In 1906, Norwegian businessman, Abraham Larsen, founded the Union Whaling Company on the east coast of South Africa in the port city of Durban. After becoming the country's most profitable industry for decades, killing and processing hundreds of whales per year, the station was abruptly closed in 1976. It remains abandoned today, hidden out of sight of the city along the Bluff headland, now under military restriction.
This is the untold story of whaling in Durban; of the Norwegian whalers who toiled the icy south seas and the Zulu workers who remained on land awaiting the carcasses they processed. This is a story about a city built on the economic foundations of an industry that most don't even know existed, yet all feel the ramifications of today.
Watch the teaser filmed on location at the abandoned whaling station in Durban South Africa, featuring the last known living employee: Peter Froude.
Filmed and edited by ©Jethro Westraad