Roy Mangersnes / Old British whaling ship "Petrel" with harpoon at Grytviken, South Georgia, Antarctica.

Roy Mangersnes / White morph Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) cub resting among whaling remains, Godthul, South Georgia, Antarctica. November

Roy Mangersnes / Old Norwegian whaling station at Grytviken, South Georgia, Antarctica. November

Rick Tomlinson / SY "Adele", 180 foot Hoek Design, anchored at King Edward Point, near the abandoned whaling station in Grytviken and the whalers cemetery where Shackleton was buried. South Georgia, February 2007

Rick Tomlinson / SY "Adele", 180 foot Hoek Design, anchored at King Edward Point, near the abandoned whaling station in Grytviken and the whalers cemetery where Shackleton was buried. South Georgia, February 2007

Steven Kazlowski / Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) female walks along a sandspit looking for scraps of Bowhead whale meat during spring whaling season, Barter Island, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

Steven Kazlowski / Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) adult male bloody from feeding on fresh whale meat after autumn whaling season, Barter Island, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

Steven Kazlowski / Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) adult male feeding on jawbone of a Bowhead whale {Balaena mysticetus} in early morning, after autumn whaling season, Barter Island, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

Steven Kazlowski / Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) female with cubs scavenge a Bowhead whale {Balaena mysticetus} carcass, after autumn whaling season, Barter Island, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

Steven Kazlowski / Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) adult male feeding on jawbone of a Bowhead whale {Balaena mysticetus} in early morning, after autumn whaling season, Barter Island, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

Steven Kazlowski / Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) adult female scavenging for scrapes of Bowhead whale meat after autumn whaling season, Barter Island, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

Steven Kazlowski / Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) adult male feeding on a Bowhead whale {Balaena mysticetus} jawbone in early morning, after autumn whaling season, Barter Island, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

Steven Kazlowski / Group of Polar bears {Ursus maritimus} feeding on carcass of Bowhead whale after autumn whaling season, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

Yva Momatiuk & John Eastcott / Long abandoned and rusting whaling station, Leith Harbor, South Georgia Island

Yva Momatiuk & John Eastcott / Long abandoned and rusting whaling station, Leith Harbor, South Georgia Island

Yva Momatiuk & John Eastcott / Rusty tanks for storing blubber in long abandoned whaling station, Leith Harbor, South Georgia Island

Steven David Miller / An exhibit at Whale World - a whaling ship, complete with a harpoon on the bow, at an old whaling station, Albany, Western Australia

Steven David Miller / An exhibit of whale skeletons at Whale World, an old whaling station in Albany, Western Australia

Paul Ensor / Antarctic Minke Whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) taken apart by Japanese whalers, Ross Sea, Antarctica

Paul Ensor / Antarctic Minke Whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) group taken off Japanese whaling ship, Ross Sea, Antarctica

Paul Ensor / Antarctic Minke Whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) group taken off Japanese whaling ship, Ross Sea, Antarctica

Rick Tomlinson / A rainbow arcs over the old whaling station of Grytviken in King Edward Cove, South Georgia, February 2007.

Rick Tomlinson / The abandoned Grytviken whaling station, with the restored church and museum in the background. South Georgia, February 2007

Steven Kazlowski / Inupiat teenagers standing upon a bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) caught in the Chukchi Sea off Point Barrow, Arctic Alaska, 2007

Steven Kazlowski / Hopson One whaling crew with skin boat and whaling implements on the edge of a lead in the frozen Chukchi Sea, off Point Barrow, Arctic Alaska

Dan Burton / Whaling harpoon, Kushimoto, Japan

Luciano Candisani / Anti-whaling sign, Carcass Island, Falkland Islands

Carol Walker / Subantarctic Fur Seals (Arctocephalus tropicalis) and Gentoo Penguins (Pygoscelis papua) at an old whaling station. South Georgia Islands, Sub Antarctica.

Chris Gomersall / Old British whaling ship "Petrel" at Grytviken, South Georgia, Antarctica. January 2007.

Chris Gomersall / King penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) and Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella) by old whaling station. Stromness, South Georgia, Antarctica. January 2007

Colin Monteath / Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) teeth with Scrimshaw artwork sitting atop whale vertebrae, dates from 1840's whaling era, Fyffe Historic House, Kaikoura, New Zealand

Pete Oxford / Southern elephant seal {Mirounga leonina} weaner resting on ground with whaling station in background, Grytviken, South Georgia.

Peter Scoones / Southern elephant seals on beach (Mirounga leonina) South Georgia Whaling station in background

Pete Oxford / Coastal view of abandonned whaling station, Grytviken, South Georgia

Peter Scoones / Abandonned whaling station at Grytviken, South Georgia, South Atlantic

Peter Scoones / Abandonned whaling station at Grytviken, South Georgia, South Atlantic

Pete Oxford / Coastal glacier near abandonned whaling station, Grytviken, South Georgia

Peter Scoones / Abandonned whaling station at Stromness, South Georgia, South Atlantic Islands

Peter Scoones / Old boats at abandonned whaling station, Grytviken, South Georgia, South Atlantic

Pete Oxford / Old whaling boat at abandonned station, Grytviken, South Georgia

Martha Holmes / Grytviken whaling station at dawn. Cumberland Bay, South Georgia, Falkland Is

Martha Holmes / Argentinian graves from Falklands war, Grytviken whaling station, South Georgia Falkland

Jessie Lane / Whale bones washed up at Godthill Harbour coast, old whaling post, South Georgia

Pete Oxford / Southern elephant seal {Mirogounga leonina} mother with suckling pup, Grytviken Whaling Station, South Georgia

Martha Holmes / Minke whale meat for sale at Tsukiji fish market, Tokyo, Japan

Staffan Widstrand / Whalebone alley, Ittygran Island, Chukotka, Russia skeletal remains of whales that were once hunted in the area

Niall Benvie / Box of whale meat with harpoon, Norway

Staffan Widstrand / Inuit Narwhal hunter, NW Greenland.

Staffan Widstrand / Camp of Inuit Narwhal hunters, Qaanaq, Greenland.

Staffan Widstrand / Inuit hunters with dead Narwhal, Qaanaaq, NW Greenland.

Mitsuaki Iwago / Dwarf Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) pair harvested by Russian whaling ship, Antarctica

Flip de Nooyer / Houses and church at abandoned whaling station, Grytviken, South Georgia

Flip de Nooyer / Machinery and buildings at abandoned whaling station, Grytviken, South Georgia

Flip de Nooyer / Tourists viewing cemetery at Grytviken, an abandoned whaling station, South Georgia Island

Flip de Nooyer / Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) skeleton at abandoned whaling station, Whaler's Bay, Port Lockroy, Wiencke Island, Gerlache Strait, Antarctica

Flip de Nooyer / Two tourists view Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) skeleton at abandoned whaling station, Port Lockroy, Wiencke Island

Flip de Nooyer / Antarctic Fur Seal (Arctocephalus gazella) inside abandoned whaling station building, Antarctica

Flip de Nooyer / Antarctic Fur Seal (Arctocephalus gazella) along beach near abandoned whaling station, Antarctica

Flip de Nooyer / Antarctic Fur Seal (Arctocephalus gazella) group at abandoned whaling station, Antarctica

Flip de Nooyer / Antarctic Fur Seal (Arctocephalus gazella) group amid pallets and machinery at abandoned whaling station, Antarctica

Flip de Nooyer / Antarctic Fur Seal (Arctocephalus gazella) group outside abandoned whaling station, Antarctica

Flip de Nooyer / Antarctic Fur Seal (Arctocephalus gazella) inside building at abandoned whaling station, Antarctica

Flip de Nooyer / Antarctic Fur Seal (Arctocephalus gazella) pair inside building at abandoned whaling station, Antarctica

Colin Monteath / Tourist standing on the Fortuna Saddle views the derelict Norwegian Stromness whaling station, South Georgia Island

Colin Monteath / Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) herd grazing near derelict Stromness whaling station, introduced by Norwegians, South Georgia Island

Hiroya Minakuchi / Common Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) dead at side of boat, Newfoundland, Canada

Flip Nicklin / Dall's Porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli) being off-loaded from boat as part of harvest from Otsuchi harpoon fishery, Northern Honshu Island, Japan

Mitsuaki Iwago / Dwarf Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) harvested by Russian whaling ship, Antarctica

Flip Nicklin / Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) teeth carved with scrimshaw artwork of whales and whaling vessels

Flip Nicklin / Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) with net caught on jaw, Hawaii

Flip Nicklin / Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) with net caught on jaw, Hawaii

Flip Nicklin / Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) tooth with Scrimshaw artwork of whaling, Hawaii

Flip Nicklin / Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) with fishing net caught on her jaw, Sri Lanka

Flip Nicklin / Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) diving with fishing net caught on jaw, Sri Lanka

Flip Nicklin / Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) tooth carved with scrimshaw artwork of whales and whaling vessels

Flip Nicklin / Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) caught by whalers depicted in Scrimshaw

Flip Nicklin / Dwarf Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) meat, Norway

Pete Oxford / Anti whaling sign outside house. Port Stanley, East Falkland Islands

Christoph Becker / Whale bones on beach of Edgeoya Island in summer, Svalbard. Norway

Pete Oxford / Abandoned whaling station. Grytviken. South Georgia Antarctic Falkland Islands

Pete Oxford / Old whaling boat at abandoned station, Grytviken.South Georgia Antarctic

LYNN M. STONE / Abandoned wooden whaling cask on beach. Deception Island, Antartica

Martha Holmes / Sir Ernest Shackleton's grave, Grytviken whaling station, South Georgia, Falkland Islands

Peter Scoones / Abandonned whaling station, Grytviken, South Georgia

Andrew Peacock / Lenticular cloud formations over old rusty whaling ships, Grytviken, South Georgia Island

Ingo Arndt / A house entrance at the abandoned Grytviken whaling station, South Georgia Island, Southern Ocean, Antarctic Convergence. November 2008

Paul D Stewart / 1837 illustration of lesser Rorqual (now more commonly known as Minke whale Balaenoptera acuto-rostrata) beached and tied. From Jardine's 'Naturalist's Library', Whales, Volume VI, from artwork of Ste...

Paul D Stewart / Sailing ship off Galapagos (Daphne Major island in background) and Giant Tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra), photo composite. The Galapagos were visited by Charles Darwin in his Beagle voyages and also by a...

Paul D Stewart / Illustration of 'Albemarle Island' (now Isabela) engraving by Huyot and Bepard facing page 520 in 'All Around the World' published in 1872 by William Collins & Son. Shows the large caldera of a volcan...

Paul D Stewart / Illustration of 'Albemarle Island' (now Isabela) hand coloured engraving by Huyot and Bepard facing page 520 in 'All Around the World' published in 1872 by William Collins & Son. Shows the large calde...

Paul D Stewart / Illustration of Steller's Sea Cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) from 'Naturhistoriche Abbinldungen der Saeugethiere' by Heinrich Rudolph Schinz. later edition circa 1841. Fine contemporary coloured lithograph...

Paul D Stewart / Woodcut illustration of whale slaughter with old colouring from Gesner 'Icones Animalium' publ. Christof Foschover, Zurich, 1560. Gesner appears to derive this image partly from Olaus Magnus 'Historia...

Onne van der Wal / Derelict rusting buildings at the abandoned whaling station at Grytviken, South Georgia.

Onne van der Wal / Close-up of an old planked whaling boat, South Georgia.

Onne van der Wal / The furnace in the foundry at the abandoned whaling station in Grytviken, South Georgia.

Onne van der Wal / Inside the derelict rusting buildings at the abandoned whaling station in Grytviken, South Georgia.