Bernard Harbour (

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

: ''Nulahugiuq'') is a bay on the mainland of

Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...

, Canada. It is situated on

Dolphin and Union Strait Dolphin and Union Strait lies in both the Northwest Territories (Inuvik Region) and Nunavut (Kitikmeot Region), Canada, between the mainland and Victoria Island. It is part of the Northwest Passage. It links Amundsen Gulf, lying to the northwest ...

, southwest of Sutton Island. The closest inhabited community is

Kugluktuk Kugluktuk (, ; Inuktitut syllabics: ; ), known as Coppermine until 1 January 1996, is a hamlet at the mouth of the Coppermine River in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, Canada, on Coronation Gulf, southwest of Victoria Island. It is Nunavut's ...

, about south of Bernard Harbour. At one time, it was the site of a

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory in European and colonial contexts, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically a trading post allows people from one geogr ...

. It is also a former

Distant Early Warning Line The Distant Early Warning Line, also known as the DEW Line or Early Warning Line, was a system of radar stations in the northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the north coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska (see List o ...

(PIN-C) and current

North Warning System The North Warning System (NWS, ) is a joint United States and Canadian early-warning radar system for the atmospheric air defense of North America. It provides surveillance of airspace from potential incursions or attacks from across North Amer ...

site. As of August 2004, there were several abandoned structures remaining at the site. The

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

'' Colias johanseni'' is found in the area.

Geography

Bernard Harbour is a bay that recedes southwestward about from an entrance that is about wide. Chantry Island and a smaller island extend nearly across the entrance of the bay. The mainland shore of the bay consists of numerous stony points and intervening bights, with beaches of sand or gravel, behind which the land, within a distance of , is intersected by many ravines and rises to elevations of . The harbour is well sheltered and can accommodate ships up to in draught.

History

From 1913 to 1916, Bernard Harbour was the base of the southern party of the

Canadian Arctic Expedition Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

(CAE), led by

Rudolph Martin Anderson Rudolph Martin Anderson (June 30, 1876 – June 21, 1961) was an American born Canadian zoologist and explorer. Early life He was born in Decorah, Iowa in 1876, the son of John E. A. Anderson. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Iow ...

. It was named by Anderson in 1914 after Captain Joseph F. Bernard. In 1916, a few weeks after the CAE had left, the

(HBC) opened a fur trade post on Bernard Harbour, originally called Fort Bacon, after Fur Trade Commissioner N.H. Bacon. When James Thomson became commissioner in 1920, the post was renamed to Fort Thomson. Circa 1925, it became known as Bernard Harbour. In 1930, the Hudson's Bay Company vessel ''Aklavik'' over-wintered at Bernard Harbour, where she sank, but was refloated and repaired. In 1931, an outpost was built on Read Island (also spelled Reid Island) on the opposite side of Dolphin and Union Strait, and the following year, all operations were moved to Read Island and the Bernard Harbour post closed. In 1957, a

DEW Dew is water in the form of droplets that appears on thin, exposed objects in the morning or evening due to condensation. As the exposed surface cools by thermal radiation, radiating its heat, atmospheric moisture condenses at a rate grea ...

Intermediate site was established at Bernard Harbour, designated "PIN-C". It was an expansive facility with airstrip and dock facility for resupplying. It was closed and site abandoned in 1963. In September 1991, it reopened as an unattended NWS Short Range Radar site southwest of the former DEW site.

References

External links

{{Subdivisions of Nunavut Former populated places in the Kitikmeot Region Ghost towns in Nunavut Hudson's Bay Company trading posts in Nunavut Bays of Kitikmeot Region

Geography

History

See also

References

External links