25th January 2026 12:30
Reading Time: Four Minutes
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the East Coast of Greenland you might be wondering where on earth is Milneland? Milneland is the third biggest island in Greenland and it is situated in the middle of Scoresby Sund which happens to be the largest fjord in the world.
Why is it called Milneland? I know what you are thinking. There are definitely bears there, so surely it must be named after A A Milne but you are wrong. William Scoresby, the elder, named the island after David Milne, a British Admiral. I daresay the locals have a much more suitable name for the island.
This year will be my fourth attempt to sail to the island and indeed this is most definitely my last go! It is by total fluke that the stars are aligned for this attempt – well, the sun, moon and the earth are in syzygy. Yes, there happens, by weird coincidence, to be a total eclipse on a trajectory right through the middle of Milneland and it happens just when my optimistic schedule says the Good Ship Sumara will be anchored there!
To add to the coincidence, the last time Sumara experienced a total eclipse was in the English Channel on 11th August 1999 and my crew was no less than Paul – the very same Paul who will be with me in Milneland!
Yippee all round!
But hang on, maybe this isn’t such a good thing. If you put “Total Eclipse Greenland” into the Google Machine you quickly become aware that this natural phenomena is being heavily monetised by the Cruise Ship Industry.
It seems about a dozen ships are heading to Greenland and certainly a few of them are going to Scoresby Sund. That will somewhat spoil the wilderness experience that we were hoping for.
We will have to get a feel for what is happening nearer the time. It may be that just we head further up the fjord and seek out a remote shallow bay to drop our anchor.
We cant change our sailing schedule as the ice doesn’t clear until late July or even early August and the weather begins to deteriorate during September. We are really hoping to make it back all the way to Scotland before the South East Iceland gales kick in.
I suppose that if the ice around Milneland is too thick for little Sumara, perhaps we will just have to stowaway in one of those cruise ships and make use of their ice strengthened hulls to witness this rare Arctic phenomenon!
Leave a Reply