Smith Sound

Smith Sound is an Arctic sea passage between Canada?s Ellesmere Island and Greenland. It connects Baffin Bay to Kane Basin and is part of Nares Strait.

Related Topics:
Arctic - Ellesmere Island - Greenland - Baffin Bay - Kane Basin - Nares Strait

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It was discovered in 1616 by William Baffin and original named Sir Thomas Smith's Bay, after the English diplomat Sir Thomas Smyth. By the 1750s it was largely put on maps as Sir Thomas Smith?s Sound, though no recorded exploration in that area had occurred between 1616 and John Ross's expedition in 1818.

Related Topics:
1616 - William Baffin - Thomas Smyth - 1750s - John Ross - 1818

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It is unknown why the change from Bay to Sound occurred, probably due to lack of exploration. A Sound, as a body of water, can be a sea inlet or a narrow sea strait. It is probarly named as a sea inlet, but today it is understood as a narrow sea strait.

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By the early 19th century the Sir Thomas part of the name, largely disappeared and from 1840s the name Smith Sound has consistently been used on maps.

Related Topics:
19th century - 1840s

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The first recorded entering into it was in 1852 by Edward Augustus Inglefield who also named Ellesmere Island in that year - at that time nothing more than a bit of the southwest coast of that Island was explored, - after John Ross in 1818 has declared that it was a dead end and locked in mountains (he called them Crocker Hills).

Related Topics:
1852 - Edward Augustus Inglefield

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