Features / Sooth Georgia – explorashun ti exploitashun (pairt 1)
Dis is pairt o a series o tree peecis o writeens aboot Sooth Georgia. Sooth Georgia sits oot bi himsel eight-hundir mile fae da Falklands an ower a thoosan mile fae Antarctica. Da island is famed fir its connecshun til explorers an da amazin wildlife tae be fun dere.
Fir maist Shetlanders, da connecshun til Sooth Georgia is trow da industrial whaleen. Earlier in da simmer South Georgia Heritage Trust launched da Whalers’ Memory Bank. Dis first piece by Helen Balfour spiks aboot Sooth Georgia’s history, an how it güd fae bein explored ti da centre o da Suddern Ocean whaleen.
Twa hundir an fifty year fae syne, Captain Cook clappit his een apø Sooth Georgia. Bi dis time he wis tinkin lang fir hem, fir he wis apø his ship fir twa year.
He wis lookin oot fir da lost suddern laand he towt tae be dere; Terra Australis. He wis shure it wis tae be fun, whin da ice klined banks o Sooth Georgia cam inti view.
Tinkin dis wis da graet suddern continent he wis lookin fir, de wir a lok o excitement aboard. Insteed he fan da eige o da isle. His vexation wi finin dis is brally apairent in da plaess neems geen, Cape Disappointment bein een o dem!
His impreshuns claerly wirna gret, writin at he towt da sun wid nivver glint apø da laand. Claimin hit wis truly a Gudless plaess, an at naebody wid ivver ventir fardir sooth as he wis. Hoosumiver, he clemed da laand fir King George III.
Whin Cook’s expedishun cam hem, wird spread o mirds o selkies, birds an den whals at wis tae be fun dere. Fokk haerd o da natiral gloit at wis tae be hed in da Suddern Ocean. Leadin, of coorse, tidda near extinshun o mony o da mammals idda suddern hemisphere.
At da sam time idda Nordern Hemisphere, fokk in Shetland widda bøn flensin whals fir dir oil tae burn i’dir lamps. Mair as dis, Shetland fokk wis inveigled wi da whalers at güd up tidda Arctic tø. Dis wis a dangerus industry bein blattered aboot idda caald Arctic Sea. Wi nae muckle sheltir ower dir heids an onnly a hand-held harpoon fir bellin at da whals, hit widda bün herd wark.
Eventwally, a Norwegian man caad Svend Foyn hed da foresicht tae mak an exploding harpoon. He tocht aboot how da latist maritime advances cüd be øsed tae big a boat tae geen fastir as ivver afore. Dis maed it possible tae catch muckle whals at wis bigger, faster an hed mair spik.
Dis advances an da drap in whal numbers idda Nordern hemisphere, fae hundris o years o whalin dere, maent at da attenshun wis turned sudderly. Wi da yarns at cam fae explorers afore, Captain Carl Anton Larsen (anidder Norwegian), güd tidda Suddern Ocean wi dis in mind. Whin he fan apø Sooth Georgia, him an his expedition crew on Antarctic, wis amazed wi da quantity o whals tae be fun.
In 1904, da first whalin stashun wis set up bi Larsen eftir raisin funds in Argentina, an in dir first season in Sooth Georgia dey catched 183 whals. Dis peerie mootie stashun gaed wye til idder fokk settin up dir ain tae profit fae da number o whals idda plaess.
Shün enoch de wir 7 aa ower da island. Gittin bigger an bigger until de wir a peak idda early 1930s. Some ran till da middle o da 1960s. Ower da sixty year o whaleen in Sooth Georgia, men fae Shetland an da nordern hemisphere cam tae wirk in dir hundirs.
Wi ower 175,250 whals killed in Sooth Georgia in dat time, it shaad how weel Svend Foyn’s invenshuns did dir job. Da industry nearly led tidda demise o whals idda Sudern Ocean.
Scientists an whalers alik wis realisin at if dey didna stop – de wid be whals nae mair. Economics mixed wi dis realisashun endit da industry idda 1960s. Da Moratorium introduced bi da International Whaling Commission finally pat a end til aa commercial whaleen in 1986.
Read da nixt piece idda series tae fin oot whit life wis lik fir someen wirkin dere an whit maed fokk laeve Shetland tae wirk in such a herd industry.
An fin oot more at https://whalersmemorybank.sgmuseum.gs/
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