Baffin, William National Historic Person

Pangnirtung, Nunavut
William Baffin (© Expired)
Painting «A Navigator with Globe and Dividers»
(© Expired)
Address : Pangnirtung, Nunavut

Recognition Statute: Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date: 1972-10-19
Life Date: 1584 to 1622

Other Name(s):
  • Baffin, William  (Designation Name)

Importance: Arctic explorer, mapped Hudson Strait and Davis Strait (1615-16)

Plaque(s)


Existing plaque:  Pangnirtung, Nunavut

Baffin's reputation as one of the greatest of the early English navigators rests on his two voyages to the Canadian Arctic, although he had earlier explored the coasts of Greenland and Spitsbergen. In 1615 and 1616 as pilot to Robert Bylot he explored and mapped Hudson Strait and the sea west of Greenland as far north as 77o 45'. In 1615 he was the first mariner to calculate longitude while under way at sea, a feat not repeated for over a century. Sir Edward Parry named Baffin Island in his memory in 1820. Baffin died at the siege of Ormuz on the Persian Gulf.