It was part of an effort by British investors and entrepreneurs to extract resources from Spitsbergen, at that time open to various nations' claims for development.
A major backer of the Spitzbergen Mining and Exploration Syndicate (SMES) was Sholto Douglas, 19th Earl of Morton, and the camp was named for him.
About half of the huts owned by NEC remain; the major building, now called Camp Morton, has been restored by the Norwegian government.
[1] In the early 20th century, Spitsbergen, in the archipelago now known as Svalbard, became a site for resource extraction and development north of the coast of Norway, then under Danish rule.
One of the British companies was Spitzbergen Coal and Mineral Ltd of London, one of whose major investors was Sholto Douglas, 19th Earl of Morton.
In 1932 the investors sold the Northern Exploration Company to the Norwegian government; its total property included 58 huts.