16 Whaling Season 1957/1958/1959

This letter from Randi Aas, sent for her husband Leif K. Aas, who was employed on the whale catcher "Sorsa" based at Leith Harbor. Shipped from Klopp I Vestvold 15.3.1958 to Montevideo Uruguay. The British supply ship "Darwin" was in Montevideo to collect fuel oil and mail for Port Stanly and South Georgia.

Postal rate for abroad from 1-1 -1956 till 1-4 -1959 was 65 øre.  Airmail rate, for Central and South America between 1-8-1953 and 1-7-1971 was 50 øre per 5 grams. But for unexplained reasons the airmail rate has not been calculated.

Leith Harbour also known as Port Leith, was a whaling station on the northeast coast of South Georgia, established and operated by Christian Salvesen Ltd, Edinburgh. The station was in operation from 1909 until 1965. It was the largest of seven whaling stations, situated near the mouth of Stromness Bay. her husband Leif K. Aas, who was employed on the whale catcher "Sorsa" based at Leith Harbor. Shipped from Klopp I Vestvold 15.3.1958 to Montevideo Uruguay. The British supply ship "Darwin" was in Montevideo to collect fuel oil and mail for Port Stanly and South Georgia.

 Leith Harbour



Steamer “Darwin” built by Goole Shipbuilding & Repairing CO Ltd. for Falklands Islands Trading Co Ltd. Port Stanly.



Letter sent to Swen Hansen, working on Husvik Harbour. Postmarked Frederikstad 14.01.1959 and sent to London. The transport ship, “Calpean Star” however, was unable to deliver the post due to energine trouble. Post was returned to Norway. RETURN and boxed return cancel was applied in Norway. Postal rate for abroad from 1-1 -1956 till 1-4 -1959 was 65 øre. 

The Highland Chieftain was built in 1929 by Harland and Wolf of Belfast, and made her maiden voyage on the London to River Plate service, on the 21st of February and later transferred to Royal Mail in 1932. After the war she did not resume her commercial operations until 1948 on the River Plate service, and was sold out of the fleet in January of 1959 to the Calpe Shipping Company of Gibraltar and converted for use in the whaling industry, as a store, accommodation and frozen whale meat transporter, and renamed “Calpean Star”,  On June 1st, 1960, on voyage from Husvik Harbour to United Kingdom with blubber and whale byproducts, was wrecked while on tow at the entrance of Montevideo harbour. 



Kolbjørn Karlsen: was an engineer aboard whalers. And the whaler he worked on in the 1958/59 to 1960/61 seasons was Southern Soldier, a fighter for factory ship Southern Harvester of a Chr. Salvesen & Co subsidiary The South Georgia Co. Ltd. This is one of many letters (15th) he sent to his family in Skjeberg Norway. This letter, canceled in Gryteviken 20 OC 1960, franked with 2 x 1 shillings. (weight + 5g) SG 69.





Whale catcher Southern Soldier
Built in 1946 as SOUTHERN SOLDIER by Smith's Dock Co. Ltd., South Bank, Middlesbrough, England for South Georgia Co Ltd. (Chr. Salvesen & Co.), Leith. Working for whaling factory SOUTHERN HARVESTER as a whaler. 


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