Chr. Christensen and C. A. Larsen: A comparative analysis of two whaling entrepreneurs

Chr. Christensen and C. A. Larsen are usually considered among the most important pioneers in the transfer of whaling to Antarctic waters in the early twentieth century. After a period of close cooperation during the 1890s, they took different courses and built up their Antarctic enterprises independently of each other. While Larsen initiated the foundation of shore station whaling at South Georgia, Christensen sent a floating factory ship to the South Shetland Islands. The main aim of the paper is to make a systematic comparison of the two entrepreneurs and their companies, and focus explicitly on the considerations and decisions they made when whaling was transferred from north to south. They obviously chose different strategies, but we will ask how different they really were in their thinking about how southern whaling was going to develop. Both entrepreneurs brought along their experiences from how whaling had been undertaken in the northern waters. It was not obvious what organizational patterns would work in the south, and we shall study how familiar and new ways of organizing the industry were combined – as is often the case in entrepreneurial innovations.

A Newfoundland floating factory whaling expedition

Modern shore station whaling spread from Norway to Newfoundland in 1896 with development of the Cabot Steam Whaling Co Ltd. Their success stimulated formation of a second company, the Newfoundland Steam Whaling Co Ltd, which in 1908 mounted a pelagic expedition to hunt in both hemispheres, particularly from the South Orkney and South Shetland Islands and off northern Labrador. The expedition was a failure, and Newfoundland whaling remained a totally shore-based industry until cessation in 1972.