Beacon Island Whaling Station

Whaling in Plettenberg Bay was started in 1834 by John Sinclair. The first ship loaded with whale oil left that year. Other men such as Cornelius Watson and Percy Toplis were also looking to make their fortunes in whaling. They obtained a lease to use Beacon Island as a whaling station. The station was later sold to the Thesen family. They invested a lot of money hoping it would turn a profit. Norwegian whaling experts were brought to Plettenberg Bay but alas the operation was not successful and it ended in 1916. The world war also put obstacles in the way of exports.

The Norwegians however took over the whaling station and brought an entire house from Norway in which Captain Jacob Odland who was the project manager stayed. When whaling stopped, the building became Hopwood’s boarding house then became Angler’s Inn. The first Beacon Island hotel was built in 1940 by Owen Grant and the hotel standing there today was built in 1972

Today you can still see one of the original iron pots that were used to boil the blubber in order to extract the oil. There are also some harpoons left from that time.

 Harpoon

Cauldron for boiling whale fat

Main image, Whaling station when it was still operational