Four Russian sailors were marooned on Edgeøya, or a small island off the coast of Edgeøya, from 1743 until September 1749. Three survived to tell an epic tale of survival. Author David Roberts wrote a book about his research on this story, Four Against The Arctic. He concluded, although not definitively, that the men were probably on a small island to the southeast of Edgeøya called Halvmåneøya, or Half Moon Island. While no major settlement grew upon Edgeøya, whaling and walrus hunting were extensive industries in the area. Remains of these can be found offshore of Edgeøya, on Bölscheøya in the Thousand Islands group. Geography and ecology Edgeøya is located at geographical co-ordinates . To the west lies Storfjorden, which separates Edgeøya from Spitsbergen. To the north, the sound known as Freemansundet lies between Edgeøya and Barentsøya. In the northeast, Olgastretet separates Edgeøya from Kong Karls Land. Minor island groups lay to the east (Ryke Yseøyane) and to the south (Thousand Islands). The island's south coast in indented by its largest fjord, Tjuvfjorden. The island's northernmost point is Kapp Heuglin, a cape named in August 1870 for the German explorer Theodor von Heuglin (1824–76), during the Heuglin-Zeil expedition. Geologically, the island resembles central Spitsbergen, with Mesozoic rocks (specifically, Triassic shales with subordinate sandstones, with occasional diabase intrusions, and, in the southwest, strata from the Jurassic), the effects of glacial erosion, and appearance of polar ice caps. On the eastern side of the island is the large glacier of Edgeøyjøkulen. Along with Barentsøya and some of the neighbouring islands, Edgeøya forms part of South East Svalbard Nature Reserve, established by the Norwegian government in 1973. There is a significant reindeer population, and the island is an important site for polar bear reproduction; moreover, the polar bear population in this Barents Sea area is a unique deme (unique genetic population). In popular culture Edgeøya is the setting for the novel The Solitude of Thomas Cave (2007), by Georgina Harding, in which the title character, on a wager, successfully over-winters on the island in 1616–17. It is also the setting for the book Four Against the Arctic by David Roberts, which tells the true story of 4 Pomory sailors who spent 6 years on the island after their ship was destroyed. See also List of islands of Norway Line notes References Kapp Heuglin in the Svalbard place names database, Norwegian Polar Institute (URL