Food and drink

The majority of food on the island and on the ships was imported. It was mostly delivered tinned or dried and it was up to those in the galley (kitchen) to create something nutritious for the whalers. Restocks happened fairly often, when ships were coming down, they would take extra supplies with them.

Some things, like potatoes, would run out but with bakers on the island there was always plenty of bread. Fresh ‘fancies’ – cakes and such – were remembered fondly and would have been Danish pastries, cakes and doughnuts. These stocks were also supplemented with locally caught fish, penguin and albatross eggs. Once an early whaler even convinced some others to eat tussock grass roots and leaves!

Pasturing of animals was attempted, such as sheep, goats and cattle. A small island in Stromness Bay was known as mutton island because of the sheep put to pasture there. These animals could not survive the long, snowy winters and new animals would have to be brought down every year.

Pigs were very important, and one of the streets leading to their stye was named ‘Pig Street’ in Leith Harbour. The pigs were butchered regularly and provided fresh stocks of pork for those living on the whaling stations.

Reindeer released on the island managed to survive better – but were bred to be considerably smaller than their parent stocks. Whalers had to be given permission from the Falkland Islands Government to shoot these – but licences were often granted. The Reindeers survived in South Georgia until well after the whaling had come to a close. In the mid-2010s they were culled during a project by the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in order to eradicate non-native species. The reindeer were trampling native grasses and ground nesting birds’ eggs.

Whale meat was occasionally eaten by the whalers. When cured properly and hung out for the correct amount of time, it made a nice steak. Most of the whalers had no problem eating it, finding it not to have too strong a taste.