Graah Fjord, also known as Devold Fjord and Langenæs Fjord, is a

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Ice ...

King Frederick VI Coast King Frederick VI Coast ( da, Kong Frederik VI Kyst) is a major geographic division of Greenland. It comprises the coastal area of Southeastern Greenland in Sermersooq and Kujalleq municipalities fronting the Irminger Sea of the North Atlantic Oce ...

, eastern

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

. Administratively it is part of the

Sermersooq Sermersooq (, da, sted med meget is, lit=place of much ice) is a municipality in Greenland, formed on 1 January 2009 from five earlier, smaller municipalities. Its administrative seat is the city of Nuuk (formerly called Godthåb), the capital ...

municipality.

History

There are remains of ancient

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 ...

settlements of the

southern group Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

in Imaarsivik, a coastal island at the entrance of the fjord. The fjord was named after Arctic explorer

Wilhelm August Graah Wilhelm August Graah (1793–1863) was a Danish naval officer and Arctic explorer. Graah had mapped areas of West Greenland when he, in 1828–30, was sent by King Frederick VI of Denmark on an expedition to the unmapped eastern coast with th ...

of the

Danish Navy The Royal Danish Navy ( da, Søværnet) is the sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Islands and Greenland). Oth ...

, who was the first to map this area of the coast of Greenland during an 1828–31 expedition in search of the legendary

Eastern Norse Settlement The Eastern Settlement ( non, Eystribygð ) was the first and by far the larger of the two main areas of Norse Greenland, settled by Norsemen from Iceland. At its peak, it contained approximately 4,000 inhabitants. The last written record from t ...

Finnsbu Finnsbu was a Norwegian hunting, meteorological and radio station (Finnsbu Radio/LMX) located on the King Frederick VI Coast, Southeastern Greenland. Administratively the area were the hut stood belongs now to the Sermersooq municipality. The s ...

was a Norwegian weather and

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

station opened on the shore of the fjord by

Finn Devold Finn Devold (born 24 April 1902 in Bergen, died 26 May 1977) was a Norwegian Arctic explorer, marine biologist and meteorologist. His father was parish priest Harald Ophus Devold. Together with his brother Hallvard Devold, Finn shared an interest ...

on behalf of the

Arctic Trading Co. Arctic Trading Co. ( no, Arktisk Næringsdrift) was a Norwegian company founded on 24 June 1929. The company had commercial interests in East Greenland in the areas of fishing, hunting and trapping. It also operated the Myggbukta radio and meteorol ...

Devold had first chosen a site in

Timmiarmiut Fjord Timmiarmiut Fjord (old spelling 'Tingmiarmiut Fjord'; kl, Timmiarmiit Kangertivat)) is a fjord of the King Frederick VI Coast in the Sermersooq municipality, southeastern Greenland. Geography Timmiarmiut Fjord is located north of Sikuijivitteq ...

when he arrived in 1932 on Ship ''Heimen'' from

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

, but then moved to this site to establish the station. The station was abandoned in 1933. During

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, on 9 April 1944, a

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

crashed in the fjord. Attempts by aircraft recovery expert Gary Larkins to locate the airframe have been unsuccessful.Thompson, Scott A., ''Final Cut: The Post-War B-17 Flying Fortress and Survivors'', Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, Missoula, Montana, and Aero Vintage Books, Lincoln, California, 4th Ed. June 2011, , page 228

Geography

To the southeast the Graah Fjord opens into the

Irminger Sea The Irminger Sea is a marginal sea of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered to the west by southern Greenland, to the north by Iceland and the Denmark Strait, to the east by the Reykjanes Ridge (a northern part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge), an ...

of the

North Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

. It extends about in a roughly SE/NW direction and separates two narrow peninsulas in southeastern

Thorland Thorland ( da, Thors Land) is a peninsula in the King Frederick VI Coast, southeastern Greenland. It is a part of the Sermersooq municipality. History One of the coastal islands, Igdluluarssuk (Sattiaatteq) at the entrance of the fjord on its s ...

. The fjord is entered between

Cape Langenaes A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

to the south and the high coastal island (or peninsula) of Imaarsivik to the north. A good small harbour, named Graahs Havn, is located west of the island.''Prostar Sailing Directions 2005 Greenland and Iceland Enroute'', p. 102 The fjord has a branch named Jaette Fjord on its NE shore, opening from the mouth and extending to the NNW. Finnsbu, the former Norwegian meteorological and radio station, was located on the southwestern shore of the fjord, about northwest of Cape Langenaes.

Bibliography

*Spencer Apollonio, ''Lands That Hold One Spellbound: A Story of East Greenland'', 2008

References

External links

Mineral potential in Greenland - Greenlands minerals authoritySeabirds and seals in Southeast Greenland; Results from a survey in July 2014
Fjords of Greenland {{Greenland-geo-stub

History

Geography

See also

Bibliography

References

External links