Stromness & Grytviken, South Georgia Island
History. We began another full day on South Georgia Island with a peek into Fortuna Bay. Finding conditions not at all to our liking, we continued on to Stromness Bay, a most historic site. It was here that Ernest Henry Shackleton and his two comrades, Tom Crean and Frank Worsley, walked into the whaling station to complete the epic journey that had begun on South Georgia seventeen months earlier.
The last stage of their journey was a 36-hour trek over the mountains and glaciers; they were exhausted, hungry and filthy, many months removed from their last bath. But there was still much to be accomplished. Frank Worsely returned in a whale catcher boat to retrieve the three men waiting at Peggotty Bluff, and Shackleton began to contemplate the rescue of the twenty-two men waiting (if they were still alive) on Elephant Island. It would be a long, long time before he could enjoy an untroubled sleep. We could look or walk up the broad valley at Stromness to the waterfall down which they lowered themselves, one man at a time.
We continued on to the whaling station at Grytviken, now seat of the South Georgia Administration. Here we paid our solemn respects to The Boss. Shackleton died here on January 5, 1922, aboard the Quest, on his final Antarctic journey. He is buried in the whalers' graveyard. His wife Emily was certainly correct when, upon hearing of his death, she wired "Leave him there; that is where he belongs." A replica of the James B. Caird in the South Georgia Museum brought focus to our understanding of the boat journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia. Can we help but wonder how we, ourselves, would have endured?
Seals. We are here as Antarctic fur seals are returning to the beaches of South Georgia for their annual breeding activities. Once there were many. Then, in the late 1700s, sealers arrived on the shores of the island and when they had finished their work there were few. So it remained for many years until, in the 1960's, a population explosion began. Now there are an estimated four million fur seals breeding on South Georgia, and they own the beaches.
Males arrive first to stake their claims and battle over space on prime breeding beaches. When the females arrive to give birth to a single, black pup, the males are waiting. Soon after giving birth the females enter estrous and are receptive to the males' advances. Each breeding bull does all that he can to exclude other males from his bit of the beach, and to keep a harem of females confined there. When a neighbor attempts to intrude, a short but fierce fight ensues, and should a female attempt to leave and enter the territory of another male she is quickly chased back.
Six females seemed to be the magic number for successful bulls. Our photo experts are forever advising us to isolate the subject; male fur seals are attempting to do quite the opposite, to aggregate their subjects, their harem of females, and pity the young pup who comes between a bull fur seal and the object of his aggression or his amorous intent.
