Volume 4, 1951 - The Arctic Circle - Home

The party travelled to Churchill by rail and was
flown to Coral Harbour, Southampton Island, by the R.C.A.F.
early in June. For the first month travel on land was
hindered by the rivers which were in flood and field work
was restricted to the vicinity of the settlement. Short
journeys were made by dog-team on the sea ice. One of
these was to the mouth of the Kirchoffer River, and a
survey was made from the estuary to a point five miles
above the falls.
The sea ice was blown but of South Bay by a strong
north wind on July 11, and both groups left Coral Harbour
a week later by boat. It was originally intended that
Bell and Dean would work on the Bell Peninsula for a month
during which time J.B. and M.B. Bird were to survey along
the east coast of the Island. The groups then intended to
join for a second month on the Roes Welcome coast. To
achieve this object a Peterhead boat, the Akpa was charteredl
with John Ell in charge and three other Eskimo for crew.
The early work went well, one group moving from Prairie
Point to Native Point and on to Expectation Point, the other
group surveying north from a group of Islands shown on the
8 Mile Map as McMurdo Point, to Cape Fisher, Mathiassen
Brook, and Cape Comfort. Trouble was experienced ~~ith sea
ice in Foxe Channel, the timetable became seriously behindhand
and finally on September 3, viith Frozen Strait living
.up to its name, the party was forced to turn back for Coral
Harbour without circumnavigating the Island. The farthest
point reached was Smyth Harbour, so named by Captain G. Back
in 1836, and situated between Canyon River and Cape Comfort.
The highest level of marine submergence was determined
to be between 550 and 600 feet above present sea level along
the whole of the east coast. ln addition, evidence of high
pre- or inter-glacial sea levels was discovered. The
archaeological sites on Bell Peninsula, particularly at
Native Point, proved rich. Thule house ruins from 15 to
35 feet above high tide, and Dorset middens at 85 feet were
excavated. The excavations suggest that a considerable interval
of time separated the Dorset and Thule occupations
of these sites, and that the Thule or Sadlermiut arrived
relatively late on Southampton Island.
The island was at one time well populated by caribou
but within fairly recent times the herds have disappeared
~nd caribou are very scarce. One caribou was shot early
in 1950 by an Eskimo and a number of fresh caribou tracks