Petter Sørlle (February 16, 1884 – May 29, 1933) was a Norwegian
whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...
captain and inventor.
Biography
Petter Martin Mattias Koch Sørlle was born at Tune (now
Sarpsborg
Sarpsborg ( or ), historically Borg, is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Sarpsborg.
Sarpsbor ...
) in
Østfold
Østfold () is a county in Eastern Norway, which from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023 was part of Viken. Østfold borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other ...
, Norway. Both his father and grandfather had been sailors. He was engaged in whaling from
Vestfold
Vestfold () is a county and a current electoral district in Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the larg ...
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 (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
whaling near the
South Georgia Island
South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. ...
and
South Orkney Islands
The South Orkney Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands, islands in the Southern Ocean, about north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsulawhaling ships
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, Jap ...
, 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 sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...
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 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...
by the whaling company Globus of
Larvik
Larvik () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Larvik (town) ...
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 (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole.
The Antar ...
During his running surveys, Sørlle named a number of features in the
South Orkney Islands
The South Orkney Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands, islands in the Southern Ocean, about north-east of the tip of the Antarctic PeninsulaGerd Island
*
Signy Island
Signy Island is a small subantarctic island in the South Orkney Islands of Antarctica. It was named by the Norway, Norwegian whaling, whaler Petter Sørlle (1884–1933) after his wife, Signy Therese.
The island is about long and wide and ri ...
*Næss, Øyvind (1951) ''Hvalfangerselskapet Globus A/S 1925–1950 : et kapitel av den moderne hvalfangsts historie'' (Larvik: Hvalfangerselskapet Globus)
*