C. A. Larsen: Explorer, Whaler & Family Man

Carl Anton Larsen (1860-1924) was a Norwegian sea captain, whaling manager, and explorer, with experience in both the Arctic and Antarctic. In 1888 he accompanied Fridtjof Nansen on the sealer ‘Jason’ to Greenland, prior to Nansen’s conducting the first crossing of Greenland. Larson led two whaling expeditions to the Antarctic (1892-93, 1893-94), both in the ‘Jason’. These expeditions discovered the Larsen Ice Shelf, the Foyn Coast in Graham Land, King Oscar Land, Robertson Island, as well as the first fossils on the continent, and Larsen became the first person to ski in the Antarctic. From 1901-03 he accompanied Otto Nordenskjöld’s Swedish Antarctic Expedition as the captain of the ship ‘Antarctic’. After their ship sank, Larsen led his men through a very difficult wintering on Paulet Island before being rescued.. Barely out of the ice, he motivated a number of investors to finance the establishment of a whaling station under his leadership in Grytviken, South Georgia. Larsen died on board the factory ship Sir James Clark Ross. This is a marvelous, superbly illustrated, publication produced to accompany the Fram Museum’s ‘C. A. Larsen’’ exhibition in 2016-17.