similar feather samples from all over the Southern Ocean to determine how the winter diets of Gentoo penguin differ across regions. We hope to determine how flexible the diet of this species is at both the individual and population levels to help inform us on why it is the one species in the Antarctic Peninsula that is benefiting from recent climatic warming and changes in food availability. 

Gentoo Penguin

We are leaving South Georgia soon… Next stop: Antarctica!