Carey Islands
Native name:
Kitsissut
View of Björling Island
Carey Islands is located in Greenland
Carey Islands
Carey Islands
Carey Islands (Greenland)
Geography
LocationBaffin Bay, Greenland
Coordinates76°40′00″N 72°30′00″W / 76.666667°N 72.5°W / 76.666667; -72.5
ArchipelagoCarey Islands
Total islands6
Major islandsNordvestø
Highest elevation300 m (1000 ft)
Administration
Greenland
MunicipalityAvannaata
Demographics
Populationuninhabited
Carey Islands is located in Thule, Greenland
Carey Islands
Location of the Carey Islands

The Carey Islands (Danish: Carey Øer; Greenlandic: Kitsissut) are an island group off Baffin Bay, in Avannaata municipality, northwest Greenland. Located relatively far offshore the Carey Islands are the westernmost point of Greenland as a territory. The sea surrounding the islands is clogged by ice most of the year.

Geography

The archipelago consists of six desolate islands, a few small islets and a number of rocks awash.[1] It is located about 100 kilometres (62 mi) to the west of Thule Air Base and 50 kilometres (31 mi) to the SW of Cape Parry.[2]

The nearest settlement is Moriusaq to the east on the coast of Greenland, abandoned since 2007.

Islands

Main islands

  • Nordvestø, Isbjørneø and Mellemø form a compact cluster at the NW end of the archipelago.
    • Nordvestø, the biggest island with a length of 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) and a width of nearly 3 kilometres (1.9 mi). This island's western landhead is the westernmost point of Greenland. Its highest point is 225 metres (738 ft).
    • Isbjørneø and Mellemø, lying close to the east and forming a natural harbour between them and Nordvestø.
  • Bordø and Björlingø, located further to the east; the latter has a 300 metres (980 ft) high peak and is named after Johan Alfred Björling.
  • Fireø, lying in the southern area of the group.

Islets

  • Hollænderhatten and Tyreøjet are two small islets to the east of Fireø having a diameter of a few hundred metres. there are also numerous other islets and rocks, especially in the western sector of the archipelago.[3]

Important Bird Area

The island group has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a breeding population of some 6,700 pairs of thick-billed murres, as well as other seabirds including glaucous gulls, razorbills, black guillemots and Atlantic puffins.[4]

History

The islands had been inhabited by the Inuit in the past; remains of their dwellings were found by Clements Markham in August 1851.[5]

The Carey Islands' were named by the 1616 Bylot-Baffin Arctic expedition after Allwin Carey, one of the financiers of the venture.[6]

Swedish naturalists Alfred Björling and Evald Kallstenius stopped at the Carey Islands in 1892 during an expedition on schooner Ripple to pick up supplies at a cache there. The Ripple, however, was driven on shore and wrecked. The men attempted to sail a small sloop back to Etah, but were forced to return to the Carey Islands.[7]

According to letters left by members of the ill-fated expedition in a cairn on the islands, the remaining four men attempted to sail their open boat 80 miles to Ellesmere Island:

Forced by bad weather to linger on this island for a long time, I now set out on the tour to the Eskimos... on Ellesmere Island. As I hope that a whaler will visit the Carey Islands next summer to rescue me and my companions, I will try to reach the islands again before July 1. We are now five men, of which one is dying.[8]

In June 1893, the crew of the Scottish whaler Aurora spotted a wreck on the Carey Islands. They found the Ripple, a man's body buried under a pile of stones, and Björling's letters.[8] No trace of the other four men, or the small boat, was ever found.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Carey Øer". Mapcarta. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  2. ↑ Carey Islands, Greenland
  3. ↑ Sailing Directions (Enroute), Pub. 181: Greenland and Iceland (PDF). Sailing Directions. United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. 2017. p. 70.
  4. ↑ "Carey Islands". BirdLife Data Zone. BirdLife International. 2021. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  5. ↑ Clements Robert Markham: Franklin’s footsteps. Chapman and Hall, London 1853, p. 115.
  6. ↑ Thomas Rundall. Narratives of Voyages towards the North-west, in search of a Passage to Cathay and India, 1496 to 1631. The Hakluyt Society, London 1849, S. 141.
  7. ↑ Mowat, Farley (1967). The Polar Passion: The Quest for the North Pole. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Limited.
  8. 1 2 Harper, Ken. (Oct 7, 2005) Nunatsiaq News: "Taissumani: A Day in Arctic History Oct. 12, 1892 - The Disappearance of Bjorling and Kallstenius"
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