Mack Island ( no, Mackøya)
[Stadnamn i norske polarområde: Mackøya (Svalbard).](_blank)
/ref> is a small island in Hinlopen Strait
The Hinlopen Strait ( no, Hinlopenstretet) is the strait between Spitsbergen and Nordaustlandet in Svalbard, Norway. It is long and wide. The strait is difficult to pass because of pack ice. It is believed to have been named after Thijmen J ...
. It is part of the Rønnbeck Islands
The Rønnbeck Islands ( no, Rønnbeckøyane) are a group of islands in Hinlopen Strait, Svalbard. They are located south of the Bastian Islands, southeast of Wilhelm Island. The islands are named after Norwegian sailor and seal hunter Nils Fredrik ...
in the Svalbard
Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...
archipelago. It lies east of Cape Weyprecht on Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...
.
The island is a low basalt cliff and its highest point is above sea level. The closest neighboring islands are Torkildsen Island about to the east and Isaksen Island about to the north. The wildlife consists largely of polar bears.
The island was discovered in 1867 by the Swedish-Norwegian polar explorer Nils Fredrik Rønnbeck
Nils Fredrik Røn(n)beck ( sv, Rönnbäck, March 22, 1820 – January 4, 1891) was a Swedish-Norwegian polar skipper and ice pilot. He discovered Franz Josef Land in 1865.
Life
Rønnbeck was born Nils Johansson Söderlund in Storön in Kalix, in ...
. The Rønnbeck Islands are named after Norwegian seal hunters, and this one is named after the Norwegian sealing captain Fridrich "Fritz" Christian Mack (1836–1876), who also made several important discoveries in the Arctic.
/ref>
References
Islands of Svalbard
Seal hunting
{{svalbard-geo-stub