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

Do you agree that spitsbergen-svalbard.com is a gre­at re­source for any arc­tic enthu­si­ast?

Ever­ything is avail­ab­le for free, no pay­wall, no regis­tra­ti­on, no paid adver­ti­sing, and all this in spi­te of con­stant cos­ts and effort. Plea­se help us to keep it that way, without pay­wall and paid ads, and sup­port us through Steady!

By the way, my new book is in print and it can now be orde­red 🙂 it is a pho­to book with the tit­le “Nor­we­gens ark­ti­scher Nor­den (3): Die Bären­in­sel und Jan May­en”, with Ger­man text Click here for fur­ther details!