Magdalenefjorden

Magdalenefjorden cuts about eight kilometres into the northwest corner of Spitsbergen, ringed by steep peaks and several glacier fronts that calve into it, and its sheltered water made it one of the most used anchorages in the Arctic from the seventeenth century onward. English and Dutch whalers worked here from the 1600s, and at Gravneset, a low spit at the fjord mouth, lie around a hundred and thirty graves of whalers buried in the permafrost, now a protected site with strict rules about where visitors may walk. Later polar expeditions used the fjord as a staging point. Today it is a standard landing on expedition cruises around Svalbard, with polar bear watch maintained ashore.

History

William Barents explored the fjord in 1596 and called it Tusk Bay after the walrus tusks he found. The English whaler Robert Fotherby entered it in 1614, claimed it for King James I and named it Maudlen Sound, and the English set up a whaling station in Trinity Harbor on what is now Gravneset, where the remains of four blubber ovens survive; the Dutch Abraham Goos called it Magdalenen sond in 1620 (Wikipedia, Magdalenefjorden).

What you'll find

• The calving glaciers - ice fronts dropping into the fjord.
• Gravneset - a protected whalers' burial ground on the spit.
• The peaks - steep mountains enclosing the fjord on both sides.
• The Arctic wildlife - seals, seabirds and, occasionally, polar bears.

When to go

June to August, the operating season for expedition ships; sea ice can block access early in the season and conditions vary year to year. The midnight sun runs from April to late August.

Before you go

Access is only by expedition cruise, which is expensive and books far ahead. Landings depend entirely on ice, weather and bear activity and are cancelled without notice. Walking is restricted to protect the graves and the fragile tundra, and armed guides are mandatory ashore.

Nearby

Ny-Alesund and the Kongsfjorden lie south; Longyearbyen is the main settlement and gateway.

Key facts