Carl Anton Larsen (7 August 1860 – 8 December 1924)
was a
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
-born
whaler
A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales.
Terminology
The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...
and
Antarctic explorer who made important contributions to the exploration of
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...
, the most significant being the first discovery of
fossils for which he received the Back Grant from the
Royal Geographical Society.
In December 1893 he became the first person to
ski
A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partia ...
in Antarctica on the
Larsen Ice Shelf which was subsequently named after him. In 1904, Larsen re-founded a whaling settlement at
Grytviken on the island of
South Georgia.
In 1910, after some years' residence on South Georgia, he renounced his Norwegian citizenship and took British citizenship. The Norwegian whale factory ship was named after him.
Early life
Carl Anton Larsen was born in Østre Halsen,
Tjolling, the son of
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
sea captain Ole Christian Larsen and his wife Ellen Andrea Larsen (née Thorsen).
His family subsequently relocated to nearby Sandefjord, the home of the Norwegian whaling industry, where at the young age of 9 he went to sea in a small barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...
with his father chasing seals and trading across the North Atlantic with Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
, returning to go to school during the fall and winter. He continued this for a number of years, until his curiosity for the sea was so strong he enrolled himself in navigation school where he passed the exam for foreign-going mate at the age of 18.[ Having been to Britain a few times in the previous years he realized the importance of knowing more languages and taught himself English and ]Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
.
Larsen was eager to get work as an officer on a ship, but due to economic difficulties in Norway at the time, he could not achieve that. This was a setback, but he went to work at sea as a cook, learning the importance food played in keeping men happy.
He finally got a position aboard the barque ''Hoppet'' out of Larvik, as second mate, then first mate
A chief mate (C/M) or chief officer, usually also synonymous with the first mate or first officer, is a licensed mariner and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the shi ...
and senior officer
A senior officer is an officer of a more senior grade in military or other uniformed services. In military organisations, the term may refer to any officer above junior officer rank, but usually specifically refers to the middle-ranking group of ...
below the captain. He was 21 and knew he had to study again so he came ashore and soon became a shipmaster
A sea captain, ship's captain, captain, master, or shipmaster, is a high-grade licensed mariner who holds ultimate command and responsibility of a merchant vessel.Aragon and Messner, 2001, p.3. The captain is responsible for the safe and efficie ...
.
Upon becoming a shipmaster, Larsen needed a ship of his own. This was more than he could afford so instead he bought a share of an old barque called the ''Freden''. It was not smooth sailing for Larsen as the barque ''Freden'' was all but wrecked after his first voyage. He soon got her fixed, only to be faced with another setback: nobody had any freight he could carry. This turned out to be a stroke of luck as he decided to go on his first whaling experience, hunting bottlenose whales just off the coast of Norway. Larsen was a born whaler and soon filled the Freden with whales and went on filling her until 1885 when he realized that he could not use the Svend Foyn gun with little chaser-steamers like the modern whaler
A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales.
Terminology
The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...
s. It was time for a newer ship.
Expeditions to Antarctica
Larsen led an expedition to Antarctica, in command of the ''Jason'', from 1892 through 1894, discovering the Larsen Ice Shelf, the Foyn Coast in Graham Land
Graham Land is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula that lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee an ...
, as well as King Oscar Land, and Robertson Island
Robertson Island is an ice-covered island, long in a northwest-southeast direction and wide, lying at the east end of the Seal Nunataks off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Captain Carl Anton Larsen discovered Robertson Island fr ...
. The ''Jason'' was a ship Larsen was familiar with as he had been aboard it during the voyage that carried Fridtjof Nansen to Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...
during his east–west crossing in 1888.
Later he captained the ship '' Antarctic'', as part of the Swedish Antarctic Expedition
The Swedish Antarctic Expedition of 1901–1903 was a scientific expedition led by Otto Nordenskjöld and Carl Anton Larsen. It was the first Swedish endeavour to Antarctica in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
Background
Otto Nordensk ...
of 1901–04. During this mission some of his crew wintered for 10 months at Snow Hill Island
Snow Hill Island is an almost completely snowcapped island, long and wide, lying off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is separated from James Ross Island to the north-east by Admiralty Sound and from Seymour Island to the north ...
, and after his ship was crushed by ice and sank, he and his crew spent the winter of 1903 on Paulet Island
Paulet Island is a circular island about in diameter, lying south-east of Dundee Island, off the north-eastern end of the Antarctic Peninsula. Because of its large penguin colony, it is a popular destination for sightseeing tours.
Descripti ...
, surviving on penguins and seals before being rescued by the Argentine corvette ARA ''Uruguay''.
Larsen and South Georgia
In 1904, Larsen settled on the British island of South Georgia in the Antarctic, starting a new era of whaling. On Christmas Eve, 1904, he produced the first whale oil of the season in the newly built whaling
Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution.
It was practiced as an organized industr ...
station of Grytviken. With capital from Argentine, Norwegian and British sources, he founded the first Antarctic whaling corporation, the Compañía Argentina de Pesca (Argentine Fishing Company). Within a few years the Antarctic was producing about 70% of the world's whale oil.
Larsen had chosen the whaling station's site during his 1902 visit while in command of the ship ''Antarctic'' of the Swedish Antarctic Expedition
The Swedish Antarctic Expedition of 1901–1903 was a scientific expedition led by Otto Nordenskjöld and Carl Anton Larsen. It was the first Swedish endeavour to Antarctica in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
Background
Otto Nordensk ...
(1901–03) led by Otto Nordenskjöld
Nils Otto Gustaf Nordenskjöld (6 December 1869 – 2 June 1928) was a Finnish and Swedish geologist, geographer, and polar explorer.
Early life
Nordenskjöld was born in Hässleby in Småland in eastern Sweden, in a Finland Swedish family th ...
. Larsen organized the construction of Grytviken ― a remarkable undertaking accomplished by a team of 60 Norwegians. As with other buildings, a church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
was pre-built in Norway and erected in Grytviken. This typical Norwegian-style church was consecrated as a Church of Norway church, on Christmas Day, 1913. In 1922, the funeral service for Sir Ernest Shackleton was conducted in the church before his burial in the church cemetery. Larsen established a meteorological observatory at Grytviken, which from 1905 was maintained in cooperation with the Argentine Meteorological Office under the British lease requirements of the whaling station until these changed in 1949. Larsen was also instrumental, with his brother, in introducing Reindeer to South Georgia in 1911, as a resource for recreational hunting for the people involved in the whaling industry.
Larsen, like other managers and senior officers of the South Georgia whaling stations, lived in Grytviken together with his family including his wife, three daughters and two sons. In 1910, they obtained British citizenship
Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection".
Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
, following an application filed with the British Magistrate
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...
of South Georgia in which Larsen declared: "I have given up my Norwegian citizens rights and have resided here since I started whaling in this colony on 16 November 1904 and have no reason to be of any other citizenship than British, as I have had and intend to have my residence here still for a long time."[Robert K. Headland, ''The Island of South Georgia'', Cambridge University Press, 1984.]
See also
* Larsen Harbour
* Viktor Esbensen
Viktor Esbensen (11 March 1881 – 29 January 1942) was a Norwegian mariner known for exploring the Antarctic region together with his father-in-law Carl Anton Larsen, looking to make a living from whaling. He was killed when his ship was sunk ...
* Carl Julius Evensen
Carl Julius Evensen (3 December 1851 – 3 October 1937) was a Norwegian shipmaster and explorer. Cape Evensen on the northwest coast of Antarctica and Evensen Nunatak, off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, were named in his honor. ...
* Bristol Island
* Montagu Island
Montagu Island ( es, Isla Jorge) is the largest of the South Sandwich Islands, located in the Scotia Sea off the coast of Antarctica. It is a part of the British Overseas Territory, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It is located no ...
* Robertson Island
Robertson Island is an ice-covered island, long in a northwest-southeast direction and wide, lying at the east end of the Seal Nunataks off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Captain Carl Anton Larsen discovered Robertson Island fr ...
* Seymour Island
* Thule Island
Thule Island, also called Morrell Island, is one of the southernmost of the South Sandwich Islands, part of the grouping known as Southern Thule. It is named, on account of its remote location, after the mythical land of Thule, said by ancient ...
* History of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
The history of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is relatively recent. When European explorers discovered the islands, they were uninhabited, and their hostile climate, mountainous terrain, and remoteness made subsequent settlement ...
References
Books
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Footnotes
External links
*
Captain Carl Anton Larsen
* ttp://www.eoearth.org/articleExploration_of_the_Antarctic_in_the_Second_Half_of_the_Nineteenth_Century Exploration of the Antarctic br>Norwegian Antarctic Territory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Larsen, Carl Anton
People from Sandefjord
Norwegian sailors
Explorers of Antarctica
Norwegian polar explorers
Norwegian people in whaling
History of South Georgia
South Orkney Islands
Norwegian emigrants to the United Kingdom
People from Larvik
British Antarctic Territory
1860 births
1924 deaths
Graham Land
Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands people
Sea captains
Whaling in Antarctica
Sportspeople from Vestfold og Telemark