Eggøya ("Egg Island") is a peninsula of

Jan Mayen Jan Mayen () is a Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is long (southwest-northeast) and in area, partly covered by glaciers (an area of around the Beerenberg volcano). It has two parts: larger nort ...

island of the Arctic Ocean. It is located on the southern side, in the central part of the island, east of

Sørlaguna Sørlaguna is a lagoon on the island of Jan Mayen Jan Mayen () is a Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is long (southwest-northeast) and in area, partly covered by glaciers (an area of around ...

, and defines the northeastern extension of the bay Rekvedbukta. To the west of the peninsula is the bay Eggøybukta, and to the east is the bay Jamesonbukta. The highest peak at the peninsula has a height of 217

m.a.s.l. Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The com ...

Eggøya consists of the northern part of an old volcanic crater, and small

hydrothermal vent A hydrothermal vent is a fissure on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hotspot ...

s are still present. The outer part of the peninsula forms the semicircular bay of Kraterbukta, facing south-southeast with steep slopes. To the south of the peninsula is a small islet,

Eggøykalven Eggøykalven ("Egg Island Calf") is an islet south of the peninsula of Eggøya at the southern part of Jan Mayen Jan Mayen () is a Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is long (southwest-northeast ...

Name history

The name "Eggøya" indicates that the peninsula used to be an island. The oldest reference given by

Orvin Orvin is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (''Jura Bernois''). Above it, there is a small year round resort, called les " Prés-d ...

Joan Blaeu Joan Blaeu (; 23 September 1596 – 21 December 1673) was a Dutch cartographer born in Alkmaar, the son of cartographer Willem Blaeu. Life In 1620, Blaeu became a doctor of law but he joined the work of his father. In 1635, they published ...

's '' Atlas Major sive Cosmographia Blaviana'' from 1662, with the nl, Eyer Eylandt of vogel klippen. In the 1801 publication ''Histoire des peches, des decouvertes et des etablissements des hollandais dans les mers du nord'' by Bernhard de Reste, the peninsula was called ''Terre aux æufs''. In his Jan Mayen description from 1820,

William Scoresby William Scoresby (5 October 178921 March 1857) was an English whaler, Arctic explorer, scientist and clergyman. Early years Scoresby was born in the village of Cropton near Pickering south-west of Whitby in Yorkshire. His father, William ...

used the name ''Egg Island''.

Carl Vogt August Christoph Carl Vogt (; 5 July 18175 May 1895) was a German scientist, philosopher, popularizer of science, and politician who emigrated to Switzerland. Vogt published a number of notable works on zoology, geology and physiology. All his l ...

's map ''Karte der Insel Jan Mayen'' from 1863 used the name ''Eierinsel''. In his 1878 report from an expedition to Jan Mayen,

Henrik Mohn Henrik Mohn (15 May 1835 – 12 September 1916) was a Norwegian astronomer and meteorologist. Although he enrolled in theology studies after finishing school, he is credited with founding meteorological research in Norway, being a professor at the ...

used the name forms ''Ægoen'', ''Eg-Øen'' and ''Æg-Øen''. In his article "Jan Mayen Island" from 1922, James Wordie used the name ''Egg Bluff Crater''.

Incidents

In November 1940, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the ship HNoMS ''Fridtjof Nansen'' wrecked off Eggøya, when it hit an uncharted subsea rock, which was later named

Nansenflua Nansenflua is an undersea rock in the northern part of Rekvedbukta off the southeastern coast of Jan Mayen in the Arctic Ocean. The shoal is named after the ship HNoMS ''Fridtjof Nansen'', which sank after striking the previously uncharted rock ...

. The crew of 66 entered the lifeboats and reached the shore during darkness, two boats to the west of Eggøya, and two to the east. The ship had been on a mission to interrupt German plans to establish a weather station on Jan Mayen. Later, when a small garrison of Norwegian troops was established with headquarters near

Nordlaguna Nordlaguna is a lagoon on the island of Jan Mayen. It is the second largest lake of Jan Mayen, after Sørlaguna, and is located in the central part of the island, near the bay of Stasjonsbukta. It was possibly formed by an eruption of Beerenberg ...

, a guard's cottage was built on the northern slope of Eggøya.

Historical maps

Joan_Blaeu-Insula_Qvæ_Ioanne_Mayen_nomen_sortita_est.JPG, Insel ''Eyer Eylandt of Vogel klippen'' (

Old Dutch In linguistics, Old Dutch (Dutch: Oudnederlands) or Old Low Franconian (Dutch: Oudnederfrankisch) is the set of Franconian dialects (i.e. dialects that evolved from Frankish) spoken in the Low Countries during the Early Middle Ages, from aroun ...

) on

's map of 1662 Jan Mayen map 1820 by William Scoresby.jpg, Scoresby's map of 1820 with ''Egg Island'' Jan_Mayen_map_by_Carl_Vogt_1863.jpg,

1863: Island turning peninsula Jan-mayen-1878.jpg, ''Eier Insel'' on German-language map drawn by

is already a peninsula.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eggoya Landforms of Jan Mayen Peninsulas of Norway