Petter Sørlle (February 16, 1884 – May 29, 1933) 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 ...

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 industry ...

captain and inventor.

Biography

Petter Martin Mattias Koch Sørlle was born at Tune (now

Sarpsborg Sarpsborg ( or ), historically Borg, is a city and municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Sarpsborg. Sarpsborg is part of the fifth largest urban area in Norway when paired with neigh ...

) in

Østfold Østfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in southeastern Norway. It borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other side o ...

, Norway. Both his father and grandfather had been sailors. He was engaged in whaling from

Vestfold Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered th ...

and later participated in

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 contine ...

whaling near the

South Georgia Island South Georgia ( es, Isla San Pedro) is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east� ...

and

South Orkney Islands The South Orkney Islands are a group of islands in the Southern Ocean, about north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula whaling ship 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 which he

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

ed in 1922. His invention was a device by which the whale could be fully drawn to the ship. The pickup slip was first used in the

Antarctic Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

by the whaling company Globus of

Larvik Larvik () is a List of cities in Norway, town and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold in Vestfold og Telemark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Larvik. The municipality ...

on board the ''FLK Lancing'' during the season 1925–26. Sørlle was the first manager of the United Whalers whaling shore station at Stromness, South Georgia. He carried out surveys and is commemorated by several place names in

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

waters. Sørlle Buttress, the

Sørlle Rocks Sørlle Rocks () is a group of rocks, the highest high, lying west of Moreton Point, the west extremity of Coronation Island in the South Orkney Islands. It was named ''Tre Sten'' ("three stones") on Captain Petter Sørlle Petter Sørlle (Febr ...

and Cape Sørlle are all Antarctic features named after him.

List of features named by Sørlle

During his running surveys, Sørlle named a number of features in the

South Orkney Islands The South Orkney Islands are a group of islands in the Southern Ocean, about north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula Gerd Island Gerd Island. Gerd Island () is an island west-southwest of Stene Point at the east side of the entrance to Norway Bight, off the south coast of Coronation Island in the South Orkney Islands. It was charted and named by Norwegian whaling captain ...

Signy Island Signy Island is a small subantarctic island in the South Orkney Islands of Antarctica. It was named by the Norwegian whaler Petter Sørlle (1884–1933) after his wife, Signy Therese. The island is about long and wide and rises to above se ...

Reid Island Reid Island () is an island of the South Atlantic Ocean at the east side of the entrance to Iceberg Bay, along the south coast of Coronation Island in the South Orkney Islands. The name "Reidholmen" appears in this location for a small group of ...

References

Other sources

*Næss, Øyvind (1951) ''Hvalfangerselskapet Globus A/S 1925–1950 : et kapitel av den moderne hvalfangsts historie'' (Larvik: Hvalfangerselskapet Globus) *

External links

Kaptein Petter Sørlle
1884 births 1922 deaths People from Østfold Norwegian people in whaling 20th-century Norwegian inventors Norwegian polar explorers History of South Georgia History of Antarctica {{Norway-business-bio-stub

Biography

List of features named by Sørlle

See also

References

Other sources

External links