Kekerten Territorial Park is a park on

Kekerten Island Kekerten Island is an uninhabited island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. Southernmost of the Kikastan Islands, it is located in the Cumberland Sound, off Baffin Island's Cumberland Peninsula. Akulagok Island forms Kekerten Harb ...

, about south of

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 ...

, 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.

History

Where the park is now was site of a

whaling 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 ...

station established in 1840 by

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 ...

, and the

Cumberland Sound Cumberland Sound (french: Baie Cumberland; Inuit languages, Inuit: ''Kangiqtualuk'') is an Arctic waterway in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is a western arm of the Labrador Sea located between Baffin Island's Hall Peninsula and the Cumbe ...

area became a major whale hunting ground. The British and American whalers relied on local

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 ...

knowledge in their quest for whales. Remains of the storehouses are still visible, as are the remains of a

whaling ship A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...

Access

The only means of getting to the park is a 3-hour boat ride from Pangnirtung in the summer or a longer trip in winter by snowmobile.

References

External links

Kekerten Territorial Park
at Nunavut Parks and Special Places Parks in Qikiqtaaluk Region Year of establishment missing Whaling stations in Canada Territorial parks of Nunavut {{Canada-protected-area-stub