Beechey Island | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Beechey Island

Beechey Island is on the north side of Lancaster Sound off the southwest corner of Devon Island at the entrance to Wellington Channel in the Arctic Archipelago.
Sir John Franklin, naval officer, arctic explorer
Best known for the famous search for his lost expedition, Franklin was a bold explorer who mapped more of Canada's coast than any explorer except Vancouver (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-1352).

Beechey Island is on the north side of Lancaster Sound off the southwest corner of Devon Island at the entrance to Wellington Channel in the Arctic Archipelago. At low water it is joined to the larger island by a narrow gravel isthmus and forms the northwest side of Erebus Bay. The island is small, only 2.5 km across, but its steep shores, rising to a flat plateau 244 m high, make it a prominent landmark. Sir John Franklin's ships spent the winter of 1845-46 at the island, and during the subsequent search for Franklin it was used as a supply depot and rendezvous. In 1980 the world's northermost known shipwreck, the Breadalbane, was found offshore.

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