Fat city

Like dutiful little soldiers, we filed up to the bridge. Jørgen had called a meeting, forcing us to leave our microscopes for a minute. We expected some sort of lesson or exercise, but instead we were greeted by an incredible view. We were in Magdalenefjorden, on the northwest corner of Spitsbergen. 

Glacier in Smeerenburgfjorden

Magdalenefjorden has actually been voted the best place on Svalbard, and I have no trouble understanding why. It’s a short fjord, and it has steep sides dotted by glaciers. The glacier at the head of the fjord had a dramatic, high wall that was bright blue and jagged. Paul, the course leader, told us that if we just watched it for a few minutes, we were bound to see a piece break off.

We didn’t spend much time in Magdalenefjorden – just enough to take some sediment samples, enjoy the view, and move on. I would have happily stayed much longer, but alas, we had work to do.

Our next stop was Smeerenburgfjorden, which is named after the now-defunct Dutch whaling settlement that once sat at the mouth of the fjord. Smeerenburg translates to “fat city” because of all the whale blubber that was processed there. Apparently, in its day, Smeerenburg had about 300-400 people, and the town was surounded by giant boilers. Whale blubber was used as fuel to heat the whale meat, thereby releasing all the fat from it and making it edible. 

Walruses at Smeerenburg.

Most people lived in Smeerenburg during the summers, but a small faction stayed behind in the winters to defend the Dutch territory against attacks by the neighboring British and Danish settlements. Whaling was big business, and nations would do anything to increase their profits - including waging war in the Arctic. According to Jørgen, though, the Dutch crown had a hard time finding volunteers to overwinter in Smeerenburg, so they offered a deal to inmates on death row: survive one winter in Smeerengburg, and receive full pardon. The inmates refused the deal. 

While we were in Smeerenburgfjorden, we found a little fat of our own: a group of walruses were lounging on a sandbar in the middle of the fjord. The sandbar was actually the former site of Smeerenburg, the whaling settlement, as marked by the orange tent in the photo. It was really neat to watch them, and this was the first time I've ever seen walruses in person. Northwest Spitsbergen is a beautiful corner of the world.