Henrietta Island

Russia / Saha / Cherskiy /

Henrietta Island (Russian: Остров Генриетты, Ostrov Genriyetty) is one of the islands of the De Long Islands archipelago in the East Siberian Sea. It was discovered in 1881 by the Jeannette expedition under George W. DeLong. Henrietta Island is the northernmost of the group and 40% of the island is covered with glaciers. It is roughly circular in shape and its diameter is about 6 km.

American explorer and US Navy Lieutenant Commander George Washington DeLong set out in 1879 aboard the Jeannette, hoping to reach Wrangel Island and to discover open seas in the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole. However, the ship entered an ice pack near Herald Island in September 1879 and became trapped. The vessel drifted several hundred miles with the ice, passing north of Wrangel Island. In May of 1881 it approached Jeannette Island and Henrietta Island.

A Soviet polar station was established on Henrietta Island in 1937, and closed in 1963. Henrietta Island served in 1979 as the starting point for a Soviet expedition to the North Pole on skis.
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Coordinates:   77°5'28"N   156°33'26"E

Comments

  • On June 3, 1881, Cape Melville on Henrietta Island became the Northern most point of the United States. On May 17, 1884, this location became the Northern most point of Alaska, because Major Ezra Westcote Clark an attorney for an internal board at the United States Department of the Treasury place Henrietta Island in the District of Alaska along with 5 other islands, based on the authority of the First Organic Act of Alaska. Major Clark also served as Chief, United States Revenue Marine (an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury).
This article was last modified 16 years ago