Camp Morton () was a coal mining encampment in Svalbard, on the island of Spitsbergen. It was located on the northern shores of Van Mijenfjorden, near the sea entrance. It was set up at the end of the 19th century by Ernest Mansfield, who owned a coalmine by Kolfjellet, and had a series of mining camps erected there. The installation was called Camp Morton, after Sholto Douglas, 19th Earl of Morton.[1]
In 1901 Ivar Stenehjem, a merchant, got funding for a couple of expeditions to Spitsbergen with the help of ship-owner Christian Michelsen from Bergen. Michelsen later became Norway’s first prime minister in 1905. At Camp Morton, Stenehjem built a large timber building called Michelsenhuset, which is still standing today[2].
Along the west coast of Spitsbergen there are cabins in various states of repair that were built by, on behalf of or with funding from Mansfield and the Northern Exploration Company Ltd. Some of these were named after investors and family members: Camp Mansfield, Camp Zoe, (Mansfield’s daughter), as was Camp Morton, after the Earl of Morton.
Two cabins and the remains of mining equipment can still be seen.