Black gold in Brandal City
In 1916, Peter S. Brandal received an offer to purchase rights to extract coal in what later became Kings Bay Coal Company in Brandal City, or Ny-Ålesund as the town is called today.
A separate section in the museum tells the story of this, and also of other polar expeditions that set out from Brandal City and Ny-Ålesund.
The seal hunting industry had now (in 1916) established itself and they were selling their products throughout Europe. It was in the middle of the First World War, and the sealers were short of coal for their ships. The situation was untenable, and made it necessary for the sealers to secure a stable supply of coal for their ships. They had visited Kings Bay on Spitsbergen several times, and showed that there was coal to be had here. In 1916, Peter S. Brandal received an offer to buy the rights in Kings Bay, and then there was no doubt. Peter S. Brandal equipped his two ships "Polaris" and "Signalhorn" and set off for Kings Bay to investigate the matter. The expedition was successful and they returned with 300 tons of coal. He also named the place Brandal City. Peter found that it was important to act quickly, and once home he had all the rights, and the Brandal City name, transferred to himself.
After a while he found out that if he wanted to continue this, he would have to bring more enterprising people and more capital. He brought with him Michael Knutsen – who was also an Arctic ocean shipowner, Trygve Klausen the skilled and competent lawyer and Trygve Jervell. The rights were now transferred to a new company called; Kings Bay Kull Comp. A/S, and three years later the name of the town changed from Brandal City to Ny-Ålesund. The company continued to operate with coal mining until the great accident in 1962.
