Bellot Strait is a passage

Strait

A strait or straits is a narrow, typically navigable channel of water that connects two larger, navigable bodies of water. It most commonly refers to a channel of water that lies between two land masses, but it may also refer to a navigable channel through a body of water that is otherwise not...

 of water in Nunavut

Nunavut

Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...

 separating Somerset Island from Murchison Promontory

Murchison Promontory

Murchison Promontory is a peninsula in northern Canada that is the northernmost point on mainland Canada and on the mainland of North America; it is also one of the Extreme points of Earth....

 on the Boothia Peninsula

Boothia Peninsula

Boothia Peninsula is a large peninsula in Nunavut's northern Canadian Arctic, south of Somerset Island. The northern part, Murchison Promontory, is the northernmost point of mainland Canada, and thus North America....

, the northernmost part of mainland North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

. The 2 km (1.2 mi) strait connects the Gulf of Boothia

Gulf of Boothia

The Gulf of Boothia is a body of water in Nunavut, Canada, the western side being within Kitikmeot Region while the eastern side is in Qikiqtaaluk Region. It is situated between Baffin Island and the Boothia Peninsula...

 and Prince Regent Inlet

Prince Regent Inlet

Prince Regent Inlet is a body of water between Somerset Island and the Brodeur Peninsula in Nunavut, Canada. To the south, the inlet leads to the Gulf of Boothia; to the north, it leads to Lancaster Sound. The Arctic inlet's northern portion is approximately wide; the southern portion is...

 with Peel Sound

Peel Sound

Peel Sound is an uninhabited Arctic waterway in the Qikiqtaaluk, Nunavut, Canada. It is located between eastern Prince of Wales Island and northwestern Somerset Island, while Parry Channel is at the northern opening and Franklin Strait is at the southern opening.There are several named islands...

 and Franklin Strait

Franklin Strait

The Franklin Strait is an Arctic waterway in Northern Canada's territory of Nunavut. Its located between southeastern Prince of Wales Island and the Boothia Peninsula.- References :...

 in northern Canada

Northern Canada

Northern Canada, colloquially the North, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut...

's Arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

.

The north side of the strait rises steeply to approximately 450 m (1,476.4 ft), and the south shore to approximately 750 m (2,460.6 ft). The current in the strait can run at up to 8 kn (4.4 m/s) and often changes its direction. It is also often filled with small iceberg

Iceberg

An iceberg is a large piece of ice from freshwater that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. It may subsequently become frozen into pack ice...

s which pose a danger to ships in the strait.

In 1852, Captain William Kennedy became the first Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an to sight the Bellot Strait while searching for John Franklin

John Franklin

Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...

's lost Arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

 expedition. It was named after Joseph René Bellot

Joseph René Bellot

Joseph René Bellot was a French Arctic explorer.Bellot was born at Paris, the son of a farrier, but moved to Rochefort with his family in 1831. With the aid of the authorities of Rochefort he was enabled at the age of 15 to enter the Ecole Navale at Brest, in which he studied two years and earned...

, who accompanied Kennedy. The strait was first crossed by the Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

 ship Aklavik in 1937, piloted by Scotty Gall, who travelled from the western shore to the eastern.

The Fort Ross

Fort Ross, Nunavut

Fort Ross is an uninhabited former trading post in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. Founded in 1937 it was the last trading post to be established by the Hudson's Bay Company....

trading post, on the northern shore, was established in 1937.

Further reading