:''There is also a

fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

named "Kobbefjord" southeast of

Nuuk Nuuk (; , formerly ) is the capital and most populous city of Greenland, an autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the territory's largest cultural and economic center. It is also the seat of gove ...

, (Greenland).'' Kobbefjorden ( English: ''Seal Fjord'') is a small fjord on the west coast of Danes Island, on the northwestern coast of

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipel ...

, the largest island of the

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

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 ("Seal Fjord Valley"), which leads to the east coast of Danes Island. Kobbefjorden's southwesternmost point is Luftskipodden ("Airship Point"). Sir Martin Conway, on his visit to Spitsbergen in 1896–97, described the fjord as having "ice-smoothed hills of hehardest rock."

History

Kobbefjorden is merely a translation of the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

term for the fjord, ''Robbe Baai'' ("Seal Bay"), which appeared on

maps from Michiel Hsz. Middelhoven's (1634) to that of

Cornelis Giles Cornelis Giles (in Dutch: Cornelis Cornelisz. Gielis; – 2 July 1722) was a Dutch whaler, navigator, cartographer, and polar explorer. Life As a whaler in 1707, Giles traveled north of Nordaustlandet in Svalbard, and managed to reach a d ...

and Outger Rep (c. 1710). The latter men added the alternative name ''Danes Bay'', which Cornelis Gisbert Zorgdrager (1720) and

William Scoresby William Scoresby (5 October 178921 March 1857) was an English whaler, Arctic explorer, scientist and clergyman. Early years Scoresby was born in the village of Cropton near Pickering south-west of Whitby in Yorkshire. His father, Willia ...

(1820) copied. The Danes established a

whaling Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...

station here in 1631, which was used until 1658. They called it ''Københavns Bay''. The French, who called the bay ''Port St. Pierre'', also attempted to use the bay as a base for whaling in 1632 and 1633, but were driven away by the Dutch. French and Dutch whaleships were held captive here by Danish warships in 1637 and 1638. Later a post office was established by whalers on a small, low island at the entrance of the fjord, called Postholmen ("Post Office Island").

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (; 18 November 183212 August 1901) was a Finland-Swedish aristocrat, geologist, mineralogist and Arctic explorer. He was a member of the noble Nordenskiöld family of scientists and held the title of a friherre (ba ...

, during some of his voyages to Spitsbergen, used Kobbefjorden as a port of refuge. In late May 1861 one of his expeditions spent several days anchored in the fjord, before attempting a passage north of Spitsbergen. In early September one of the expedition's vessels returned to the fjord on the heels of a coming storm. During their earlier visit, they had found a fresh-water lake covered with six feet of ice; it was now free of ice. The ship anchored here for several days, waiting for the storm to abate. In 1868, Nordenskiöld had planned to wait at Kobbefjorden "for a favourable opportunity at the end of September or during October for sailing northwards" of Spitsbergen. On August 23, his ship, the ''Sofia'', left a number of naturalists ashore within the fjord, before sailing north to review the state of the pack-ice. The ''Sofia'' returned to the fjord several days later, "where a violent snowstorm had almost put a stop to the work of the party that was left behind, but did not prevent a series of magnetic observations from being taken and some hitherto unknown insects eingdiscovered." The ''Sofia'' left Kobbefjorden on August 31. She returned to the fjord on September 29, where she took "on board the remainder of the coal lying there". The ship left on October 1, again attempting to sail further north of Spitsbergen.Leslie (1879), p. 149.

Footnotes

References

* * * * * * Norwegian Polar Institut
Place Names of Svalbard Database
{{Coord, 79, 41, 42, N, 10, 49, 06, E, display=title Fjords of Svalbard Former populated places in Svalbard Whaling in Denmark Danskøya Landforms of Spitsbergen