he Countess of Warwick's
Island, as the Elizabethan explorers named it, is a small, mostly
barren island located approximately 500 m off the northeastern
shore of Frobisher Bay; it is today known as Kodlunarn Island.
Over four hundred years ago, it was the headquarters of
Martin Frobisher's mining activities.
|
Baffin Island / Frobisher Bay
map by David O. Seaver, © Kirsten A. Seaver
|
|
Through archaeological investigation, mostly by non-intrusive
methods, several main features related to the Frobisher expeditions
have been identified.
|
|
Aerial photograph of the Countess of Warwick's Island, now known by
its Inuit name, Kodlunarn Island. The remains of Frobisher's mines are
clearly visible.
|
|
|
A |
Ship's Trench |
B |
Reservoir Trench
|
C |
Industrial Area
|
D |
Frobisher House
|
|
|
The "Ship's Trench" is a large feature cut into the
northern coast of the island at its midpoint. This name is based
on information gathered from the Inuit by
Charles Francis Hall.
Inuit oral history suggests that the Trench was used as a slipway
for constructing or repairing ships. However, the cut probably
follows the strike of an ore vein and was in origin probably the
first mine opened, in 1577. The trench measures about 25 m
long and 5 m wide, slanting upward from the high tide line
to the surface of the island. It would likely have been used as
the main accessway from the beach to the island's surface, and
for transporting ore to boats to be rowed out to the fleet. It
was also one of the sites where unused supplies from the 1578
expedition were buried.
|
|
Ship's Trench
Photograph: Walter Kenyon
|
|
Reservoir Trench
Photograph: Robert McGhee
|
|
|
The "Reservoir Trench" is located 100 m southeast
of the Ship's Trench and runs 25 m further to the southeast,
in the same orientation as the Ship's Trench. This suggests that
a single vein of ore was being followed across the island. The
original belief that the trench was dug to hold drinking water for
the crews is unlikely, although water does collect there in early
summer. It was almost certainly a mine, about 5 m wide and
varying from 1 m deep at the north end to over 2 m deep
at the south.
The "Industrial Area" is a flat, slightly sloping area
located between the Reservoir and the island's east coast. The
area reaches 80 m inland to the northwest. Coal, slag, and
fragments of charcoal and industrial ceramics found in this area
indicate the site served as the centre of industrial activities
associated with the mining operations, while other remains
suggest several buildings had been erected here. The precise
character or purpose of the various distinct features is not
yet certain. They would have included one or more assay offices
and possibly a smithy.
Another of the major features, of which there remains only a jumble
of boulders, is the "Frobisher House".
Lesser features on the island include a pair of isolated, vertical
boulders which may mark one or two graves of Frobisher's men, and
two large areas of scattered boulders, tentatively categorised as
the remains of cairns marking caches of buried supplies. Some
cairn remains, as well as other boulder groupings indicative of
tent-rings, may be of Inuit rather than Elizabethan creation.
|
|