6 Whaling Season 1929/1930/1931


Letter from Olav Reppesgård, who works at Prince Olav Harbor station, sent from Gryteviken 8-NO-30 to his wife in Sandefjord, arriving 10-XII-30. 


Shipped from Prince Olavs Havn, postmarked at Gryteviken post office.



Letter, sent by Arnt Olaf Westby, from Stromness station, postmarked at the post office at Gryteviken 13-OC-1930. He sent the letter to his wife Julie Westby Myrvoll in Sandefjord, arrival 10-XI-1930.

Back of letter sent, from Stromness station, this was his eighth letter to his family. H/B Castberg was the whale catcher on which he was an engineer.





DS"Chr. Castberg" was a steel whaler built in 1929 by Smith's Dock Co. Ltd. in Middlesbrough, England, for Hvalfanger A/S Sandefjord. The ship was named after whaling pioneer Christopher Castberg. The boat was handed over to Vestfold in 1934 Whaling Company Ltd and was named "Vestfold II" It continued whaling until 1941 when it was leased to the Royal Navy for use in minesweeping.



Letter sent to Anders B. Stensholt, ho was working on the whale factory ship “S/S Solglimt”.  Postmarked Steinsholt 3.III.1930 en sent via Larvik, same day, with a transport ship to Durban South Africa. Where the Solglimt would arrive when returning from the whaling ground. Rate for one letter to foreign countries (by ship) was 30 øre between 1-1-1927 and 9-30-1946.


S/S Potsdam was an ocean liner built in 1900 by the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany for the Holland America Line (HAL) for transatlantic service from Rotterdam to New York. 

In 1928 she was sold to Hvalfangerselskap A/S Atlas, Larvik,  and converted to the whale factory ship S/S Solglimt. (2)






Letter sent Oslo 21-1-1931 to secretary Leif Foght, employed by the Argentine de Pesca company at Grytviken South Georgia. The letter was sent at the time a transport ship / tanker was about to leave Norway and directly to sail to Gryteviken South Georgia. Rate for a letter abroad (per ship) was 30 øre between 1/1/1927 and 9/30/1946.

Gryteviken,  Stamp booklet, issued 2000, by Sandefjord Filatelistklubb in collaboration with the Whale Museum in Sandefjord.


Percel mail sent from  Larvik 14.1.1931, via Whale factory / tanker “Radioléine”, to Whale factory ship “Tafelberg”. Tanker Radioleine was in Rotterdam, probably taking in fuel oil for Tafelberg and waiting for post from Norway. Transit stamp cancellation Oslo 15.1.31 ( office for parcel post abroad, forwarding by ship). Radioleine would meet Tafelberg on the whaling ground about 15 February. Tafelberg probably captured whales in Antarctic waters south and south-east of the Republic of South Africa. The sender seems to be Olga Christiansen, probably the wife of Christian Christiansen, ho was working on whale factory ship Tavelberg. The weight of the package was 1,2 kg for which Mrs. Christiansen paid 268 øre. The postage was 268 øre for a parcel between 1 and 5 kilos, sent directly by boat from Norway to the Netherlands. The rate applied in period 1 February 1927 to 15 December 1932. 

A notice in the newspaper Sandefjord Blad 10 January 1931. It mentions the possibility of sending mail to Tafelberg.

Whale factory / tanker “Radioléine”. Built 1912 Chantiers de Normandie, Marseiles France. Chartered 1922 by Irvan and Johnson Ltd, Cape Town, to collect seal oil from Kergeulen Islands and whale oil stocks from various stations at South Africa. Sold in 1924 at the same Company Irvan & Johanson Ltd. 1928, converted to a whale factory ship, and in 1932 Re-converted to a tanker. 1935, broken up ind Frederikstad.


Whale factory ship Tafelberg, a 13,640 ton steamship built by Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. in Newcastle for the Kerguelen Sealing and Whaling Co. Ltd in South Africa. She was launched on the 29th April 1930, and was at the time the largest floating factory ship in the world and the largest ship ever to have flown under the South African flag.  On 28 Jan 1941, the Tafelberg was damaged by a mine in 51°21N/03°16W and beached at Porthkerry. After about a year the ship was refloated and taken to Whitmore Bay. Rebuilt as steam tanker Empire Heritage by Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and returned to service in February 1943.







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