Ireland's Eye, Northwest Territories
Ireland's Eye Ireland's Eye | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Northern Canada |
| Coordinates | 77°51′03″N 115°31′12″W / 77.8508°N 115.52°W |
| Archipelago | Queen Elizabeth Islands Arctic Archipelago |
| Administration | |
Canada | |
| Territory | Northwest Territories |
Ireland's Eye is an uninhabited islet located in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is located at 77°51′3″N, 115°31′12″ W, and is about 300 m in diameter. It is the northernmost island of the Polynia Islands, and lays 15 km east of Brock Island. It is located in the 77th parallel north. It was discovered in 1853 between the 12th and 15th of June, by Leopold McClintock during a sledging expedition which branched from the Admiralty's 1852 Expedition.[1] 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.
The island was named after Ireland's Eye, an island 40 miles away from McClintock's birthplace of Dundalk.[2] The name was later confirmed on December 31st, 1910.[3]
Geography
The island is composed of gravel and fragments of large gneiss.[1]
Contestation
During the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913–1916, Vilhjalmur Stefansson explored what was called "First Land", an island later named Brock Island.[4] In his journal, 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.[5] 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.[6] 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.[6]
References
- ^ 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.