Voyage of the Scotia 1902-04

The Antarctic

Five men around open mouth of beached whale at whaling station

Although the results of the Dundee Antarctic Expedition of 1892-93 inevitably led to the conclusion that whaling in the Antarctic seas was not then a viable economic proposition, improvements in equipment did eventually lead to the development of a briefly thriving industry in that region.

Scottish interest revived, but switched from Dundee to Leith, where three companies were involved: the New Whaling Co. (1908), the South Georgia Co. Ltd. (1909), and Christian Salvesen & Co. (1911).

The photograph shows five men around the open mouth of a finner whale (Balaenoptera musculus) at an unspecified whaling station, where it would eventually be cut up to remove the commercially valuable parts.