Sabine Island ( ; ) is an island to the northeast of

Wollaston Foreland Wollaston Foreland () is a peninsula in King Christian X Land, East Greenland. Administratively it belongs to the Northeast Greenland National Park, NE Greenland National Park area. History This peninsula was named by William Scoresby in 1822 as ...

, previously known as ''Inner Pendulum Island''. It is in the

Northeast Greenland National Park Northeast Greenland National Park (, ) is the world's largest national park and the 10th largest protected area (the only larger protected areas consist mostly of sea). Established in 1974, the Northeast Greenland national park expanded to its p ...

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 () off its southern point, and Little Pendulum Island located to the east, it constitutes the Pendulum Islands group. Numerous huts used by

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 ...

remain on the island. There is also a small Sabine Island in

Melville Bay Melville Bay (; ), 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, ''Qimusseriarsuaq'', means "the great dog sledding pla ...

, Northwest Greenland, as Mr. Sabine was also on the 1818

Ross Ross may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ross (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning * Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan Places Antarctica * Ross Sea ...

expedition to these parts. That exposed islet was the site of a U.S.

LORAN LORAN (Long Range Navigation) was a hyperbolic navigation, hyperbolic radio navigation system developed in the United States during World War II. It was similar to the UK's Gee (navigation), Gee system but operated at lower frequencies in order ...

station in the post-war era.

History

The North East Greenland coast was colonized by Palaeo- and Neo-Eskimo 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. Koldew ...

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 g ...

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 physicist, geodesist,astronomer, geophysicist, ornithologist, polar explorer, soldier, and the 30th president of the Royal Society. He led the effort to establish a system o ...

, 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

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 (), 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. It conducts long-range reco ...

, established by Greenland governor

Eske Brun Eske Brun (May 25, 1904 – October 11, 1987) was a Danish high civil servant in and later governor of Greenland and connected to Greenland from 1932 to 1964. Early life and career Eske Brun was born in Aalborg in the northern part of Jutlan ...

. 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 Disting ...

. 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 '' Deutsche Luft Hansa'' received five aircraft and used these for tests between the Azores and the North American continent in 1936 and o ...

seaplane launched from ship .

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

Geography

History

See also

Bibliography

References