Duke of York Bay is an arm of

Foxe Basin Foxe Basin is a shallow oceanic basin north of Hudson Bay, in Nunavut, Canada, located between Baffin Island and the Melville Peninsula. For most of the year, it is blocked by sea ice (fast ice) and drift ice made up of multiple ice floes. Th ...

, in the

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 located in northeastern

Southampton Island Southampton Island (Inuktitut: ''Shugliaq'') is a large island at the entrance to Hudson Bay at Foxe Basin. One of the larger members of the Arctic Archipelago, Southampton Island is part of the Kivalliq Region in Nunavut, Canada. The area of the ...

. The bay is directly south of the southern end of

White Island White Island may refer to: Places Oceania *Whakaari / White Island, volcanic island in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand **2019 Whakaari / White Island eruption *White Island (Otago), Dunedin, New Zealand North America *White Island, Paget, Bermuda ...

, with

Comer Strait Comer Strait is a narrow waterway separating the northeastern tip of Southampton Island from the western shore of White Island in Nunavut's Foxe Basin. It is also the western entrance to the Duke of York Bay. Comer Strait was named for American w ...

at the western entrance and Falcon Strait at the eastern entrance.

History

Sir

William Edward Parry Sir William Edward Parry (19 December 1790 – 8 July 1855) was an Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for his 1819–1820 expedition through the Parry Channel, probably the most successful in the long quest for the Northwest Pass ...

and his crew gave the bay its name on 17 August 1821 during his second voyage for the discovery of a

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arct ...

from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in honour of

Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (Frederick Augustus; 16 August 1763 – 5 January 1827) was the second son of George III, King of the United Kingdom and Hanover, and his consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. A soldier by profess ...

, having first entered the bay the day before, 16 August 1821, the Duke's birthday. Grönlandwal 4-1999

In January 1996, Duke of York Bay was selected by delegates from across Nunavut as the site of the first

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, ...

hunt in Nunavut's waters. When the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board switched the location to Repulse Bay the following month, the community of

Coral Harbour Coral Harbour (Inuktitut: Salliq/Salliit, Syllabics: ᓴᓪᓕᖅ/ᓴᓪᓖᑦ), is a small Inuit community that is located on Southampton Island, Kivalliq Region, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Its name is derived from the fossilized c ...

, south of Duke of York Bay, was angered with the decision. Some thought it was politically motivated, others said that elders felt the ice conditions and strong currents in the bay would make for a difficult beaching.

References

Bays of the Arctic Ocean Bays of Foxe Basin {{QikiqtaalukNU-geo-stub