Brock Island
Brock Island, Northwest Territories | |
Brock Island Brock Island | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Northern Canada |
| Coordinates | 77°51′N 114°27′W / 77.850°N 114.450°W |
| Archipelago | Queen Elizabeth Islands Arctic Archipelago |
| Area | 764 km2 (295 sq mi) |
| Length | 41 km (25.5 mi) |
| Width | 39 km (24.2 mi) |
| Administration | |
Canada | |
| Territory | Northwest Territories |
| Demographics | |
| Population | Uninhabited |
Brock Island is one of the uninhabited members of the Queen Elizabeth Islands of the Arctic Archipelago located in the Northwest Territories, Canada. Located at 77°51'N 114°27'W, it measures 764 km2 (295 sq mi) in size and lies close to Mackenzie King Island. The first known sighting of the island by a European was by Vilhjalmur Stefansson in 1915 and it was later named for Reginald W. Brock, Dean of Applied Science at the University of British Columbia.[1]
Ireland's Eye
Ireland's Eye was described as an uninhabited islet located about 300 m in diameter about 15 km east of Brock Island. It was identified in 1853 between the 12th and 15th of June, by Leopold McClintock during a sledging expedition which branched from the Admiralty's 1852 Expedition.[2] During the 105 days of sledging, McClintock traveled 1210 miles. During this expedition, he charted the west coast of Prince Patrick Island and Ireland's Eye, the northernmost point of McClintock's travels. It was described as being composed of gravel and fragments of large gneiss.[2]
The islet was named after Ireland's Eye, an island 40 miles away from McClintock's birthplace of Dundalk.[3] The name was later confirmed on December 31st, 1910.[4]
However, during the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913–1916, as Vilhjalmur Stefansson explored what was called "First Land", an island later named Brock Island,[5] Stefansson did not find Ireland's Eye; other than reefs synonymous with the rest of the Polynia Islands, there was a lack of geographic landmarks aligning with what McClintock described.[6] In an analysis of Stefansson's expedition from F.A. McDiarmid in 1923, he believed that the Ireland's Eye discovered by McClintock was actually a part of Brock Island due to the mist obscuring the area and the unavailability of observational equipment.[7] Despite the doubts which painted Ireland's Eye as a non-independent landmark of the Arctic, the evidence McDiarmid proposed was inconclusive in proving that Ireland's Eye was in fact a portion of Brock Island.[7]
References
- ^ Stefansson, Vilhjalmur (1922). The Friendly Arctic: The Story of Five Years in Polar Regions. New York: Macmillan.
- ^ a b McClintock, Francis Leopold; Haughton, Samuel (1858). Reminiscences of Arctic ice-travel in search of Sir John Franklin and his companions / by F.L. M'Clintock. With Geological notes and illustrations / by Samuel Haughton [microform] : being the substance of two papers, one read by the former on Jan. 25, and the other by the latter on May 27, 1856. Canadiana.org. s.n. p. 228. ISBN 9780665375446.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - ^ Government of Northwest Territories, Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre (January 2017). "Gazetteer of the Northwest Territories" (PDF). www.ece.gov.nt.ca/en. Northwest Territories Education, Culture, and Employment. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 April 2025. Retrieved September 17, 2025.
- ^ Government of Canada, Natural Resources Canada. "Place names - Ireland's Eye". geonames.nrcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2025-12-19.
- ^ McDiarmid, F. A. (1923). "Geographical Determinations of the Canadian Arctic Expedition". The Geographical Journal. 62 (4): 293–302. doi:10.2307/1781022. ISSN 0016-7398.
- ^ Stefansson, Vilhjalmur (1921). The Friendly Arctic : The Story of Five Years in Polar Regions. Harvard University. New York: Macmillan. p. 325.
- ^ a b "The Geographical Work of the Canadian Arctic Expedition". The Geographical Journal. 65 (4): 340–342. 1925. doi:10.2307/1782526. ISSN 0016-7398.
External links
- Brock Island in the Atlas of Canada - Toporama; Natural Resources Canada