Canadian Arctic - Beechey Island & Devon Island 75° N

 We are now almost 10° North of the Arctic Circle reaching Devon Island, the largest uninhabited island on Earth at 55,24 square kilometres. 

We first stopped at Beechey Island, a tiny island off the southwest tip of Devon Island.  Franklin's ships, HMS Erebus and Terror, were here over the winter of 1845-6, leaving behind storehouses, and the graves of three crewmen.  Then the two ships disappeared and all 129 men were lost - one of the most celebrated mysteries of the 19th century.  Over 40 expeditions were launched in search of Franklin's party and the harbour at Beechey Island was the base of that search.

We landed on the beach and the walk on the island was easy compared to the boggy tundra at Port Epworth.  It was an easy hike to see the isthmus which linked the island to the big island. There were the graves and the ruins of Northumberland House plus more arctic plants and lots of fossils.  It was one of the last sunny days for a while.

Beechey Island

Graves of three crewmen on Franklin's expedition

This is the isthmus (tombolo) that joined the small Beechey island to the big Devon Island

Panorama of the bay where we landed on Beechey Island

A cenotaph commemorating men who died on the Belcher expedition

Northumberland House (what's left of it) - erected with material from wrecked ships, was meant to be a supply depot

We were lucky to see many arctic flowers on the island.  This is Mountain Aven.

Thanks to botanist Carolyn Mallory on the expedition team, we were able to identify many plants, including male (above) and female (below) arctic willows!  They need each other to reproduce.

Geologist, Dr. Marc St. Onge, collected many fossils on the island to show us -

Fossilized scallops

Horn coral

Branching coral

Fossilized clams

Snail fossils

The first icebergs we saw were very small but since we didn't know what is to come, we made sure we took photos of these!

Our second stop was at Powell Inlet on Devon Island    Devon Island is made up of Precambian bedrocks which formed the Canadian Shield, so we were standing on 3 billion years old Precambrian rocks while the mountains above us, consisting of sandstone and limestone sedimentary layers, are only 300 millions years old!  Incredible!

Devon Island looks like a chocolate layer cake 

Where we landed

The steep climb up to the top of the cliffs.  

The surface of Devon Island has been compared to Mars.  We had to watch our step as it was very rocky and wet.

The Precambrian beddrock

Rock formations at the top of the cliffs.  There is a walrus colony at the bottom of the cliffs but I didn't bring my long lens with me on the hike.

Amidst the rocks, there were surprisingly many flowers, like this Alpine Bistort

 and the cottongrass below.

After the Powell Inlet hike, we were supposed to go on a zodiac cruise to the glacier at Croker Bay.  But windy conditions aborted the zodiac cruise and we stayed on deck while the captain steered the ship into Croker Bay and through the ice in front of the glacier.  There will be lots of ice and icebergs in the next post!