Funk Island
Geography | |
---|---|
Location | Labrador Sea |
Coordinates | 49°45′24″N 53°11′02″W / 49.75667°N 53.18389°W |
Length | 0.8 km (0.5 mi) |
Width | 0.3 km (0.19 mi) |
Highest elevation | 14 m (46 ft) |
Administration | |
Demographics | |
Population | Uninhabited |
Funk Island is a small, barren, isolated, uninhabited island approximately 65 kilometres (40 mi) northeast of Musgrave Harbour, Newfoundland, Canada.
Geography
The island is roughly trapezoidal in shape, with a maximum length of 0.8 km (½ mile) and a maximum width of 0.3 km (300 yards) and is nearly flat, rising 14 metres (45') out of the
Landing on Funk Island is extremely difficult and dangerous, though in calm weather there are three points where a safe landing can be effected. Gannet Head, the southwestern corner of the island, and Landing Rock, just north of Gannet Head, are two such places. On the north side, approximately 0.17 km (190 yards) west of Escape Point, the easternmost tip of the island, there is a steep cliff. Set in the cliff is a natural shelf, called The Bench, approximately 1.2 metres (4') wide, which slopes up the cliff face which allow relatively easy access to the surface.
The cold Labrador Current provides good breeding ground for cold water fish which in turn support the large breeding seabird population of the island. At high tide the seas break widely against the cliffs and in particularly high seas waves break over the island.
There are two large rock bunkers which lie off the southwest side of the island. The two bunkers are washed over by the sea, and provide roosting but not nesting areas for many of the seabirds, particularly the gannets. The island and the bunkers make up what is known as the "Funks."
There are no navigational aids or lighthouses on the island despite the number of shipwrecks and the loss of life which have occurred in the area.[citation needed]
Name
Funk Island
The name Funk, which means evil odour or vapour, is thought to have been given to the island because of the foul odour which predominates there. The smell arises from the
Historical names
Before the 18th century, the island was referred to by sailors as
Funk Island was probably called Penguin Island because the great auk used to nest on this island by thousands, and possibly tens of thousands, up to the late 18th century when its numbers declined drastically. However, the American Heritage Dictionary suggests the word "penguin", which may be derived from the Breton language penn gwenn meaning "white head", originated with the name of the island and subsequently become a synonym for "great auk".[5] Bretons were settled in the near area of 'Terra de Bretones', mentioned on Verrazzano's map with their Ermins coat-of-arms.
Demise of the great auk
It is believed that Funk Island was visited shortly after the first native peoples settled in northeastern Newfoundland. Joseph Banks, who visited Newfoundland and Labrador in 1766, told of a type of pudding the Beothuk people made from eggs which had been collected from Penguin (Funk) Island. In earlier times, the great auk was also known as the garefowl, from the Norse, "geirfugl".[6]
In the early 16th century, Europeans were drawn to the codfish schools off the coast of Newfoundland. "Towards the end of a long transatlantic journey, when provisions were running low, fresh meat was prized, and the ease with which auks could be picked off the slab [Funk Island] was soon noted."[7] Many explorers and fishing nations made trips to the Funks to acquire seabirds for food and oil for their lamps. The great auks were flightless birds that were an easy prey. In 1578, 350 Spanish and French vessels and fifty English vessels were reported fishing nearby. Later settlers along the northeast coast of Newfoundland often made the short trip to the Funks to kill birds for food and lamp oil; they also used the feathers for pillows and mattresses and gathered the eggs for food.
In 1622 Sir
Scientific expeditions
By 1800 the great auk was probably extinct on Funk Island, and by 1844, in the world.
Naturalists and scientists had become interested in the plight of the great auk and by June 1841 a Norwegian naturalist, Dr. Peter Stuvitz visited Funk Island with the hope of obtaining specimens of the birds, but was forced to leave due to weather conditions on the island.
The second visit of a scientific nature occurred in 1863, when
In July 1873
The most successful of the early scientific expeditions to Funk Island occurred in 1887. It was sponsored by the United States Fish Commission and was under the direction of Frederick A. Lucas. After a brief sojourn in St. John's, the group's ship, Grampus, arrived at Funk Island on July 22, 1887. They found in their search area, roughly one quarter of the land surface of the island was covered with between 0.6 and 1.2 metres (2' to 4') of earth. The earth contained egg shells mixed with granite pebbles in depths ranging from 5 to 30 cm (2" to 12"). Many more skeletons were unearthed and taken away for other scientific study.
This expedition did other scientific work on Funk Island, including the collection of rock specimens. During their search of the island they also discovered several iron kettles, rusted and broken, which were believed to have been used to scald the bodies of the great auks to make removal of the feathers easier. Near the western edge of the auks' breeding grounds they discovered enclosures made of granite blocks. The Auks had been herded into these compounds to make slaughtering easier.
There have been many other expeditions since, right up to 1982. In 1964 the island became a Provincial Wildlife Sanctuary and landing there was prohibited without a permit. With the creation of the sanctuary, the bird population began to be protected and is now monitored by researchers at Memorial University and Environment and Climate Change Canada[10]
Breeding colonies
Eleven marine bird species have been known to breed on Funk Island.
- Great auk
- Arctic tern
- Northern gannet
- Northern fulmar
- Great black-backed gull
- Herring gull
- Black-legged kittiwake
- Razorbill
- Thick billed murre
- Atlantic puffin
- Common murre
In 1972 the largest population on the Funk Island was that of the thin-billed or common murre, the population count was 396,461 pairs[citation needed]. That number accounts for 80% of the breeding population in eastern North America and makes Funk Island one of the most important of the seabird colonies in the world. In 1982 the seabird population on Funk Island was estimated[by whom?] at over 1,000,000 birds.
References
Notes
- ^ ISBN 9780802075703. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
- ^ a b Pope, Peter E. (2009). "Early Migratory Fishermen and Newfoundland's Seabird Colonies". Journal of the North Atlantic. Special Edition, 1: 57–74.
- ^ Vigneras, L.-A. (1979) [1966]. "Corte-Real, Miguel". In Brown, George Williams (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. I (1000–1700) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
- ^ Hakluyt, Richard (1904). The Principal Navigations Voyages Traffiques & Discoveries of the English Nation. Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons. p. 4.
- ^ American Heritage Dictionary at wordnik.com Archived 2014-10-16 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 2010-01-25
- ISBN 978-0-9555289-0-3.
- ISBN 978-0-8050-9299-8.
- ^ Relics of the Great Auk on Funk Island, by John Milne. The Field, March 27, April 3,10,1875.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 464.
- ^ "News Releases". www.releases.gov.nl.ca. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
External links
- Digitized Map of Island, Originally published in 1822, with additions to 1851. Compass rose with variation. Latitude-longitude note. Relief shown by hachures. Depths shown by soundings. Bar scale in yards. Includes navigation notes and a coastal view. Shows underwater rocks. Map creator 'William Bullock'.
- Funk Island Ecological Reserve