Sabine Island ( ; da, Sabine Ø) is an island to the northeast of
Wollaston Foreland
Wollaston Foreland ( da, Wollaston Forland) is a peninsula in King Christian X Land, East Greenland. Administratively it belongs to the NE Greenland National Park area.
History
This peninsula was named by William Scoresby in 1822 as a testimony ...
, previously known as ''Inner Pendulum Island''. It is in the
Northeast Greenland National Park
Northeast Greenland National Park ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaanni nuna eqqissisimatitaq, da, Grønlands Nationalpark) is the world's largest national park and the 10th List of largest protected areas in the world, largest protected area (the only large ...
area.
Geography
Sabine Island is long from Kap Neumayer in the north to Teddy Udkig in the south, and wide. The area measures , and the shoreline . The highest elevation is the high Keferstein. Other important peaks are Kronebjerg, Tafelbjerg and Søspidsen.
Together with an islet named Walrus Island ( da, Hvalros Ø) off its southern point, and
Little Pendulum Island
Little Pendulum Island ( da, Lille Pedulum Ø) is an island in Eastern Greenland, in the Northeast Greenland National Park.
History
The island was named by Douglas Charles Clavering’s 1823 expedition, during which the Irish scientist Edward S ...
located to the east, it constitutes the Pendulum Islands group. Numerous huts used by
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 ...
remain on the island.
There is also a small Sabine Island 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 ...
, Northwest Greenland, as Mr. Sabine was also on the 1818
Ross Ross or ROSS may refer to:
People
* Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan
* Ross (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning
* Earl of Ross, a peerage of Scotland
Places
* RoSS, the Republic of Sou ...
expedition to these parts. That exposed islet was the site of a U.S.
LORAN
LORAN, short for long range navigation, was a hyperbolic radio navigation system developed in the United States during World War II. It was similar to the UK's Gee system but operated at lower frequencies in order to provide an improved range u ...
station in the post-war era.
History
The North East Greenland coast was colonized by
Palaeo- and
Neo-Eskimo
The Thule (, , ) or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by the year 1000 and expanded eastward across northern Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people o ...
groups in the past. The Inuit and their ancestors colonized and abandoned the area at least four times during the last four thousand years. There are remains of Inuit dwellings in Sabine Island that were first reported by
Carl Koldewey
Carl Christian Koldewey (26 October 1837 – 17 May 1908) was a German Arctic explorer. He led both German North Polar Expeditions.
Life and career
Koldewey was the son of merchant Johann Christian Koldewey and his wife Wilhelmine Meyer. Koldewey ...
during the Second
German North Polar Expedition
The German North Polar Expeditions were a short series of mid-19th century German expeditions to the Arctic. The aim was to explore the North Pole region and to brand the newly united, Prussian-led German Empire as a great power. In 1866, German ge ...
1869–70.
Sabine Island was named ''Sabine Insel'' by Koldewey's expedition after the geophysicist General Sir
Edward Sabine
Sir Edward Sabine ( ; 14 October 1788 – 26 June 1883) was an Irish astronomer, geophysicist, ornithologist, explorer, soldier and the 30th president of the Royal Society.
He led the effort to establish a system of magnetic observatories in ...
, who carried out pendulum gravimetric experiments on the island in 1823.
Wordie, J.M. (1927) The Cambridge Expedition to East Greenland in 1926. Geographical Journal 70 (3): 225-265
/ref>
Sabine had been aboard the Clavering 1823 Arctic expedition, the only one to encounter living 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 ...
in Northeast Greenland.
The Second German North Polar Expedition built a house at Germaniahafen on the south side. This station was later used by hunting expeditions.
From August 1942 to June 1943, the German meteorological expedition ''Unternehmen Holzauge'' under the command of Captain Hermann Ritter, with headquarters in Hansa Bay on the eastern side of the island, operated successfully on Sabine. It was discovered in March by the North-East Greenland Sledge Patrol
The Sirius Dog Sled Patrol ( da, Slædepatruljen Sirius), known informally as ''Siriuspatruljen'' (the Sirius Patrol) and formerly known as ''North-East Greenland Sledge Patrol'' and ''Resolute Dog Sled Patrol'', is an elite Danish naval unit. I ...
, established by Greenland governor Eske Brun
Eske Brun (May 25, 1904 – October 11, 1987) was a high civil servant in Greenland and in relation to Greenland from 1932 to 1964.
Early life and career.
Eske Brun was born in Aalborg in the northern part of Jutland, Denmark. Eske Brun was ...
. In May, the station was bombed by U.S. aircraft from Iceland led by Colonel Bernt Balchen
Bernt Balchen (23 October 1899 – 17 October 1973) was a Norwegian pioneer polar aviator, navigator, aircraft mechanical engineer and military leader. A Norwegian native, he later became an American citizen and was a recipient of the Distingu ...
. In June, the surviving members of the German team were evacuated to Norway by air from a Dornier Do 18
The Dornier Do 18 was a development of the Do 16 flying boat. It was developed for the ''Luftwaffe'', but ''Luft Hansa'' received five aircraft and used these for tests between the Azores and the North American continent in 1936 and on their m ...
seaplane launched from ship .
}), an unusually-shaped high mountain located on the western side of the island.
See also
*List of islands of Greenland
The following is an alphabetical list of the islands of Greenland. Many of these islands have both a Kalaallisut language name and a European language name.
Islands and archipelagoes
* Aaluik
* Aasiaat Archipelago
* Achton Friis Islands
* A ...
Bibliography
* Koldewey, Carl (1874) ''German Arctic Expedition of 1869-70, and Narrative of the Wreck of the 'Hansa' in the Ice,'' London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, & Searle
References
{{Abandoned sites in Greenland
Uninhabited islands of Greenland