Larsen Harbour ( es, Bahía Larsen) is a narrow long inlet of indenting volcanic rocks and sheeted dykes known as the Larsen Harbour Formation. It is a branch of

Drygalski Fjord Drygalski Fjord is a bay wide which recedes northwestwards , entered immediately north of Nattriss Head along the southeast coast of South Georgia. It was charted by the Second German Antarctic Expedition, 1911–12, under Wilhelm Filchner, an ...

, entered west-northwest of

Nattriss Head Drygalski Fjord is a bay wide which recedes northwestwards , entered immediately north of Nattriss Head along the southeast coast of South Georgia. It was charted by the Second German Antarctic Expedition, 1911–12, under Wilhelm Filchner, an ...

, at the southeast end of

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� ...

. It was charted by the

Second German Antarctic Expedition The Second German Antarctic Expedition of 1911–1913 was led by Wilhelm Filchner in the exploration ship . Its principal objective was to determine whether the Antarctic continent comprised a single landmass rather than separated elements, and ...

, 1911–12, under

Filchner Wilhelm Filchner (13 September 1877 – 7 May 1957) was a German army officer, scientist and explorer. He conducted several surveys and scientific investigations in China, Tibet and surrounding regions, and led the Second German Antarctic Expeditio ...

, who named it for Captain

Carl Anton Larsen Carl Anton Larsen (7 August 1860 – 8 December 1924) was a Norwegian-born whaler and Antarctic explorer who made important contributions to the exploration of Antarctica, the most significant being the first discovery of fossils for which ...

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 ...

explorer, who made significant 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 of these was the first discovery of fossils on the continent, for which he received the Back Grant from the Royal Geographical Society. Larsen is also considered the founder of the Antarctic

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 ...

industry and the settlement and whaling station of

Grytviken Grytviken ( ) is a settlement on South Georgia in the South Atlantic and formerly a whaling station and the largest settlement on the island. It is located at the head of King Edward Cove within the larger Cumberland East Bay, considered the b ...

, South Georgia. The peaks and mountain crests surrounding the almost land-locked harbour was described by Sir Ernest Shackleton's photographer Frank Hurley as "most beautiful and exceeding all in grandeur even that of

Milford Sound Milford Sound / Piopiotahi is a fiord in the south west of New Zealand's South Island within Fiordland National Park, Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) Marine Reserve, and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site. It has been judged the world's top t ...

". The Niall Rankin expedition aboard the ''Albatross'', spent some time here as they studied the

Weddell seal The Weddell seal (''Leptonychotes weddellii'') is a relatively large and abundant true seal with a circumpolar distribution surrounding Antarctica. The Weddell seal was discovered and named in the 1820s during expeditions led by British seali ...

colony before going on to

Esbensen Bay Esbensen Bay is a small bay southwest of Nattriss Head, along the southeast end of South Georgia. It was charted by the Second German Antarctic Expedition, 1911–12, under Filchner, and was named for Captain Viktor Esbensen, manager of the Comp ...

. The area is rat-free, allowing species such as the South Georgia pipit, and burrowing

petrel Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the bird order Procellariiformes. Description The common name does not indicate relationship beyond that point, as "petrels" occur in three of the four families within that group (all except the albatross f ...

s and

prions Prions are misfolded proteins that have the ability to transmit their misfolded shape onto normal variants of the same protein. They characterize several fatal and transmissible neurodegenerative diseases in humans and many other animals. It i ...

to thrive. Mountains descend steeply into the sea here, and various glaciers calve into the sea.

Named locations

Hash Island lies in the entrance of the harbor. It was roughly surveyed by the German Antarctic Expedition of 1911–12, and probably named by

Discovery Investigations The Discovery Investigations were a series of scientific cruises and shore-based investigations into the biology of whales in the Southern Ocean. They were funded by the British Colonial Office and organised by the Discovery Committee in London, ...

personnel who re-surveyed it in 1927. Williams Cove is a small

cove A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are o ...

in the north side of Larsen Harbor. The south point of its entrance is called Scoresby Point. Both names were first used on a 1929 British Admiralty chart. Mount Clara and Mount Normann are found inland to the south of Larsen Harbour and Bonner Beach is on the south shore of the harbour.

Named locations

References

Further reading