Nature conquers humans: industrial heritage molested by animals

Leith Harbour on the subantarctic island of South Georgia was a centre of the whaling industry until 1965. Thousands of whales were butchered and made into oil by the men working here in harsh conditions. The buildings are still there, but are now inhabited by fur seals, penguins and elephant seals.

One of the features in the video is the pile of scrap metal made by an Argentinian in 1982. By planting the argentinian flag while working here he and his men claimed the island for their country. It was the beginning of the monthlong occupation of the island by thee Argentinians during the Falkland-war.

Now, all that remains are memories of the men that lived here, and the smell of farting elephant seals.

South Georgia is a near uninhabited island in the south Atlantic ocean, home to millions of seals and birds. The only human population is a small group of scientists from the British Antarctic Survey.

We visited the island with a private yacht and stayed for 1,5 months to sail all along the northern coast.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• wildlife

[mcvdds]

One amazing thing I did find was graffiti by the Argentinians that took the island March 1982. They wrote the following on a wall (I have the pics to prove it): "21-3-83 Hemos vuelta a la casa con una gran alegria". (Loosely translated as: "We are coming home with great pleasure").

Next to it was a list of names of crew and officers of the UK warship HMS .... that retook the island. They dated their list to about 3 months after the Argentinians.

[mcvdds]

There are numerous buildings. Most are barracks for sleeping and workshops for the machines. I have been in several of the buildings, but have found nothing like a cinema or library. But the place is quite big, some buildings did not survive the years and I wasn't looking for them.

[dankwarth]

Leith Harbour boasted a hospital, a library and a cinema. Have you seen it?