Sealing

It was Captain Cook's reports that brought British sealers from South America in 1788 and others from the US followed in 1791. A period of intense slaughter followed. Secrecy of early sealing activities and new discoveries was paramount due to intense competition, thus the full extent of sealing activities may never be known. In 1800, Captain Fanning in Aspasia from New York recorded taking 57,000 fur seal skins, probably the largest haul from the island. The sealing frenzy peaked around this time. Fur seals were clubbed or lanced to death and then skinned. Skins were washed in salt water, salted before being packed into barrels for shipping to Europe, North America and China. The English took their pelts to the London fur market. The Americans supplied the Chinese market where hair was removed and turned into felt for winter clothing and the skins were tanned. Antarctic fur seals were hunted to virtual extinction and sealing became uneconomic. In 1825, James Weddell, then a sealer, estimated 1,200,000 fur seal pelts had been taken.

Elephant seals were taken for their oil, but only profitably extracted where large number of seals could be found. This fact helped to ensure elephant seals could sustain their population at lower levels. A landing party would set up large cast iron try pots (about 400 litres) on a suitable beach. Seals were slaughter and stripped of their blubber. "Shallops", boats up to 30 tonnes would transport the blubber from the blood soaked beaches to the "try works" fueled by blubber either ashore or on ship. The blubber was boiled down and then the resulting oil stored in casks. It was sold for the price of whale oil. A few sealers stayed over winter in caves and boulder huts roofed with sailcloth. Some pots remain intact today on South Georgia's beaches. Other remains of sealing activities can also be found in caves and on some beaches.

From 1908 to mid 1960s (when whaling & sealing ceased) British legislation came into force to protect all breeding grounds of the Antarctic fur seal in the South Atlantic Ocean. This legislation enabled fur seal populations to recover. Licence's, for hunting the bull southern elephant seals, were issued for one of four divisions on South Georgia (rotated annually) (10% were to be left on a beach) between specific dates to a fixed quota (annual maximum of 6,000 seals taken). A Government sealing inspector required detail on teeth (to identify age) and catch statistics to be filed thus allowing conservation to be achieved through scientific management and for the industry to remain stable. It is perhaps the only such industry that did preserve a more or less stable population of a harvested species.

The whale catchers Petrel, Albatross & Dias still at Grytviken were converted for sealing. The experienced crews gained the reputation of being able to navigate into almost any bay on the island. Seals were flensed within 2 to 3 minutes of death and their blubber only used to produce high quality oil. In the 1955 - 56 season 2,011 tones of oil was produced from 6,000 seals. In 2003/2004 summer season all three vessels were cleaned of their heavy oils, sealed and stabilised part on the beach at Grytviken.