Hopen: dis­co­ve­rer Mar­ma­du­ke final­ly on the map

The litt­le island Hopen in sou­the­as­tern Sval­bard was, as far as known, dis­co­ver­ed in 1613 by the Eng­lish wha­ler Tho­mas Mar­ma­du­ke. The island was sub­se­quent­ly named after his ship, the Hope­well, but the name of the dis­co­ve­rer did not make it on the map.

This scan­dal has caught the atten­ti­on of the crew of the Nor­we­gi­an wea­ther on Hopen, who deci­ded, in the year of the 400th anni­ver­sa­ry of the dis­co­very, to file a request to the Nor­we­gi­an Polar Insti­tu­te (NPI) to get some­thing done about it. It was the sta­ti­on cook who sent the appli­ca­ti­on, and an appro­pria­te, as so far name­l­ess, topo­gra­phic fea­ture was duly found: a litt­le gul­ly on the west side of the island, just a few hundred met­res from the sta­ti­on. The name giving com­mit­tee of the NPI agreed, and the gul­ly in ques­ti­on bears now offi­ci­al­ly the name Mar­ma­du­kes­ka­ret (Mar­ma­du­ke gul­ly).

The name giving com­mit­tee meets twice every year to deci­de offi­ci­al­ly about new place names which then appear on the topo­gra­phic map. Basi­cal­ly, ever­y­bo­dy can file sug­ges­ti­ons. Names of living per­sons have, howe­ver, hard­ly any chan­ce to be accept­ed.

Source: Hopen­me­teo

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