Keenan Land
Encyclopedia
Keenan Land was the name given to a mass of land in the Beaufort Sea
about 300 miles north of Point Barrow
, Alaska. It was allegedly discovered in the 1870s by American whaler John Keenan
.
John Keenan reported stranding his ship on an uncharted island, where he raised the American flag. After his return, the island was named after him.
Starting in 1907 with the Anglo-American Polar Expedition, numerous unsuccessful attempts were made (by Vilhjalmur Stefansson
and Roald Amundsen
, among others) to relocate Keenan Land. Hubert Wilkins
flew over the area in 1937 on his search for the missing Sigizmund Levanevsky
and came to the conclusion that the land never existed.
Beaufort Sea
The Beaufort Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska, west of Canada's Arctic islands. The sea is named after hydrographer Sir Francis Beaufort...
about 300 miles north of Point Barrow
Point Barrow
Point Barrow or Nuvuk is a headland on the Arctic coast in the U.S. state of Alaska, northeast of Barrow. It is the northernmost point of all the territory of the United States, at...
, Alaska. It was allegedly discovered in the 1870s by American whaler John Keenan
John Keenan
Detective Inspector John Keenan is a fictional police officer of the Criminal Investigation Department within Wyvern Constabulary's, Holby South Police Station...
.
John Keenan reported stranding his ship on an uncharted island, where he raised the American flag. After his return, the island was named after him.
Starting in 1907 with the Anglo-American Polar Expedition, numerous unsuccessful attempts were made (by Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Vilhjalmur Stefansson was a Canadian Arctic explorer and ethnologist.-Early life:Stefansson, born William Stephenson, was born at Gimli, Manitoba, Canada, in 1879. His parents had emigrated from Iceland to Manitoba two years earlier...
and Roald Amundsen
Roald Amundsen
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912 and he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage....
, among others) to relocate Keenan Land. Hubert Wilkins
Hubert Wilkins
Sir Hubert Wilkins MC & Bar was an Australian polar explorer, ornithologist, pilot, soldier, geographer and photographer.-Early life:...
flew over the area in 1937 on his search for the missing Sigizmund Levanevsky
Sigizmund Levanevsky
Sigizmund Aleksandrovich Levanevsky was a Soviet aircraft pilot of Polish origin and a Hero of the Soviet Union .-Life and career:...
and came to the conclusion that the land never existed.
See also
- 1906 German map showing Keenan Land north of Alaska
- Bradley LandBradley LandBradley Land was the name Frederick Cook gave to a mass of land which he claimed to have seen between and during a 1909 expedition. He described it as two masses of land with a break, a strait, or an indentation between. The land was named for John R...
- Crocker LandCrocker LandCrocker Land was the name Robert Peary gave to a mass of land which he believed he saw in the distant northwest from the summit of Cape Thomas Hubbard, during a 1906 expedition. Peary estimated the landmass to be 130 miles away at about 83 degrees N, longitude 100 degrees W...
- Sannikov LandSannikov LandSannikov Land was a phantom island in the Arctic Ocean. Its supposed existence became something of a myth in 19th-century Russia.Yakov Sannikov and Matvei Gedenschtrom claimed to have seen it during their 1809-1810 cartographic expedition to the New Siberian Islands...