Rekvedbukta ( English: ''Driftwood Bay'') is an open bay on the central southern coast of the island of Jan Mayen, about eight nautical miles long. Jan Mayen topography-fr

Geography

The bay extends from the point

Kapp Traill Kapp Traill is a headland at the southern part of the island of Jan Mayen. It defines the southwestern extension of the bay Rekvedbukta, at the southeast side of the island. The distance between Kapp Traill and Kapp Wien further southwest is a ...

to the south and northeastwards to the peninsula of

Eggøya Eggøya ("Egg Island") is a peninsula of Jan Mayen island of the Arctic Ocean. It is located on the southern side, in the central part of the island, east of Sørlaguna, and defines the northeastern extension of the bay Rekvedbukta. To the west of ...

. It has a length of about eight nautical miles. The only inhabited site on Jan Mayen, Olonkinbyen, is located at the plain Trollsletta at the southern part of the bay. South of the settlement is the harbour Båtvika. The aerodrome Jan Mayensfield is located northeast of Olonkinbyen, along Rekvedbukta. Further northeast is the shallow elongated lake Sørlaguna, which can extend up to eight kilometers in the spring, separated from the bay by the sandy bar Lagunevollen.

Eggøybukta Eggøybukta is a bay located 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 ...

at the northeastern part of the bay is a suitable harbour under favourable weather conditions. The bay contains the islet of Losbåten and the shoal Losbåtrevet to the southwest. In the northeastern part of the bay is the shoal

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 ...

, named after the ship HNoMS ''Fridtjof Nansen'', which was wrecked and sank after striking the rock in November 1940.

Name history

The oldest reference given by Orvin in his 1960 paper ''The place-names of Jan Mayen'', is a description from 1614 by Dutch cartographer Joris Carolus. Carolus introduces the name ''Gouwenaers Bay'' after captain

Jacob de Gouwenaer Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Isla ...

. In Joan Blaeu's '' Atlas Major sive Cosmographia Blaviana'' from 1662 the bay is called ''Groote Hout Bay'', while in a publication from 1720 Zorgdrager uses the form ''Groote Hout baay''. Other names used over the time are ''Grand Baye au Bois'', ''Great Wood Bay'', ''La baie du Grand-Bois'', ''Treibholz Bucht'', ''Rækved Bugt'', ''Baie du Bois-flotté'', ''Dirvtræbugt'', ''Drivtømmerbugt'', ''Driftwood Bay'' and ''Drivvedsbugten''. The first part of the name ''Rekvedbukta'' means "driftwood", while ''bukt(a)'' means "bay", "bight" or "cove".

References

Bays of Jan Mayen {{JanMayen-geo-stub