Bellsund is a 20-kilometer (12 mi) long sound on the west coast of Spitsbergen, part of the Svalbard archipelago of Norway. It is separated from Van Mijenfjorden by the islands of Akseløya and Mariaholmen. Bellsund is located south of Nordenskiöld Land and north of Wedel Jarlsberg Land. [1]
Bellsund was first seen by William Barents in 1596. He simply referred to it as Inwyck (inlet). In 1610 Jonas Poole explored Bellsund, giving the fjord the name it retains to this day. He named it after a nearby bell-shaped mountain. In 1612 the Dutchman Willem Cornelisz. van Muyden was the first to attempt to catch whales here, but he wasn't very successful as he didn't have any Basque whalemen among his crew. In 1613, Basque, Dutch, and French whaling vessels resorted to Bellsund, but were either ordered away by armed English vessels or forced to pay a fine of some sort. [2] [3] [4]
In 1614 the Dutch agreed to give Bellsund to the English, but only for one season. In 1615 the Dutch built the first semi-permanent whaling station in Spitsbergen at the mouth of Schoonhoven (Recherche Fjord), on the south side of Bellsund. It was appropriated by the English the following year. [4] In 1626 this station was damaged by York and Hull whalers, who then sailed to their whaling station in Midterhukhamna, just across the entrance of Van Keulenfjorden. Here they were found by the heavily armed flagship of the London whaling fleet, the Hercules, under admiral William Goodlad. A two-hour battle ensued, resulting in defeat for the Hull and York fleet and their expulsion from Spitsbergen. [5] Hull continued to send whaling vessels to occupy this station for the next 25 years, while the English as a whole probably resorted to Bellsund at least until the late 1650s. [4]
Smeerenburg was a whaling settlement on Amsterdam Island in northwest Svalbard. It was founded by the Danish and Dutch in 1619 as one of Europe's northernmost outposts. With the local bowhead whale population soon decimated and whaling developed into a pelagic industry, Smeerenburg was abandoned about 1660.
This article discusses the history of whaling from prehistoric times up to the commencement of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986. Whaling has been an important subsistence and economic activity in multiple regions throughout human history. Commercial whaling dramatically reduced in importance during the 19th century due to the development of alternatives to whale oil for lighting, and the collapse in whale populations. Nevertheless, some nations continue to hunt whales even today.
Isfjorden is the second longest fjord in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. It lies on the west side of Spitsbergen, an island in the Arctic Ocean about midway between Norway and the North Pole, and the largest in the archipelago. The mountain of Alkhornet stands on the northern side of the entrance to the fjord, as does the coastal plain of Daudmannsøyra. A portion of Isfjorden is included in the national parks of Norway as Nordre Isfjorden Land National Park. Around the fjord lie many of the largest settlements in Svalbard: Barentsburg, Longyearbyen and Pyramiden.
Van Mijenfjorden is the third-longest fjord in Norway's Svalbard archipelago. It lies in the southern portion of Spitsbergen island, south of Nordenskiöld Land and north of Nathorst Land. The fjord is 83 km (52 mi) long, being separated from Bellsund further out by Akseløya and Mariaholmen. The settlement of Sveagruva lies on the fjord's north bank.
Nicholas Woodcock was a 17th-century English mariner who sailed to Spitsbergen, Virginia, and Asia. He piloted the first Spanish whaling ship to Spitsbergen in 1612 and participated in the Anglo-Persian sieges of Kishm and Ormus in 1622.
Thomas Marmaduke was an English explorer, sealer, and whaler in the early 17th century.
Jonas Poole was an early 17th-century English explorer and sealer, and was significant in the history of whaling.
Thomas Edge was an English merchant, whaler, and sealer who worked for the Muscovy Company in the first quarter of the 17th century. The son of Ellis Edge, Thomas Edge was born in the parish of Blackburn in Lancashire in 1587/88. Edgeøya takes its name from him. Edge's Point, the eastern point of Recherche Fjord, also commemorated his name, but is now known as Lægerneset.
Recherche Fjord is a small fjord on the south side of Bellsund, Spitsbergen. The glacier Recherchebreen debouches into the fjord from south, and Renardbreen from west.
Van Muydenbukta is a large, open bay on the northern side of Bellsund, on the west coast of Spitsbergen. It is named after the Dutchman Willem Cornelisz. van Muyden, commander of the Dutch whaling fleet in 1612 and 1613.
Van Keulenfjorden is a 30 km long fjord on the west coast of Spitsbergen separating Nathorst Land to the north and Wedel Jarlsberg Land to the south. Van Keulenfjorden is separated from Bellsund by Forsbladodden in the north and Richardodden to the south.
Grønfjorden is a 16 km long fjord, separated from Isfjorden to the north by Festningsodden in the west and Heerodden in the east. It lies within the western portion of Nordenskiöld Land. On its eastern shore is the mining community of Barentsburg, the second largest settlement on Spitsbergen.
Raudfjorden is a 20 km long and 5 km wide fjord on the northwestern coast of Spitsbergen. It has two southern branches, Klinckowströmfjorden and Ayerfjorden, split by the peninsula Buchananhalvøya. The fjord is situated on the divide between Albert I Land and Haakon VII Land.
Kobbefjorden is a small fjord on the west coast of Danes Island, on the northwestern coast of Spitsbergen, the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago. The fjord is about two miles (3.5 km) long and 1-1.2 miles (1.5–2 km) wide. It offers one of the best anchorages on Spitsbergen's northwest coast, "being sheltered from most winds and ice-free for much of the year." At the head of the fjord is a valley, Kobbefjorddalen, which leads to the east coast of Danes Island. Kobbefjorden's southwesternmost point is Luftskipodden. Sir Martin Conway, on his visit to Spitsbergen in 1896-97, described the fjord as having "ice-smoothed hills of [the] hardest rock."
Heleysundet is a narrow sound between Kükenthaløya and Spitsbergen. It is known for its violent tidal races.
Jean Vrolicq was a mariner from St-Jean-de-Luz in the first half of the 17th century. He served in the Danish, Dutch, and French whaling industries from 1619 to 1636, and later became a privateer.
Willem Cornelisz. van Muyden was an early 17th-century mariner. He is known in the Netherlands as De Eerste Walvisvanger (1613). Van Muydenbukta and Van Mijenfjorden on the west coast of Spitsbergen and Kapp Muyen on the west coast of Jan Mayen are named after him.
Engelskbukta is a broad, open bay mid-way up the west coast of the Norwegian island of Jan Mayen. It lies between Kapp Rudsen and Kvalrossen, comprising Kvalrossbukta and Tømmerbukta. Presumably this is where the English resorted to in 1616, when they sent their first whaling ships to the island. The Dutch whalers called it Noordbaai and used it for one of their two main whaling stations. In 1632 two Basque whaling ships plundered the station, causing the Dutch to send a wintering party of seven men in 1633–34. All perished.
Virgohamna is a small bay on the northern coast of Danes Island, an island off the northwestern coast of Spitsbergen. Spitsbergen and Danes Island are islands of the Svalbard archipelago. The bay is named after SS Virgo, the vessel of Swedish engineer and explorer Salomon August Andrée's 1896 expedition. Virgohamna is located across a small strait from Smeerenburg, a historical whaling station on Amsterdam Island about 2 km to the north.
William Goodlad was a 17th-century English whaler. He was admiral of the Muscovy Company's London whaling fleet for nearly two decades, participating in several of the disputes involving the right to catch whales in Spitsbergen. The Arctic explorer Luke Foxe, in writing about the early voyages to Spitsbergen, said of him: "... but this I leave to Capt. Goodlade [sic], whose great experience this way, and to the E.-ward thereof, is the best able to supply or confute, if he be pleased so to shew himselfe".
Coordinates: 77°40′N14°15′E / 77.667°N 14.250°E