Carey Islands

The Carey Islands (Danish: Carey Øer; Greenlandic: Kitsissut) are an island group off Baffin Bay, in the Avannaata municipality, NW 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.

This article is about the island group in Greenland. For the island in Canada, see Carey Island (Nunavut). For the island in Malaysia, see Carey Island.
Carey Islands
Native name:
Kitsissut
View of Björling Island
Carey Islands
Carey Islands (Greenland)
Geography
LocationBaffin Bay, Greenland
Coordinates76.666667°N 72.5°W / 76.666667; -72.5
ArchipelagoCarey Islands
Total islands6
Major islandsNordvestø
Highest elevation300 m (1000 ft)
Administration
Greenland
MunicipalityAvannaata
Demographics
Populationuninhabited
Location of the Carey Islands

Geography

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

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

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 km and a width of nearly 3 km. This island's western landhead is the westernmost point of Greenland. Its highest point is 225 m.
    • 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 m 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]

History

The islands had been inhabited by the Inuit in the past; remains of their dwellings were found by Clements Markham in August 1851.[4]

The Carey Islands' were named by the 1616 Bylot-Baffin Arctic expedition after Allwin Carey, one of the financiers of the venture.[5]

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.[6]

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.[7]

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.[7] 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. Clements Robert Markham: Franklin’s footsteps. Chapman and Hall, London 1853, p. 115.
  5. 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.
  6. Mowat, Farley (1967). The Polar Passion: The Quest for the North Pole. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Limited.
  7. 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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