Bellsund is a long sound on the west coast of Spitsbergen, part of the Svalbard archipelago of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. It is separated from

Van Mijenfjorden Van Mijenfjorden is the third-longest fjord in Norway's Svalbard archipelago. It lies in the southern portion of Spitsbergen island, south of Nordenskiöld Land and north of Nathorst Land. The fjord is long, being separated from Bellsund further ...

by the islands of

Akseløya Akseløya (English: Axel Island) is a long, narrow island (about 8.5 km long and 1 km wide) at the mouth of Van Mijenfjorden, separating Van Mijenfjorden from Bellsund. It is separated from the mainland by Akselsundet to the north, and ...

and Mariaholmen. Bellsund is located south of

Nordenskiöld Land Nordenskiöld Land is the land area between Isfjorden and Van Mijenfjorden on Spitsbergen, Svalbard. The area is named after Finnish-Swedish explorer and geologist Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld. The coastal region of Nordenskiöld Land (Norde ...

and north of

Wedel Jarlsberg Land Wedel Jarlsberg Land is the land area between Van Keulenfjorden and Hornsund on the southwestern part of Spitsbergen, Svalbard. The area is largely covered with glaciers, and is completely within the Sør-Spitsbergen National Park. Named aft ...

.Norwegian Polar Institut
Place Names of Svalbard Database

History

Bellsund was first seen by

William Barents Willem Barentsz (; – 20 June 1597), anglicized as William Barents or Barentz, was a Dutch navigator, cartographer, and Arctic explorer. Barentsz went on three expeditions to the far north in search for a Northeast passage. He reached as far ...

in 1596. He simply referred to it as ''Inwyck'' (inlet). In 1610 Jonas Poole explored Bellsund, giving the fjord the name it retains to this day. He named it after a nearby bell-shaped mountain. In 1612 the Dutchman Willem Cornelisz. van Muyden was the first to attempt to catch whales here, but he wasn't very successful as he didn't have any Basque whalemen among his crew. In 1613,

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

, and French whaling vessels resorted to Bellsund, but were either ordered away by armed

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

vessels or forced to pay a fine of some sort.Purchas, S. 1625. ''Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgrimes: Contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Lande Travells by Englishmen and others''. Volumes XIII and XIV (Reprint 1906 J. Maclehose and sons).Conway, W. M. 1904. ''Early Dutch and English Voyages to Spitsbergen in the Seventeenth Century''. London.Conway, W. M. 1906. ''No Man's Land: A History of Spitsbergen from Its Discovery in 1596 to the Beginning of the Scientific Exploration of the Country''. Cambridge: At the University Press. In 1614 the Dutch agreed to give Bellsund to the English, but only for one season. In 1615 the Dutch built the first semi-permanent whaling station in Spitsbergen at the mouth of Schoonhoven ( Recherche Fjord), on the south side of Bellsund. It was appropriated by the English the following year. In 1626 this station was damaged by

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

and Hull whalers, who then sailed to their whaling station in Midterhukhamna, just across the entrance of

Van Keulenfjorden Van Keulenfjorden is a 30 km long fjord on the west coast of Spitsbergen separating Nathorst Land to the north and Wedel Jarlsberg Land to the south. Van Keulenfjorden is separated from Bellsund by Forsbladodden in the north and Richardod ...

. Here they were found by the heavily armed flagship of the London whaling fleet, the ''Hercules'', under admiral William Goodlad. A two-hour battle ensued, resulting in defeat for the Hull and York fleet and their expulsion from Spitsbergen.Appleby, John C. "Conflict, cooperation and competition: The rise and fall of the Hull whaling trade during the seventeenth century". ''The Northern Mariner'', XVIII No. 2, (April 2008), 23-59. Hull continued to send whaling vessels to occupy this station for the next 25 years, while the English as a whole probably resorted to Bellsund at least until the late 1650s.

References

Fjords of Spitsbergen {{Spitsbergen-geo-stub