Ghost towns in Antarctica

Whalers played the same role as the oil industry today - what they provided was essential for most folks, but society frowned on the ruthlessness of the trade.

Deserted whaling stations line some of the Antarctic islands - it is eerie seeing them.  Its so quiet and desolate now... hard to imagine the hellish activity of rendering blubber and chopping up mammoth whale carcasses.

Lucky for the whales, kerosene replace blubber and synthetics replaced balene and other whale products.  Even a century after whaling largely stopped, population are still recovering from near extinction.  A bit of a ghastly testament to how modern man can mobilize to nearly deplete a natural resource in a few generations.