The Southern Whaling and Sealing Company Ltd (SWSC) were a United Kingdom-based

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 ...

and sealing company, originally formed in 1911 by the partnership of Richard Irvin & Sons of

North Shields North Shields () is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wea ...

and the South African-based fishing company Irvin & Johnson. Latterly they were sold to Lever Bros., in 1919 and re-sold to Christian Salvesen Ltd in 1941.

Early days

Richard Irvin & Sons

Richard Irvin was born in North Shields in 1853, entering the fishing trade in 1864 at age 11. He quickly saw the potential growth of

trawl fishing Trawling is a method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch different speci ...

. Richard Irvin & Sons had already established the Shields Engineering Co and, after purchasing Youngs Dock Co., merged them to become Shields Engineering & Dry Dock Co. Latterly they then became involved in the herring drifting fishery around the same time as steam powered drifters began to be used in NE England and Scotland. The East Coast Herring Drifter Co. was set up in 1900 followed soon after by the Shields Ice & Cold Storage Co. Ltd. In 1902, Richard's second eldest son, George Driver Irvin was sent to South Africa to investigate the fishing potential there where George established The African Fishing & Trading Co. in 1903, with offices in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

& North Shields.

Irvin & Johnson

However, the African Fishing & Trading Co. was not profitable and only continued to operate after a merger with another South African fishing company owned by Swedish pioneer Carl Ossian Johnson (1867-1949) in 1909. This merger subsequently lead to the establishment of the firm, Irvin & Johnson in Dec 1910.

Foundation

In July 1911 Richard Irvin & Sons were granted a licence to engage in whaling from

Prince Olav Harbour Prince Olav Harbour is a small harbour in the south west portion of Cook Bay, entered between Point Abrahamsen and Sheep Point, along the north coast of South Georgia. Background Throughout the 19th century, South Georgia was a sealers' base ...

South Georgia 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 in partnership with Irvin & Johnson, formed a new company, The Southern Whaling & Sealing Company Ltd (SWSC). George Driver Irvin was made Managing Director. During 1911 they bought ''Sound of Jura'', to be used as a cargo transporter, and also purchased a second hand ship, the ''Restitution''. The shipbuilding firm of Smith's Dock Co.,

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

were commissioned to construct two steel 92 ft. diesel-powered whale catchers as well as fit a diesel auxiliary in ''Sound of Jura''. However, the diesel engine proved to be unreliable and felt to be too noisy in scaring off the whales, so was replaced by a steam engine. As well as having a whaling lease at

, South Georgia, SWSC established a station at

Port Alexander Port Alexander (Tlingit language, Lingít: ''Shee Yat’aḵ.aan'') is a city at the southeastern corner of Baranof Island in Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census the population w ...

in Angola. They also undertook some sealing expeditions to Marion & Prince Edward Islands from Cape Town, but these proved unsustainable. The 1916–17 season failed to produce any whale oil and saw the commencement of the construction of the shore station at

. SWSC worked in co-operation with Salvesen's at

Leith Harbour Leith Harbour (), also known as Port Leith, was a whaling station on the northeast coast of South Georgia, established and operated by Christian Salvesen Ltd, Edinburgh. The station was in operation from 1909 until 1965. It was the largest ...

in 1915–17 to produce as much blubber oil as possible for the war effort in Europe.

Lever Brothers ownership

In 1919 SWSC was sold to

Lever Brothers Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and successfully promoted a new soap-making p ...

. Lever Bros. developed and modernized the

and operated it until it was closed in 1931. Lever Bros., who later became

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

, sold the company to Christian Salvesen Ltd in 1941 when they moved out of the whaling business. This increased Salvesen's fleet by two factory ships and 15 catchers.

Fleet

Whaling stations in South Georgia

The first whaling enterprise on

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 on 16 November 1904 by a Norwegian,

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

. Larsen was manager of

Compañía Argentina de Pesca Compañía Argentina de Pesca ( en, Argentine Fishing Company) was initiated by the British-Norwegian whaler and Antarctic explorer Carl A. Larsen, and established on 29 February 1904 by three foreign residents of Buenos Aires: the Norwegian co ...

and became a

naturalised British citizen British nationality law prescribes the conditions under which a person is recognised as being a national of the United Kingdom. The six different classes of British nationality each have varying degrees of civil and political rights, due to the ...

. His company was relatively successful in its early years of operation and huge interest in obtaining whaling licences followed. The British Government then imposed restrictions on their issue and conditions to ensure that the complete whale was to be processed rather than just the blubber, to try to sustain the industry. By 1912, seven whaling stations had been established and South Georgia became known as the southern capital of whaling. Two other whaling leases were granted, to

Rosita Harbour The Bay of Isles is a bay wide and receding , lying between Cape Buller and Cape Wilson along the north coast of South Georgia. It was discovered in 1775 by a British expedition under James Cook and so named by him because numerous islands ...

and

Jason Harbour Jason Harbour is a bay wide, lying west of Allen Bay in the north side of Cumberland West Bay, South Georgia. It was charted and named by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, under Otto Nordenskiöld. The bay was previously visited by the ...

but they were never used as whaling sites, and were only used for refuge by the ships. The shore-based whaling industry on South Georgia declined due to the scarcity of whales around the island and with the rise in pelagic whaling using factory ships. South Georgia then became used for repair, maintenance and storage.

References

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External links

SV Sound of Jura
Clyde Built Ships

first hand accounts of her early voyages

Master of ''Southern King'' {{whaling Whaling firms Defunct shipping companies of the United Kingdom 1911 establishments in England British companies established in 1911 Transport companies established in 1911 Sealers