WRANGEL ISLAND, in the Arctic sea, 85 m. N.E. of Cape Billings, eastern Siberia, extends between 176° W. and 179° E. in about 71° N. It is 8o m. long and 18-30 m. wide and has an area of about 2,000 sq.miles. The mountainous interior rises to 2,500 ft. in Berry Peak, but there is much low land on the south and north. Shoals and sandspits project to sea on the north and south-west. The west and east coasts are steep and lofty. The small Rodgers harbour is on the south-east. There are no true glaciers. Tundra covers many parts. Polar bears and foxes are numerous. Walrus and seals frequent the shores. In summer there are duck, geese, gulls and other birds. Driftwood is abun dant. Mammoth tusks have been found. No minerals of value occur. Herald island lies 4o m. E. of Wrangel island. It is 5 m. long and 90o ft. high. The shores are mostly steep. There are no resources. Both islands are generally surrounded by pack-ice. Hunters do not visit them and there has never been a native popu lation. Reports of land seen to the north by natives of eastern Siberia were investigated by F. von Wrangel in 1824, but he failed to reach the island. In 1849 Captain H. Kellett, R.N., dis covered and landed on Herald island, from which he reported lands to the west, Plover and Kellett's Lands, thought to be parts of an Arctic continent. Commander J. Rodgers, U.S.N., landed
on Herald island in 1855, and the American whaler T. Long sailed along the south of Wrangel island and gave it its name in 1867. The first certain record of landing is by Capt. C. L. Hooper, U.S.N., in 1881. The same year Captain R. M. Berry, U.S.N., explored the island and dispelled the idea of extensive land in that region. Russians first landed in 1911 when the "Taimir" and "Vaigach" erected a beacon. The survivors of V. Stefansson's "Karluk" lived on the island from March to Sept. 1914 (see ARCTIC REGIONS) in 1921 Stefansson sent an other party of five under A. Crawford to establish a Canadian claim by occupation in view of the use of the island as a base in transpolar aerial trade routes. The party perished through acci dent with the exception of the Eskimo seamstress. In 5923 a party of Eskimos under an Alaskan trapper was established with the same end in view, but Russia, laying stress on a claim made in 1916, removed the colony in Aug. 1924 and shortly afterwards brought 5o Chuckhee to form a settlement under Soviet officials. The Soviet flag was also hoisted on Herald island in 1926. The colony was visited by Russian aeroplanes in 1927. These claims were not officially disputed by Britain, Canada or the United States.