Prince Olav Harbour

Prince Olav Harbouris a small harbour in the south west portion ofCook Bay,entered between Point Abrahamsen and Sheep Point, along the north coast ofSouth Georgia.

Location of Prince Olav Harbour

Background

Throughout the 19th century, South Georgia was asealers' baseand, in the following century, became awhalers' base.Prince Olav Harbour is the site of one of the seven main whaling bases established on South Georgia. Prince Olav Harbour was the location of a formerNorwegianwhaling station operational dating from 1911.

History

The whaling station was initially afloating factorysite, a shore station being set up in 1916. The whaling station continued as a shore station until March 1931 and then was closed. The name was in use as early as 1912 and was given by Norwegian whalers forOlav V of Norway.

The wreck of the shipBrutusremains, semi-submerged, where she was deliberately beached to serve as acoaling station.The ship was built inGlasgowin 1883 as theSierra Pedrosa,and measured 1,686gross registered tons.After serving as a coal hulk atCape Town,she was towed to South Georgia in about 1912.Brutus Islandin the harbour is named after it.

Named locations

Several locations in and around Prince Olav Harbour have been charted and named by various Antarctic survey and exploration groups, primarily byDiscovery Investigations(DI) personnel in their 1929–30 expedition. Unless noted otherwise, the following locations were first named by DI personnel.

Point Abrahamsen separates Prince Olav Harbour from Lighthouse Bay on the north side of Prince Olav Harbour. It was probably named forCaptain Abrahamsen,manager of the whaling station at Prince Olav Harbour at that time.Southwest of it sits Razor Point, first named on a 1938British Admiraltychart.Fine Point and Sheer Point are found close by.

Dinghy Point sits on the south side of the harbor.Dinghy Point was originally called "Pram Point", but was renamed Dinghy Point by theUK Antarctic Place-Names Committeein 1991 to avoid duplication withPram PointatLeith HarbourinStromness Bay.To the east is the descriptively-named East Bay, 0.5 nmi (0.93 km) mile wide. It was named by theShackleton–Rowett Expedition,a British expedition underErnest Shackleton,which visited South Georgia in 1921–22.Squire Point lies at the north side of the entrance to East Bay. The name appears on a 1938 British Admiralty chart.

Sheep Point marks the south entrance to the harbour, separating it fromCook Bay.

Hay Peaksits at the head of the bay.Near the center of the harbour sitsBrutus Island.

See also

• History of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

References

This article incorporatespublic domain materialfrom websites or documents of theUnited States Geological Survey.

External links

• Plan of the Prince Olav Harbour whaling station
• Abandoned Whaling Station
• Prince Olav Harbour - South Georgia
• Prince Olav Harbour Whaling station