Yol xxYr - The Arctic Circle

98
llORTHERl'l GEOG RAPHICAL rlAl4ES :
SHIPS PAST AND PRESENT
IJY
Hel en Kerfoot*
S jnce Canadian Arctic exploration was hera'lded by l.lartin Frobisher's voyages
'in search of a lrlorthwes t Passage 'in 1576 venturers have frequently
named geographical features after their shjps.
i4any of our most remote capes, points and is'lands bear testinony to the
success of a captain, o_r conversely the unhapoy fate of a ship-,s crew.
The early seafarers left names scattered along the northern c6astline; some
remain in their oriqinal form, some have been nndified, and others have been
added at a later date.
'Gabried Strait','iuiooneshine Fjord', 'Cape Lamprenen' and 'Phoenix llead', for
examp'le, commemorate the sa j I r'nq shi ps of bygone eras; these were, res pectively,
under the conmands of Frobisher, Davis, Munk and Inqlefie'ld.
I4any vessesl s were iced in for the w'inter, and undoubted'ly were homes-awayfrom-home
for the sl edging parties based there. 'Assistance Bay' raas the *
overwintering sj!. f9I Parry's.vessel of the same nan'le, 'Discovery Harbour,
js for i"lares' ship, 'Frarn Have/r for Sverdrupts and 'Gjoa l-laven' for Amundsen
's.
Qeoglaphical names such as 'Doiphin and Union Strait'or'Fury and Hecla
Strajt' cou'ld be jnterpreted as indjcative of the cooperation-that often existed
betvteen exploration vessels in the north. The DOLPHIN and the UliIoji
were eight metre boats of Richardson and iGnda'll in 1826; the FURy and HECLA
were Parry's vessel s on his voyages of I82I-23 and ISZ4-25.
Further names testify to the hardships, wrecks ancl losses of life caused by
the cruel 'ice-strewn Arctic unters. rErebus and Terror Bay' is named for John
Frankl in's ill -fated exped'itjon, 'Investigator Point' uas- rounded by Ir1'Clure's
shjo shortly before reaching Mercy Bay, its fjnal resting place, ani 'Fur.y
Beach' records where Parry's vessel was vrecked in 1825."
During this century man has continued to'identify coastal features from associatjon
with vess.els that p1y the northern v€ters. Sonetimes descrjptive
hdms5, such as'0ld Steamboat Channel'or'Scow Lake'may themselves tell a
story in the chapters of local history. The last of the Arctjc whalers,
former trading schooners, survey vessels or ice breakers are often .individua11y
recognized. The use of ships'names was extended by surveyors mapping
north and east of Great Slave Lake in the 1940's. Here today we fjni oit'top.graphjc
maps inland lakes bearing the narne of destroyers and subnnrines of'
bbrld War II.
Apart from features such as the 'St. Roch Basin','i'lascopie Reefs, and rd'Iberville
Fiord', named from vessels we'll-known in the Canadian Arctic, there are
many interesting ship-re'lated topony,rns found on topograohic maps. ifre fol lowinq
*secretariat, Geograph'ical I'lames, Enerey, Mines and Resources canaoa.