# Bernard Harbour

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Abandoned settlement and bay in Nunavut, Canada

Bernard Harbour Bernard Harbour Location Nunavut, Canada Coordinates 68°46′00″N 114°42′00″W / 68.7667°N 114.7°W / 68.7667; -114.7[1] Type Bay Part of Dolphin and Union Strait Islands Chantry Island

**Bernard Harbour** ([Inuit](/source/Inuit_languages): *Nulahugiuq*)[2] is a bay on the mainland of [Nunavut](/source/Nunavut), Canada. It is situated on [Dolphin and Union Strait](/source/Dolphin_and_Union_Strait), southwest of [Sutton Island](/source/Sutton_Island_(Nunavut)). The closest inhabited community is [Kugluktuk](/source/Kugluktuk), about 100 km (62 mi) south of Bernard Harbour.

At one time, it was the site of a [Hudson's Bay Company](/source/Hudson's_Bay_Company) [trading post](/source/Trading_post). It is also a former [Distant Early Warning Line](/source/Distant_Early_Warning_Line) (PIN-C) and current [North Warning System](/source/North_Warning_System) site.[3] As of August 2004, there were several abandoned structures remaining at the site.[4]

The [butterfly](/source/Butterfly) *[Colias johanseni](/source/Colias_johanseni)* is found in the area.[5]

## Geography

Bernard Harbour is a bay that recedes southwestward about 3.2 kilometres (2 mi) from an entrance that is about 8.0 kilometres (5 mi) wide. Chantry Island and a smaller island extend nearly across the entrance of the bay. The mainland shore of the bay consists of numerous stony points and intervening bights, with beaches of sand or gravel, behind which the land, within a distance of 3.2 kilometres (2 mi), is intersected by many ravines and rises to elevations of 37 metres (120 ft).[6]

The harbour is well sheltered and can accommodate ships up to 6.1 m (20 ft) in draught.[7]

## History

CAE house at Bernard Harbour, July 1916

From 1913 to 1916, Bernard Harbour was the base of the southern party of the [Canadian Arctic Expedition](/source/Canadian_Arctic_Expedition%2C_1913%E2%80%931916) (CAE), led by [Rudolph Martin Anderson](/source/Rudolph_Martin_Anderson).[6] It was named by Anderson in 1914 after Captain Joseph F. Bernard.[8]

In 1916, a few weeks after the CAE had left,[8] the [Hudson's Bay Company](/source/Hudson's_Bay_Company) (HBC) opened a fur trade post on Bernard Harbour, originally called Fort Bacon, after Fur Trade Commissioner N.H. Bacon. When James Thomson became commissioner in 1920, the post was renamed to Fort Thomson. Circa 1925, it became known as Bernard Harbour. In 1930, the Hudson's Bay Company vessel [*Aklavik*](/source/Aklavik_(HBC_vessel)) over-wintered at Bernard Harbour, where she sank, but was refloated and repaired.[9] In 1931, an outpost was built on Read Island (also spelled Reid Island) on the opposite side of Dolphin and Union Strait, and the following year, all operations were moved to Read Island and the Bernard Harbour post closed.[10]

In 1957, a [DEW](/source/Distant_Early_Warning_Line) Intermediate site was established at Bernard Harbour, designated "PIN-C". It was an expansive facility with airstrip and dock facility for resupplying. It was closed and site abandoned in 1963.[3] In September 1991, it reopened as an unattended [NWS](/source/North_Warning_System) Short Range Radar site 5.0 kilometres (3.1 mi) southwest of the former DEW site.

## See also

- [List of communities in Nunavut](/source/List_of_communities_in_Nunavut)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Bernard Harbour"](https://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/search-place-names/unique?id=OACAM). *[Geographical Names Data Base](/source/GeoBase_(geospatial_data)#Geographical_Names_Data_Base)*. [Natural Resources Canada](/source/Natural_Resources_Canada). Retrieved 27 January 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Issenman, Betty. *Sinews of Survival: The living legacy of Inuit clothing*. UBC Press, 1997. pp252-254

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-DEW_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-DEW_3-1) ["The DEW LINE Sites in Canada, Alaska & Greenland"](https://web.archive.org/web/20100124180156/https://www.lswilson.ca/dewline.htm). Archived from [the original](http://www.lswilson.ca/dewline.htm) on 2010-01-24.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["PIN-C Bernard Harbour, Nunavut"](https://lswilson.dewlineadventures.com/pinc/). *The DEWLine*. Retrieved 2024-11-01.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Layberry_5-0)** Layberry, Ross A.; Peter W. Hall; J. Donald Lafontaine (1998). [*The butterflies of Canada*](https://books.google.com/books?id=tJpoXFZBBnAC&dq=%22bernard+harbour%22&pg=PA108). Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series. University of Toronto Press. p. 108. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-8020-7881-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8020-7881-8).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-CanNorth_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-CanNorth_6-1) Georgetown University, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (1956). [*Canadian North*](https://books.google.com/books?id=etEPAQAAIAAJ). United States: Technical Assistant to Chief of Naval Operations for Polar Projects (OP-O3A3). pp. 369–370. Retrieved 27 January 2025. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the [public domain](/source/Public_domain).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Acland_7-0)** Canada. Dept. of the Interior. Northwest Territories and Yukon Branch, Lachan Taylor Burwash (1931). [*Canada's western Arctic: Report on investigations in 1925-26, 1928-29, and 1930*](https://books.google.com/books?id=RY41AAAAMAAJ&q=%22bernard+harbour%22) (Digitized May 30, 2007 ed.). F.A. Acland. p. 13.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Jenness_8-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Jenness_8-1) Stuart Edward Jenness (2011). [*Stefansson, Dr. Anderson and the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-1918 A Story of Exploration, Science and Sovereignty*](https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Stefansson_Dr_Anderson_and_the_Canadian/1Jf2EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0). Canadian Museum of History. p. 244. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781772824186](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781772824186). Retrieved 27 January 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-KitikmeotHeritage_9-0)** ["Scotty Gall"](https://web.archive.org/web/20040721191932/http://www.kitikmeotheritage.ca/Angulalk/hudsons/scottyg/scotty.htm). [Kitikmeot Heritage](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kitikmeot_Heritage&action=edit&redlink=1). Archived from [the original](http://www.kitikmeotheritage.ca/Angulalk/hudsons/scottyg/scotty.htm) on 2004-07-21. Retrieved 2017-04-29. Gall returned to the HBC briefly in 1930 or 1931 after the Aklavik was frozen in and sank at Bernard Harbour. He went in and got the Aklavik back afloat and working.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-HBC_10-0)** ["Hudson's Bay Company: Bernard Harbour"](https://pam.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/PAM_AUTHORITY/AUTH_DESC_DET_REP/SISN%201992?sessionsearch). *pam.minisisinc.com*. Archives of Manitoba - Keystone Archives Descriptive Database. Retrieved 2025-01-27.

## External links

Media related to [Bernard Harbour](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Bernard_Harbour) at Wikimedia Commons

v t e Subdivisions of Nunavut Regions Kitikmeot (Unorganized) Kivalliq (Unorganized) Qikiqtaaluk (Unorganized) Electoral districts Federal Nunavut Territorial Aggu Aivilik Amittuq Arviat North-Whale Cove Arviat South Baker Lake Cambridge Bay Gjoa Haven Hudson Bay Iqaluit-Manirajak Iqaluit-Niaqunnguu Iqaluit-Sinaa Iqaluit-Tasiluk Kugluktuk Netsilik Pangnirtung Quttiktuq Rankin Inlet North-Chesterfield Inlet Rankin Inlet South South Baffin Tununiq Uqqummiut Communities Arctic Bay Arviat Baker Lake Bathurst Inlet Cambridge Bay Chesterfield Inlet Clyde River Coral Harbour Gjoa Haven Grise Fiord Igloolik Iqaluit Apex Kimmirut Kinngait Kugaaruk Kugluktuk Naujaat Pangnirtung Pond Inlet Qikiqtarjuaq Rankin Inlet Resolute Sanikiluaq Sanirajak Taloyoak Whale Cove Weather stations and Canadian Armed Forces bases Alert CFS Alert Ennadai Eureka Isachsen Nanisivik Naval Facility Mine sites Operating Baffinland Iron Mine Doris North Meadowbank Gold Mine Defunct Bent Horn Mine Cullaton Lake/Shear Lake Mine Jericho Diamond Mine Lupin Mine Nanisivik Mine Polaris mine Rankin Inlet Mine DEW line and NWS sites Bernard Harbour Bray Island Brevoort Island Broughton Island Byron Bay Cambridge Bay Cape Dyer Cape Hooper Cape Mcloughlin Cape Mercy Cape Peel West Cape Young Clifton Point Clinton Point Croker River Dewar Lakes Durban Island Edinburgh Island Ekalugad Gjoa Haven Gladman Point Harding River Hat Island Kangok Fjord Keats Point Keith Bay Kivitoo Lady Franklin Point Lailor River Loks Land Longstaff Bluff Mackar Inlet Matheson Point Nudluardjuk Lake Pelly Bay Qikiqtaryuaq Resolution Island Ross Point Rowley Island Sanirajak Scarpa Lake Shepherd Bay Simpson Lake Sturt Point Former Amadjuak Brooman Point Village Craig Harbour Dundas Harbour Iglunga Killiniq Nanisivik Native Point Nuwata Padlei Port Leopold Tavani Hudson's Bay Company trading posts Amadjuak Apex Arctic Bay Baker Lake Bathurst Inlet Bay Chimo Belcher Islands Blacklead Island Cambridge Bay Cape Dorset Charlton Island Depot Chesterfield Inlet Clyde River Coats Island Dundas Harbour Eskimo Point Fort Hearne Fort Ross Frobisher Bay Gjoa Haven Igloolik Kent Peninsula King William Island Kugaryuak Lake Harbour Mansel Island Nueltin House Padley Pangnirtung Pangnirtung Fox Farm Perry River Ponds Inlet Port Burwell Port Leopold Repulse Bay Southampton Island Tavane Tree River Wager Inlet

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