page_title: History of Ny-Ålesund
section_title: Establishment
hierarchical_section_title: History of Ny-Ålesund / Establishment
caption_attribution_description: Dampskuffen som lesser kullet fra lageret opp i jernbanevognene. Skuffen tar 3 kbm. Arkivref.: PA-1632D1_2_10 Foto: Sigvald Moa
context_page_description: Ny-Ålesund was first discovered in 1610, when coal deposits were discovered around Kongsfjorden. Not until the 1860s were they investigated more carefully. Ålesund-based Peter Brandal bought the claims in 1916 and established the company Kings Bay. The town, originally known as Brandal City and Kings Bay, was founded that summer when coal mining commenced. The first research installation, a geophysical station at Kvadehuken, was established in 1920. The mining was soon unprofitable and was kept running through state subsidies. In the mid-1920s the town was used for a series of airship expeditions towards the North Pole.
  Mining operations shut down in 1929 and Kings Bay was nationalized. The town was maintained during the 1930s, when saw the installation of a fisheries station and the establishment of a tourist hotel. The town was resettled with miners on 7 May 1940, just to experience an evacuation in August 1941. Miners returned on 13 August 1945 and the town was gradually expanded, including construction of a school, and new mines were opened. During the late 1950s Norsk Polar Navigasjon attempted to build an airport, but never received permission.
context_section_description: The coal deposits at Kongsfjorden were first discovered by Jonas Poole during a whaling expedition in the area in 1610. They did not receive more careful analysis until 1861, when Christian Wilhelm Blomstrand on Otto Torell's expedition carried out surveys. Additional samples were collected by a Swedish expedition in 1870. A/S Bergen–Spitsbergen Kulgrubekompani was founded in 1901 and, led by Skipper Bernhard Pedersen, laid claims at both Kings Bay and Adventfjorden. The claims at Kings Bay were never properly followed up as the company instead chose to focus on its other find. Ernest Mansfield claimed to have made claims to coal fields on the south side of Kongsfjorden in 1905 and 1906, which were sold to The Northern Exploration Co. Ltd. in 1910. During a scientific expedition in 1909 and 1910, later professor Olaf Holterdahl conducted geological sampling. In the ensuing five years, Green Harbour Coal Co. sent expeditions from Green Harbour. This included the construction of a test shaft. A hut was built in 1912 by the expedition on MK Onsø.
  Green Harbour's owner, Christian Anker, died in 1912. The estate unsuccessfully attempted to sell the claim for four years. In the end it proposed that Ålesund Municipality buy the rights. At this point Ålesund shipper Peter Brandal was desperately looking for a source of coal, as he had been black-listed by the United Kingdom. The rights cost 250,000 Norwegian krone (NOK). Brandal dispatched two ships and sixty men to Kings Bay for the summer of 1916. They arrived on 21 July and immediately started breaking surface coal and in the shaft. In the latter alone the first expedition succeeded at collecting 300 tonnes. Brandal formally transferred the ownership of the claims to the newly established company Kings Bay Kull Comp. A/S on 14 December 1916. In addition to Brandal, it was owned by M. Knutsen, Trygve Klausen and Tryge Jervell and the company received a share capital of NOK 500,000. The company set up its offices in Kristiania (Oslo), although they moved to Ålesund within a year.
  Jens K. Bay was hired as the first managing director. Thirty people were sent by SS Carl to Kings Bay for the 1917 season. Planning of the mining community started, first with the site of the town. SS Deneb arrived with 100 men and supplies such as railway tracks and two locomotives on 26 August. By winter thirteen buildings had been erected and2.2 kilometers (1.4 mi) of railway laid. The company was not permitted to erect a radio telegraphy station. This caused communications to have to be sent by skiers by land to Longyearbyen, which resulted in an amputation in February 1918. The company therefore pressed for permission to establish a telegraphy station. A post office opened in 1918.
  Sixty-four people stayed the winter of 1917–18, with mining being carried out in the Agnes Mine. They were supplemented from May 1918, bringing the summer population to 300. Jervell sold his shares to the other owners on 2 April. The 1918 season saw twenty shipments and the arrival of a third locomotive. Nine additional buildings were constructed, and the Advokaten Mine was opened. The winter of 1918–19 saw 143 people stay the winter, rising to 250 the following summer. During the first years several names were in use for the settlement, including Kings Bay, Kingsbay and Brandal City. Ny-Ålesund came into use in the early 1920s and was soon the official name of the settlement.
caption: Loading equipment in the early years
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