The house flag of South Georgia Co. Ltd. A white flag with a red diamond in the centre on which is a white-bordered blue cross. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. A rope and toggle are attached.

The firm of Christian Salvesen Limited was founded in 1872, by Salve Christian Fredrik Salvesen, a Norwegian from Mandal, and was initially set up as a shipbroker and shipowner. The company traded with ports on the Baltic, and in Norway and Sweden, and serviced whaling stations in the Arctic, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Cargo lines were also opened up between Leith, Malta and Alexandria, and then into the Black Sea.

In the early 20th century, the company's whaling interests expanded as far as the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, and whaling came to dominate Salvesen's business. The company led the whaling industry at a time when food oils and other products from the Antarctic were considered a boundless resource. The company set up a number of whaling stations in the South Atlantic, the largest of which was Leith Harbour, South Georgia, a huge complex with generating stations, boiler plants and even a large well appointed hospital. This operated as a shore station from its inception in 1909 until it closed in 1965, and was run by the South Georgia Company, a subsidiary of Christian Salvesen.

During the inter-war years the company expanded and modernised its whaling business; as stocks began to diminish the Company became prominent in urging conservation. In later years the company diversified into the importing and exporting of timber and coal, steel, coke, involvement in the offshore oil industry and factory fishing, and also shore-based industries such as cold storage and canning. Today the company is best known in the distribution industry. The Salvesen family remained involved with the company until the 1970s.