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 Numismatist, Author: Walter A. JELLUM, Jr. 1936-2007 |
Svalbard - In the Icelandic sagas it was reported that Svalbard was discovered in the year 1194. Like the Viking discovery of Vinland (America) earlier, it was not until much later that wide spread knowledge of these areas were known. Columbus arrived in America in 1492 and Willem Barents (a  Dutchman seeking a northern passage to China) discovered and named Spitsbergen (Svalbard) in 1596. Avoiding the sea ice close to land, Barents found an island on June 9th that he called Bjørnøya (bjørn = bear, øya = island), Bear Island. It was so named because on shore they had killed a polar bear. Later, on June 17th, they again sighted land, naming it Spitsbergen, meaning land of pointed mountains. However, the Russians claim they have found cabins they believe were built by Russians before Barents about 1552 - 1556. Today we refer to the archipelago by its old Norse name, Svalbard, meaning land with frozen coasts. It is almost as big as Ireland, with Spitsbergen the largest island. The Dutch discoverers first believed, as the Vikings had before and many after, that they had arrived at a part of Greenland, which it was referred to up until the mid 1700's. The climate is influenced by two ocean currents. A branch of the warm Gulf Stream flows northward along the wes The average annual temperature is 22.2°F (-5.4°C.) and ranges from 59 degrees F. (15 C) to a low of -58 degrees F. (-50 C). The ground is permanently frozen, permafrost, to a depth of 150 m. in the lowlands and 300 m. in the mountains. Two thirds of the surface is covered by glaciers. The average precipitation in Longyearbyen (byen = town) is less than 7.9" (200 mm) per year as compared to Oslo that has 29.5" (750 mm) per year. The midnight sun is visible from mid-April until the latter half of August (127 days). The period of total darkness (sun never rises) lasts from October 27th to February 15th (112 days). Whaling & Trapping Smeerenburg (Blubber Town), the old Dutch whalers' camp, was located on the southeast cape of Amsterdamøya, founded in 1617. In its heyday, the ten years following 1633, it was a busy place for a few months each year with possibly more than 1,000 people. The era of whaling was soon over on Svalbard, due in large part to depleting the numbers of whales. With the invention of exploding harpoons there was a short resurgence, but the whale populations never recovered from man's over exploitation around Svalbard. Fur hunters from Russia and Norway arrived soon after whaling began. The most famous, Expeditions Englishman Wm. Edward Parry was the first attempting to reach the north pole on foot from Svalbard in 1827. Adolf Erik Nordenskiøld tried unsuccessfully in 1868 and 1872, . Sir William Martin Conway, an English mountaineer, explorer and artist conducted expeditions to Spitsbergen in 1896 - 97 and was the first to explore the interior in 1896. Virgohamna (hamna = harbor), Danskøya (Danish Island) and Ny-Ålesund (Ny = New), Kongsfjord (Kings Bay) were stagging areas for polar explorations. Swede S. A. Andrée set out in July 1897 by balloon, ending in tragedy. His camp was not found until 1930. American, Walter Wellman, attempted airship expeditions to the Pole during 1906, '07, '08 and '09. Norwegian Roald Amundsen and American Lincoln Ellsworth began a polar flight aboard flying boats in May 1925 from Kongsfjord, but had to return without success. Amundsen-Ellsworth-Nobile made a transpolar flight in the airship Norge leaving Kongsfjord on May 11, 1926 and on May 14th arriving in Teller, Alaska. Americans Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett, succeeded in May 1926 to fly over the pole. Carl Ben Eielson, who together with Sir George Hubert Wilkins, landed south of Kongsfjord on April 17, 1928, after their flight across the Polar Sea from Point Barrow, Alaska. Tourists began visiting this interesting area near the end of the 1800's. A tourist route from Tromsø to Svalbard by a Norwegian steamship company Vesterdalens Dampskibsselskab was established in 1896. This company built a small hotel on Hotellneset (neset = point), the northwest point of Adventfjord in 1896, but only used it for the two summer seasons of 1896 and 1897. The first Norwegian postal sub-office was opened there in 1897 Minerals There has been exploration, small scale mining and prospecting for marble, asbestos, galena sphalerite and chalcopyrite. Mansfield Exploring Co. Ernest Richard Mansfield, of London, played a conspicuous part in the mining history of Spitsbergen. He prospected, particularly for gold, but also for coal in 1905, '06 and '07. In 1911 he was instrumental in forming The Northern Exploration Company, Ltd. of London, for which he made extensive claims. In 1911 he sold all except his 1906 Kongsfjord claim. They built a mining camp and marble quarry called London that was worked until 1920 but the marble quality was poor. Most of their extensive claims were purchased in 1932 by the Norwegian government. Early Coal Claims and Companies Coal seams occur in the Carboniferous, Cretaceous, and Tertiary geological systems of Svalbard with the Tertiary coals being of chief commercial value. | Coal had long been known, but was of little importance or use due to the abundance of drift wood along the shores. However, some hunters had burned coal in stoves in their cabins and others had even supplemented bunker supplies for visiting ships with coal found near the shore. By the late 1800's Svalbard coal was inspiring speculation to exploit these deposits for filling the growing needs to supply coal for ships, trains, and industry. Kulgrubekompagniet Isfjord, Spitsbergen Capt. Siren A number of companies were exploring, speculating, prospecting and claiming areas during the years around the turn of the century, including the following: The Bergen Company(1900 or 1901) which had claims on the north shore of Isfjord; Norsk-Spitsbergen Kulkompani (1908); Nordisk Kulgrubekompagni; A/S Svalbard Kulgruber, claimed lands north of Bellsund; and, A/S Stavanger Spitsbergen which in 1912 occupied four areas, but never managed to start up mining in any of them. Before the company was dissolved in 1942 some of its properties were sold to Russian interests and some to the Norwegian state. The first coal mines were placed where the coal deposits outcropped near the sea. Adventfjord
Adventfjord (East Advent Bay): Bergen Spitsbergen Kulgrubekom-pagni - claimed an area on the northeast side of Adventfjord in 1901. In 1903 it sold to the following company of Sheffield, England. The Spitsbergen Coal and Trading Company, Ltd. - started constructing Advent City on the northeast shore of Adventfjord. In the first year one mess hut was built. The next summer several houses were erected, including a bakery. The British started mining there in 1906, left ten English and Scotch miners plus 60 Scandinavians, mostly Swedes, over the winter of 1906-07. They had 14,000 bottles of beer, lost control, produced very little, did much destruction and what coal obtained was of poor quality. On June 30, 1907 the English vessel Daggery left Isfjord with all workers aboard, shutting down operations. This ill managed, costly venture ended a fiasco. The camp was left to caretakers in disrepair and was abandoned in 1909. The deserted coal mine was used for shelter by a German scientific expedition in 1911. The Spitsbergen Coal & Trading Co., Ltd. was liquidated in 1918. Scottish Spitsbergen Syndicate - Wm. Speirs Bruce on A/S De Norske Kulfelter Spitsbergen - In 1916 Fredrik Wilhelm Louis Hiorth, one of the pioneers of coal mining on Svalbard and founder of Norsk-Spitsbergen Kulkompani in 1908, claimed the area just south of The Spitsbergen Coal & Trading Co., Ltd. tracts. They bought The Spitsbergen Coal and Trading Co. plant and in 1916-17 moved the remaining houses to Hiorthhamn, some 2½ km. to the south, leaving only the foundations. It operated from 1916 to 1921 with limited output and minimal profits. It went bankrupt in 1922 and was taken over by Jacob Kjødein 1937. Jacob Kjøde A/S - Jacob Andreas Mathias Kjøde, who had coal interests from 1912, was a ship owner operating the majority of the coal steamers navigating to Svalbard. He also started quarrying gypsum and anhydrite at a number of locations near the head of Isfjord with unfavorable results. In 1938 he formed a new company, Norske Kulfelter A/S of Fana, near Bergen. Norske Kulfelter A/S - Even with government subsidies it ceased operations in 1940. Seventeen musk-oxen were introduced into this region from Greenland in September of 1929 which have since often been seen in the neighborhood of Hiorthhamn, renamed Moskushamn in 1936. Their population increased to 60 or 70, then declined. Now it is believed there are none. Arctic hare have also been unsuccessfully introduced on Svalbard. The Svalbard ptarmigan is the only bird that remains all year around. A/S Adventdalens Kullfelt, of Oslo. In 1914 this company made claims in Adventdal (dal = valley), coal bearing area. Claims in Reindal, south of Adventdal and north of Van Mijenfjord, were also situated on its properties. The company is now owned by the Norwegian state. These companies were too small to be able to invest a sufficient amount for the necessary equipment and fitting out of these enterprises. Within the course of these early years Svalbard was Numerous struggles arose between the companies, which were not always willing to recognize each other's occupation of certain tracts of land. It became more essential than ever to arrive at some form of proper administration for the archipelago. When Norway assumed sovereignty in 1924 there were 74 claims filed and resolved, not without conflicts of interests, requiring negotiations in order to reach settlements. Adventfjord (West Advent Bay): Trondhjem-Spitsbergen Kulkompagni - This company was founded in 1899. Expeditions were led by Henrik Bergethon Næss, who made original claims in 1900. Capt. Søren Zakariassen, part owner of Kulgrubekompagniet Isfjord, Spitsbergen (1900), upon returning to Svalbard after his first shipment of Spitsbergen coal, found its claims occupied by the above company. These claims were then sold to the Arctic Coal Co. in 1905. |
We gratefully acknowledge the late numismatist Walt Jellum for this article. |
