Carl Anton Larsen

Carl Anton Larsen ( born August 27, 1860 in Østre jibes, Norway, † December 8, 1924 in the Ross Sea, Antarctica ) was a Norwegian whaler and Antarctic explorer. In 1904 he founded the place Grytviken on South Georgia.

Life

After the school visit, he was just 14 years at sea, and in 1895 was captain of a whaling ship. As captain of the Jason he headed from 1892 to 1894 an expedition to Antarctica. Brought fossils of higher plants proved from the edge of the Antarctic Peninsula that had earlier ruled a warmer climate in Antarctica. Later he was the captain of the Antarctic, with the Swedish Antarctic Expedition under Otto Nordenskiöld 1901-1903 came to Antarctica. The ship was crushed by ice in the Weddell Sea and sank. The team had to spend the winter on the Paulet under the most difficult conditions.

1904, Carl Anton Larsen in Buenos Aires, the first Antarctic whaling company Compañía Argentina de Pesca SA ( German: Argentine fishing company -AG) with Argentine, Norwegian and British capital, operating from Grytviken on South Georgia.

At his instigation a Norwegian Lutheran chapel was erected in 1913 in Grytviken ..

In 1923 he began the first whaling factory ship, the Sir James Clark Ross, in Antarctica. Up to a change in legislation in 1931 a number of foreigners who worked for the company, among others, the German captain Otto Kraul.

Situated on the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula Larsen Ice Shelf was named after him. The German physician and explorer Ludwig Kohl- Larsen (1884-1969) was Carl Anton Larsen son.