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GrytvikenGrytviken (Norwegian: "Pot Bay", after the pots used to render seal oil) is the only settlement in the United Kingdom territory of South Georgia in the South Atlantic. It is the best harbour on the island, consisting of a bay within a bay. It was established in 1904 by the Norwegian captain Carl Anton Larsen as a whaling station, with the financial assistance of the Compania Argentina de Pesca. It was phenomenally successful, with 195 whales taken in the first season alone. The whale population in the seas around the island was decimated over the following sixty years until the station closed in 1966, by which time the whale stocks were so low that their continued exploitation was unviable. Even now, the shore around Grytviken is littered with whale bones and the rusting remains of whale oil processing plants and abandoned whaling ships. The island is closely associated with the explorer Ernest Shackleton. He set off from there on December 5, 1914 on the ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, which saw his crew being marooned on Elephant Island off Antarctica. He returned to Grytviken posthumously in 1922 after he died at sea at the beginning of another Antarctic expedition. During the Falklands War, Grytviken was captured by Argentine forces in early April 1982 following a brief battle with British Royal Marines. The Royal Marines, SAS and SBS retook the settlement three weeks later without a shot being fired. The area is now the site of a scientific research station managed by the British Antarctic Survey. The station serves a political purpose as well, in that it helps to maintain Britain's claim against Argentina for ownership of the territory. Grytviken is a popular stop for cruise ships visiting Antarctica, and tourists usually land to visit Shackleton's grave. There is a small museum in part of the former whaling station; its two curators are the only permanent inhabitants of the island.
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