Bell Island (Russian: Остров Белл) is a small island in the south-west of the

Franz Josef Land Franz Josef Land () is a Russian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. It is inhabited only by military personnel. It constitutes the northernmost part of Arkhangelsk Oblast and consists of 192 islands, which cover an area of , stretching from east ...

archipelago in

Arkhangelsk Oblast Arkhangelsk Oblast ( rus, Архангельская область, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲskəjə ˈobɫəsʲtʲ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It includes the Arctic Ocean, Arctic archipelagos of Franz ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The island was named by English explorer

Benjamin Leigh Smith Benjamin Leigh Smith (12 March 1828 – 4 January 1913) was an English Arctic explorer and yachtsman. He was the grandson of the abolitionist William Smith. Early life He was born in Whatlington, Sussex, the extramarital child of Ann ...

for its bell-shaped mountain, rising steeply from the island's southern coast with the

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; , ; ) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters.World Wildlife Fund, 2008. It was known earlier among Russi ...

History

On July 11, 1880, John Gray's ''Hope'' and David Gray's ''Eclipse'' met up with the ''Eira'' and Leigh Smith. Photographer W.J.A. Grant took a photograph aboard the ''Eira'' of

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...

along with Smith, the Gray brothers, and ship’s surgeon William Neale. This was the Smith exploration of

that on August 18 resulted in the naming of Cape Flora, Bell Island, Nightingale Sound, Gratton ("Uncle Joe") Island, and Mabel Island. The island was the first among the Franz Josef archipelago to be visited by

in his 1880 expedition. In his second expedition to the islands in 1881, Smith built a wooden lodge on the north side of the island which he used to winter. The lodge stands to this day. The island was later visited by the ''

Svyataya Anna The HMS ''Newport'' was launched in Wales in 1867. Having become the first ship to pass through the Suez Canal, she was sold in 1881 and renamed ''Pandora II''. She was purchased again in about 1890 and renamed ''Blencathra'', taking part in e ...

'' of the ill-fated Brusilov Expedition in 1914.

References

External links

* {{Franz Josef Land Islands of Franz Josef Land Islands of Arkhangelsk Oblast