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

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

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

Northeast Greenland National Park Northeast Greenland National Park ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaanni nuna eqqissisimatitaq, da, Grønlands Nationalpark) is the world's largest national park and the 10th largest protected area (the only larger protected areas all consist mostly of sea). ...

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 ( da, Hvalros Ø) off its southern point, and

Little Pendulum Island Little Pendulum Island ( da, Lille Pedulum Ø) is an island in Eastern Greenland, in the Northeast Greenland National Park. History The island was named by Douglas Charles Clavering’s 1823 expedition, during which the Irish scientist Edwar ...

located to the east, it constitutes the Pendulum Islands group. Numerous huts used by

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, ...

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

Melville Bay Melville Bay ( kl, Qimusseriarsuaq; da, Melville Bugt), 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, ''Qimusseriarsu ...

, Northwest Greenland, as Mr. Sabine was also on the 1818 Ross expedition to these parts. That exposed islet was the site of a U.S.

LORAN LORAN, short for long range navigation, was a hyperbolic radio navigation system developed in the United States during World War II. It was similar to the UK's Gee system but operated at lower frequencies in order to provide an improved range ...

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. Koldewe ...

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 astronomer, geophysicist, ornithologist, explorer, soldier and the 30th president of the Royal Society. He led the effort to establish a system of magnetic observatories in ...

, 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, established by Greenland governor Eske Brun. 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 '' Luft Hansa'' received five aircraft and used these for tests between the Azores and the North American continent in 1936 and on their ...

seaplane launched from ship . }), an unusually-shaped high mountain located on the western side of the island.

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