Cumberland Sound (french: Baie Cumberland;

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

: ''Kangiqtualuk'') is an Arctic waterway in

Qikiqtaaluk Region The Qikiqtaaluk Region, Qikiqtani Region (Inuktitut syllabics: ᕿᑭᖅᑖᓗᒃ ) or Baffin Region is the easternmost, northernmost, and southernmost administrative region of Nunavut, Canada. Qikiqtaaluk is the traditional Inuktitut name f ...

Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' ...

, Canada. It is a western arm of the

Labrador Sea The Labrador Sea (French: ''mer du Labrador'', Danish: ''Labradorhavet'') is an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean between the Labrador Peninsula and Greenland. The sea is flanked by continental shelf, continental shelves to the southwest, northwest, ...

located between

Baffin Island Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is , slightly larger than Spain; its population was 13,039 as of the 2021 Canadia ...

Hall Peninsula The Hall Peninsula is a peninsula on the southern end of Baffin Island, in Nunavut, Canada. It lies between Frobisher Bay on the west, and the Cumberland Sound on the east between 62°40'N and 65°10'W. The Hall Peninsula is part of the Arctic Tundr ...

and the

Cumberland Peninsula Cumberland Peninsula is a peninsula in the southeastern part of Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. It is located between 64°56' and 67°57' north latitude, and 61°56' to 68° west longitude. The Arctic Circle crosses the peninsula, with the Labr ...

. It is approximately long and wide. Other names are ''Cumberland Straits,'' ''Hogarth Sound'', and ''Northumberland Inlet.''

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

is ᚠᛁᛋᚦᚱᛁ ᚢᛒᚢᚴᚦᛁᛦ, fisþri ubukþiR. Small islands litter the stretch of water which was formed from glacial activity and

meltwater Meltwater is water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glacial ice, tabular icebergs and ice shelves over oceans. Meltwater is often found in the ablation zone of glaciers, where the rate of snow cover is reducing. Meltwater can be ...

produced from the receding

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

. The only settlement located on the shore of the sound on the Cumberland Peninsula is

Pangnirtung Pangnirtung (or Pang, also Pangniqtuuq, in syllabics: ᐸᖕᓂᖅᑑᖅ ) is an Inuit hamlet, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, located on Baffin Island. Pangnirtung is situated on a coastal plain at the coast of ...

. John Davis, the English explorer, went part way up the sound in 1585. After that it was unvisited by Europeans until 1839, when the British whaler and explorer

William Penny Captain William Penny (1809–1892) was a Scottish shipmaster, whaler and Arctic explorer. He undertook the first maritime search for the ships of Sir John Franklin. In 1840, Penny established the first whaling station in the Cumberland Sound a ...

persuaded Eenoolooapik (brother of interpreter and guide

Taqulittuq Taqulittuq ( iu, ᑕᖁᓕᑦᑐᖅ, i=no, often transliterated as Tookoolito; – December 31, 1876) was an Inuk interpreter and guide. She and her husband Ipirvik (also known as Joe) worked alongside Arctic explorer Charles Francis Hall an ...

) to show him the inland sea. The Inuk had described the sound, known to him as Tenudiackbeek, as full of whales, and soon the British set up a

whaling station Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry a ...

there.

Fauna

The sound is the home of two whale species who are known to reside year-round here, The Cumberland Sound beluga and the

Bowhead whale The bowhead whale (''Balaena mysticetus'') is a species of baleen whale belonging to the family Balaenidae and the only living representative of the genus ''Balaena''. They are the only baleen whale endemic to the Arctic and subarctic waters, ...

. Other notable species include mammals such as the ringed, bearded, harp, harbor and hooded

seals Seals may refer to: * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...

, as well as the polar bear. Significant fish populations include

Arctic char The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes and arctic and subarctic coastal waters. Its distribution is Circumpolar North. It spawns in freshwater and populatio ...

and

Greenland halibut The Greenland halibut or Greenland turbot (''Reinhardtius hippoglossoides'') belongs to the family Pleuronectidae (the right-eye flounders), and is the only species of the genus ''Reinhardtius''. It is a predatory fish that mostly ranges at dept ...

. Birds such as

gull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, m ...

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

s, and

geese A goose (plural, : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family (biology), family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera ''Anser (bird), Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (the black geese). Some o ...

migrate and spend the springs and summers in Cumberland Sound, while birds such as

ptarmigan ''Lagopus'' is a small genus of birds in the grouse subfamily commonly known as ptarmigans (). The genus contains three living species with numerous described subspecies, all living in tundra or cold upland areas. Taxonomy and etymology The ge ...

and

raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...

s remain year-round.

References

*Fisheries and Oceans Canada Sounds of Qikiqtaaluk Region Bays of Qikiqtaaluk Region Bodies of water of Baffin Island Labrador Sea {{QikiqtaalukNU-geo-stub