Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Opposite the entrance rise some crowded bird cliffs overlooking one of Svalbard's most
verdant spots, with flowers, moss and even grasses.
Danskøya
One of the most intriguing sites in northwest Spitsbergen is Virgohamna, on the bleak,
gravely island of Danskøya, where the remains of several broken dreams now lie scattered
acrossthelonelybeach.Amongthemaretheruinsofthreeblubberstovesfroma17th-cen-
tury whaling station, as well as eight stone-covered graves from the same era. You'll also
find the remains of a cottage built by English adventurer Arnold Pike, who sailed north in
his yacht
Siggen
and spent a winter subsisting on polar bears and reindeer.
ThenextadventureratVirgohamnawasSwedishengineerSalomonAugustAndrée,who
in the summer of 1897 set off from Virgohamna in an airship, hoping to reach the North
Pole. The fate of his expedition wasn't known until 1930, when sailors from a seal-hunting
ship put ashore and stumbled across their last site on Kvitøya.
Then, in 1906, journalist Walter Wellman, who was sponsored by a US newspaper, at-
tempted to reach the North Pole in an airship but failed. Next year, when he returned to
try again, his ship was badly damaged in a storm. On his third attempt, in 1909, he floated
to within 60km of the pole, met with technical problems and gave up for good; mainly
because he'd heard that Robert Peary had already reached the pole anyway (although that
claim is now largely discredited). All of the remaining junk (including dozens of rusted
44-gallon fuel drums) is protected. Erosion damage, caused by the few visitors who man-
age to get here, has been considerable, so do the right thing and stick strictly to the marked
paths.
Moffen Island
Gravelly Moffen Island is known for its walrus population, though the 300m boat-exclu-
sion zone around the island means that any views of these great beasts is distant at best.
