Viscount Melville Sound

Viscount Melville Sound
Viscount Melville Sound, Nunavut.
  Nunavut
  Northwest Territories
  Yukon Territory
  Regions outside Canada (Alaska, Greenland)
Viscount Melville Sound is located in Nunavut
Viscount Melville Sound
Viscount Melville Sound
Coordinates74°15′N 105°00′W / 74.250°N 105.000°W / 74.250; -105.000 (Viscount Melville Sound)[1]
Basin countriesCanada
SettlementsUninhabited

Viscount Melville Sound, formerly Melville Sound,[2] is an arm of the Arctic Ocean in the Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut and the Inuvik Region, Northwest Territories, Canada. Forming part of the Parry Channel, it separates Victoria Island and Prince of Wales Island from the Queen Elizabeth Islands. East of the sound, via Barrow Strait, lies Lancaster Sound, leading into Baffin Bay; westward lies the M'Clure Strait and the Arctic Ocean / Beaufort Sea. The sound is a part of the Northwest Passage.[3]

In 1854, Edward Belcher abandoned his ship, HMS Resolute, in the sound while searching for Sir John Franklin and his lost expedition. In 1855 HMS Resolute was found drifting off Baffin Island, and was later ceremonially returned to Queen Victoria.

  1. ^ "Viscount Melville Sound". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada.
  2. ^ "Melville Sound". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada.
  3. ^ "Viscount Melville Sound". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. bartleby.com. 2000. Retrieved 2008-10-12.