Bell Island

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bell Island
The west of Franz Josef Land with Bell Island in the south
The west of Franz Josef Land with Bell Island in the south
Waters Barents Sea
Archipelago Franz Josef Land
Geographical location 80 ° 0 ′ 40 "  N , 49 ° 15 ′ 40"  E Coordinates: 80 ° 0 ′ 40 "  N , 49 ° 15 ′ 40"  E
Bell Island (Franz Josef Land)
Bell Island
length 5.1 km
width 3.9 km
surface 10 km²
Highest elevation 343  m
Residents uninhabited

The Bell Island ( Russian Остров Белл , Ostrow Bell ) is an uninhabited island in the arctic Franz Josef Land belonging to Russia .

Bell Island with the Eira Lodge Benjamin Leigh Smiths

It is located on the western southern edge of the archipelago. It is separated from Mabel Island by the Eira Strait, which is only 800 m wide. Both islands border the Nightingale Strait in the northwest. Bell Island is approximately 10 km² and roughly shaped like a horseshoe. The large Nielsen Bay inside opens to the west. A prominent mountain in the south is 343 m high. However, the north of the island is flat and does not rise more than 21 m above sea level. The island is not glaciated.

Bell Island was discovered on August 18, 1880 by Benjamin Leigh Smith , who named it after the shape of its mountain, which reminded him of a bell. Since the British polar explorer named many geographical objects after close relatives, one can also assume a play on words with the name of his sister Isabella (1830–1873). Leigh Smith built a prefabricated house on the northern tip of Bell Island that would serve as his quarters on his next expedition and named it Eira Lodge . However, in 1881 he did not reach the house because his ship Eira was trapped and crushed by the ice. Frederick Jackson used it for this in 1897 on a discovery tour to the west of Franz Josef Land. The Eira Lodge still stands today and is the oldest building in the archipelago.

On July 18, 1914, some survivors of the Brusilov expedition around Valerian Albanow reached the island by paddling over from Cape Grant to Prince George Land . The Danish seaman Holger Nielsen died the following night and was buried on Bell Island.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Peter Joseph Capelotti: Shipwreck at Cape Flora. The Expeditions of Benjamin Leigh Smith, England's Forgotten Arctic Explorer (PDF; 41.2 MB). University of Calgary Press, Calgary 2013, ISBN 978-1-55238-705-4 , p. 162 (English)
  2. ↑ Bell Insel, Camp EIRA on the website www.franz-josef-land.info , accessed on July 5, 2017.
  3. ↑ Walerian Albanow: In the realm of the white death , Berliner Taschenbuch Verlag, Berlin 2002. ISBN 3-442-76020-8 , p. 213 ff.

Web links