Magdalenefjorden is an 8 km long and up to 5 km wide

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Förden and East Jutland Fjorde, Germany, ...

between

Reuschhalvøya Reuschhalvøya is a peninsula in Albert I Land at Spitsbergen, Svalbard. The peninsula is named after geologist Hans Henrik Reusch. It is located south of Smeerenburgfjorden and Bjørnfjorden, and north of Magdalenefjorden Magdalenefjorden is an ...

and

Hoelhalvøya Hoelhalvøya is a peninsula in Albert I Land at Spitsbergen, Svalbard. The peninsula is named after Arctic explorer Adolf Hoel. It is located south of Magdalenefjorden. Among the glaciers of the peninsula is Gullybreen Gullybreen is a glacier in A ...

, Albert I Land, on the west coast of Spitsbergen, the largest island in the Svalbard archipelago. It is large enough to accommodate even the largest of cruise ships which are even able to turn through 180 degrees in the fjord. On the south shore of the fjord is the bay Gullybukta.

History

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 ...

was the first to explore Magdalenefjorden in 1596. Here he found walrus tusks, which caused him to name the fjord ''Tusk Bay''. The

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 ...

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

and

whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...

Robert Fotherby entered the fjord in 1614, stealing it for King

James I of England James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

and naming it ''Maudlen Sound'', and the small, sheltered bay on its southern shore ''Trinity Harbor''. The English subsequently established a

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industr ...

station in Trinity Harbor, on what is now called Gravneset. It was later taken back by the

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 ...

. The remains of four blubber ovens or furnaces have been found on Gravneset, as well as a

graveyard A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

containing about 130 graves dating from the 17th to the late 18th century. The Dutchman

Joris Carolus Joris Carolus (–) was a Dutch cartographer and explorer who was employed by the Noordsche Compagnie and the Dutch East India Company. Career Carolus apparently was a native of Enkhuizen. After he lost a leg at the Siege of Ostend (1601–04) ...

(1614) was the first to label the fjord ''Mari mag. bay''. Abraham Goos (1620) called it ''Magdalenen sond'', and Guljelmus Cæsius (1622) ''S. Maria Magdalene sond''.

References

* 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. * Norwegian Polar Institut
Place Names of Svalbard Database
* Prestvold, K. 2001. Smeerenburg Gravneset: Europe's First Oil Adventure. Translated by Richard Wooley. amphlet Longyearbyen, NO: Governor of Svalbard, Environmental Section. Whaling stations in Norway Fjords of Spitsbergen {{Spitsbergen-geo-stub