Bear Island (Norway) - History

History

Seafarers of the Viking era may have known Bear Island, but the documented history begins in 1596, when Willem Barents sighted the island on his third expedition. He named this island "Vogel Eylandt", "Bird Island" in English. Steven Bennet conducted further exploration in 1603 and 1604 and noted the then rich population of walrus. Starting in the early 17th century, the island was used mainly as a base for the hunting of walrus and other seal species. Eggs of seabirds were harvested from the large bird colonies until 1971.

The Muscovy Company claimed Bear Island for the English Crown in 1609, but abandoned the site when walrus-hunting declined. A Russian settlement existed in the 18th century and its remains were later used as a basis for territorial claims by Imperial Russia in 1899 and again by the Soviet Union in 1947.

Bear Island has never been extensively settled. The remnants of a whaling station from the early 20th century can be seen at Kvalrossbukta ("walrus bay") in the southeast. From 1916 to 1925 coal was mined at a small settlement named Tunheim on the northeastern coast, but mining was given up as unprofitable. Due to the cold and dry climate, the remains of the settlement, including a half-destroyed jetty and a steam locomotive, are relatively well preserved.

The strategic value of Bear Island was recognised in the late 19th century, when Imperial Russia and Imperial Germany demonstrated their interests in the Barents Sea. The German journalist and adventurer Theodor Lerner visited the island in 1898 and 1899 and claimed rights of ownership. In 1899, the German fishery association Deutsche Seefischerei-Verein (DSV) started investigations of whaling and fishery in the Barents Sea. The DSV was secretly in contact with the German naval command and considered the possibility of an occupation of Bear Island. In reaction to these advances, the Russian Navy sent out the protected cruiser Svetlana to investigate, and the Russians hoisted their flag over Bear Island on July 21, 1899. Although Lerner protested the action, no violence occurred and the matter was settled diplomatically with no definitive claims of sovereignty over Bear Island by any nation.

The whole island was privately owned by the coal mining company Bjørnøen AS from 1918 to 1932, when the Norwegian state took over the shares. Bjørnøen AS now exists as a state owned company and is jointly managed with Kings Bay AS, the company that runs the operations of Ny-Ålesund on Spitsbergen. A Norwegian radio station (Bjørnøya Radio, callsign: LJB) was established in Herwighamna on the north coast in 1919. It was later extended to include a meteorological station.

As the shipping routes from the Atlantic Ocean to Murmansk and the ports of the White Sea pass through the Barents Sea, the waters near Bear Island were of great strategic importance in the Second World War as well as the Cold War. Although Svalbard was not occupied by Germany in the Second World War, German forces erected several weather stations there. An automated radio station was deployed on Bjørnøya in 1941. German forces attacked several arctic convoys with military supplies for the Soviet Union in the waters surrounding Bear Island. They inflicted heavy losses upon Convoy PQ-17 in June/July 1942 but were ineffective in the Battle of the Barents Sea on New Year's Eve 1942. The waters southeast of Bear Island were the scene of more naval battles in 1943. In November 1944, the Soviet Union proposed to annul the Svalbard Treaty with the intention of gaining sovereignty over Bear Island. Negotiations with Trygve Lie of the Norwegian government-in-exile had however not led to an agreement by the end of the Second World War and the Soviet proposals were never implemented. The Soviet Union (and later, Russia) maintained their presence on Spitsbergen, however.

In 2002 a nature reserve was established that covers all of the island, except 1.2 square kilometres (0.46 sq mi) around the meteorological station; the reserve also includes the adjacent waters to four nautical miles (7.4 kilometres (4.6 mi)) from the coast. In 2008 the decision was made to expand the reserve to 12 nautical miles (22 km) from the coast covering 177 square kilometres (68 sq mi) on land and 2,805 square kilometres (1,083 sq mi) of sea area. Today, the island's only inhabitants are the nine person staff of the Norwegian meteorological and radio station at Herwighamna. The station conducts meteorological observations and provides logistic and telecommunication services, including radio watch at HF channels 2182/2168 and VHF channels 16/12. Weather forecasts are transmitted from the station twice daily, announced on HF 2182/VHF 16. It also maintains landing platforms for use by helicopters of the Norwegian Coast Guard, the Norwegian 330 Squadron, and the Governor of Svalbard. The Norwegian Polar Institute conducts annual expeditions to Bear Island, mostly concerned with ornithological research. Several other research projects, mostly pertaining to geography and climatology, are carried out less regularly. There are very few opportunities for individual travel to Bjørnøya. A few yachts make landfall, usually en route between the Norwegian mainland and Spitsbergen. A small number of cruising ships have visited the island, but tourism is otherwise almost nonexistent.