North Star Bay ( da, North Star Bugt), also known as Thule Harbor and Wolstenholme Bay, is a bay off the mouth of

Wolstenholme Fjord Wolstenholme Fjord ( kl, Uummannap Kangerlua) is a fjord in Avannaata municipality, Northwest Greenland. It is located to the north of the Thule Air Base and adjacent to the abandoned Inuit settlement of Narsaarsuk. The area was contaminated in ...

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 ...

. The bay is named after HMS ''North Star''.

Thule Air Base Thule Air Base (pronounced or , kl, Qaanaaq Mitarfik, da, Thule Lufthavn), or Thule Air Base/Pituffik Airport , is the United States Space Force's northernmost base, and the northernmost installation of the U.S. Armed Forces, located north o ...

is located at the edge of the bay. There are two large islands in the bay, Saunders Island and

Wolstenholme Island Wolstenholme Island ( kl, Qeqertarssuaq) is an island in Baffin Bay, in Avannaata municipality, off northwestern Greenland. The island lies west of the Bylot Sound off Cape Atholl in the southern shore of the mouth of Wolstenholme Fjord, south o ...

. The channel to the south, between Saunders Island and the mainland is known as

Bylot Sound The Bylot Sound is a sound in the North Star Bay, Avannaata municipality, northwest Greenland. Geography This channel separates Saunders Island and Wolstenholme Island from the Greenland mainland. Its minimum width is , between Wolstenholme Isl ...

History

The abandoned

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

Narsaarsuk Narsaarsuk (old spelling: ''Narssârssuk'') is an abandoned settlement on the edge of Bylot Sound in northern Greenland near Thule Air Base. The site of the former settlement is contaminated with plutonium after the 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash ...

and

Pituffik Pituffik is a former settlement in northern Greenland, located at the eastern end of Bylot Sound by a tombolo known as ''Uummannaq'', near the current site of the American Thule Air Base. The former inhabitants were relocated to the present-day to ...

were located at the edge of the bay. In 1849 under Commander James Saunders the ''North Star'' sailed to the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

in the spring on an expedition to search and resupply Captain

Sir James Clark Ross Sir James Clark Ross (15 April 1800 – 3 April 1862) was a British Royal Navy officer and polar explorer known for his explorations of the Arctic, participating in two expeditions led by his uncle John Ross, and four led by William Edwa ...

' venture, who in turn had sailed in 1848 trying to locate the whereabouts of

Sir John Franklin Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. After serving in wars against Napoleonic France and the United States, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through t ...

's expedition.Icy Imprisonment: The 1849 Voyage of the HMS North Star
/ref> Failing to find Franklin or Ross, Saunders's mission aboard ''North Star'' consisted in depositing stores along several named areas of the Canadian Arctic coast and returning to England before the onset of winter. However, James Saunders's ship progress northwards was hindered by ice in

Melville Bay Melville Bay ( kl, Qimusseriarsuaq; da, Melville Bugt), is a large bay off the coast of northwestern Greenland. Located to the north of the Upernavik Archipelago, it opens to the south-west into Baffin Bay. Its Kalaallisut name, ''Qimusseriars ...

and the ship became trapped by ice off the coast of NW

in North Star Bay. A paper left by Saunders in a

cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...

reads thus: During the winter 1849–50 Saunders named numerous landmarks in that area while wintering in the frozen bay. The bay was the site of a

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

nuclear

accident An accident is an unintended, normally unwanted event that was not directly caused by humans. The term ''accident'' implies that nobody should be blamed, but the event may have been caused by unrecognized or unaddressed risks. Most researcher ...

when a

B-52 bomber The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air ...

carrying four thermonuclear bombs crashed, spreading contaminated material over the area.Plutonium in the environment at Thule, Greenland, from sampling in 2003
/ref>

Images

References

Bays of Greenland {{Greenland-geo-stub