Had some sleep as we spent some time overnight in the bay without movement then awoke when we set off before 3am.
After breakfast we did a split landing where some of us went zodiac cruising to a historic site where there was an attempt by the Swedish team lead by Andre to take a hot air Balloon over the North Pole .
I was part of the group that went to check out the few walruses on the beach on Smeerenberg (Grease mountain from Dutch).
We only got about 50-70m away from the group of walruses , so that was a bit far . I thought we would be able to get much closer while keeping at least 2m away from wildlife rule.
There were also a few swimming around in the water.
After this Ben, our historian on-board, gave us a run down of the history of Smeerenberg from the 1600s. It follows below.
“Smeer” is Dutch for blubber or blubber town. It was a centre for whaling in 16th century. Established in 1614 by Dutch.
1492 the pope divided the world in half : Spanish got one half and Portuguese the other. Dutch and British were more global and not happy – they had to pay taxes where they went. Looked for ways around it. This lead to the exploration through /around the NW PASSAGE.
William Barentz discovered 1596 Svalbard. He checked for economic potential. In the European Bay of Bisque whaling had been happening for 150 years already by the Basques – Inventors of whaling so to speak.
Main species hunted was the bow head because the whale floats due to high blubber content and slow swimmers. They were hauled in entirely by human power.
The bay was ice free most of the year which allowed the whales to come in and out. The whole area is also surrounded by polar bears -which became a bit of a pest to the hunters. Carcasses left in bay and birds fed on them as well as polar bears .
Hunting of whales:
- Transport by ship, bring workers 5-6 small whaling boats to the shallows.
- Rowed by whalers
- The technology didn’t change until 1657 when the harpoon was invented
- Whales run rope out. Tie to boat then line all up. Whale would dive down . No dorsal fin to go under ice. Would try to find ice sheet to go under it to save themselves
- Attach barrel to line before chopping it off if required.
- Cut up whale using flensing knives, cut into flitches.
Attach to ship, turn around and around.
Blubber pots on shore. 6-7 Dutch companies on shore. Competing with other nations. Use coal for fire.
Little fort with cannons . 200 people on shore in summer.
By 1640 , 25 years , whaling finished on shore. Had to move off shore.
15,000 walrus here when island discovered, now very few.
Baleen used in coil, freeze in whale meat, then take out as polar bear trap.
Polar bears eat and it will spring open in stomach and die.
1% of value as payment no salary.
The people came as last resort poor people. Criminals used to look after the area when no one here as English raided the place. But they didn’t want to stay. Many explorers’ used criminals as crew.
Site was abandoned 1640
Approx. killed 100,000 bow head over 150 years in whole Arctic.
After the history lesson we went for a zodiac cruise across the bay to Virgo Hamna, where the hot air balloon attempt across the North Pole was to be taken from. In summary it was an epic fail. Story in more detail, below.
Andre, (Swedish), wanted to fly over north pole in late 1890s. he used metal and acids for making of hydrogen.
Balloon was lined with felt and a storage shed was built for protection of balloon
1896 winds were from north so couldn’t head north
1897 take #2 . Cape Canaveral. Hydrogen balloon expected to hold hydrogen for 30 days. This was not realistic – only 15 to 20 days was the real-life situation.
Hoping to steer balloon with heavy ropes and cook using a primus stove. He couldn’t use on the balloon though , so dropped 8m on rope and cooked with the use of a mirror to see what he was doing.
Lost 500kg of ropes. Threw 200kg of ballast over . Just goes up in winds. Higher up and never seen again.
Aug 1939. Kvitoya, White Island. Buried in snow remnants. From Logs , crashed 2 days later. Made way across ice . Just survived a few months.
33 years later discovered.
Balloon was called the Eagle. Movie from 60s : Flight of the Eagle.
We came back on board for lunch and were due to have some time off until our next landing at Ytre Norskoya, a historic whaling station site and graveyard site.
As we got into our relaxation state, the expedition leader, Howard , made an announcement that polar bears were spotted very nearby and we were going to be zodiac cruising passed them and to be ready ASAP.
We hopped on to the zodiacs and were off. There was a mamma bear with an older cub as well as another adult bear, of unknown sex. They were nice visible from in the water, though a little far. The separate adult bear was eating something and then disappeared into the little valley, behind some rocks.
The mom and cub were lying next to one another then on their feet and walking around. Good to see them interacting.
We did do circles in the water with all our zodiacs so everyone got a turn to see them
However with the polar bears nearby , relatively speaking, our landing on Ytre Norskoya was cancelled and we did a zodiac cruise around it instead. We hoped to see puffins on the cliffs but no luck! There were many cute auks that made an appearance, so they were fun too.
We got back onto the ship for some free time.
A little later , Howard, made the announcement that we had our first Covid case on-board and that we need to wear masks.
After dinner Denise and I went straight to the sauna and the into the jacuzzi. While we were in there we arrived at Moffen Island, a rather strange sand spit island that had quiet a few walruses on the beach. It is a reserve, so no zodiacs, we just checked them out from a distance. We were hoping that the captain would spin is around so we can view walruses from the jacuzzi, but no such luck!! So had to hop out, put on a robe and quickly go check them out , to the dismay of all the other rugged up guests !!
