South Georgia Museum
Encyclopedia
Grytviken
Grytviken is the principal settlement in the British territory of South Georgia in the South Atlantic. It was so named in 1902 by the Swedish surveyor Johan Gunnar Andersson who found old English try pots used to render seal oil at the site. It is the best harbour on the island, consisting of a...
, the administrative centre of the UK overseas territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands, known as the South Sandwich...
.
The museum occupies the renovated and converted Manager's Villa built in 1916, and used as a residence for the manager of the Grytviken
Grytviken
Grytviken is the principal settlement in the British territory of South Georgia in the South Atlantic. It was so named in 1902 by the Swedish surveyor Johan Gunnar Andersson who found old English try pots used to render seal oil at the site. It is the best harbour on the island, consisting of a...
whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
base and his family, until the base closed in 1964. The South Georgia Museum was established in 1992 as a specialised whaling museum, subsequently expanding its expositions to include all aspects of the discovery of the island, sealing industry
Seal hunting
Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. The hunt is currently practiced in five countries: Canada, where most of the world's seal hunting takes place, Namibia, the Danish region of Greenland, Norway and Russia...
, maritime and natural history, as well as the 1982 Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
.
The museum has become a popular tourist venue, visited by cruise ship
Cruise ship
A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...
or yacht
Yacht
A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...
tourists. For several years Tim and Pauline Carr served as museum curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
s, living on board their yacht Curlew moored in the Grytviken port.
The Museum displays include a bronze bust of Duncan Carse
Duncan Carse
Duncan Carse was born in 1913 and attended Sherborne School. A British actor and explorer, he died on 2 May 2004, aged 90. He had lived in Fittleworth, West Sussex, for over 40 years. His father was the artist A...
by British sculptor Jon Edgar
Jon Edgar
Jon Edgar is a British artist born in Rustington, West Sussex in 1968, the grandson of British cartoonist Brian White. He direct-carves in wood and stone using methods of improvisation, and works in clay.-Biography:...
. Carse was influential in the mapping of South Georgia and the island's Mount Carse
Mount Carse
Mount Carse is a mountain having several peaks, the highest , standing north of the head of Drygalski Fjord in the south part of the Salvesen Range of South Georgia. Surveyed by the South Georgia Survey between 1951 and 1957 and named for V. Duncan Carse, leader of the four SGS expeditions during...
is named after him. The collection of the museum can be viewed online.