Longyearbyen · 78.22 N 15.63 E

Svalbard Wire

Est. 2026

Everything said about Svalbard, in one place

Monday 11 November 2024Before the Wire, which starts 26 October 2026Updated 23:59

Daylight on 11 November: none, polar night, day 17. Polar night, day 17 of 112. The sun returns 15 February.

Polar night, day 17 of 112. The sun returns 15 February.

Svalbard Wire starts on 26 October 2026. Pages before that date show the history of the island.

History

The island's past

This week in history, 12 November

1942

Shipwrecked crews land at Kapp Linné and Hopen

On 12 November 1942 a lifeboat from the British steamer Chulmleigh, wrecked on a reef off Sørkapp, was thrown ashore at Kapp Linné, at the mouth of Isfjorden; nine of its men were found alive there by a Norwegian patrol on 2 January 1943. On 14 November a lifeboat from the Soviet steamer Dekabrist landed on Hopen, where four of its crew lived through the winter.

History Store norske leksikon

From the timeline, Hunting and expeditions

1795

First Norwegian wintering

The first Norwegian wintering hunting expedition to Svalbard is held to have taken place in 1795 and 1796. Hunting only got properly under way about twenty-five years later.

History Store norske leksikon

The timeline by era

  1. 1596Discovery and whaling, 3 entries
  2. 1715Hunting and expeditions, 4 entries
  3. 1905The coal town, 6 entries
  4. 1920The Svalbard Treaty, 4 entries
  5. 1941War and rebuilding, 4 entries
  6. 1975The modern town, 3 entries
  7. 2015The present transition, 6 entries

Open the history of Svalbard, 30 entries in 7 eras