VICTORIA STRAIT

southern arm of the Arctic Ocean, lying between Victoria Island on the west and King William Island on the east, in eastern Kitikmeot region, Northwest Territories, Canada. The strait is about 100 miles (160 km) long and from 50 to 80 miles (80 to 130 km) wide. It connects Queen Maud Gulf (south) with McClintock Channel (northwest) and Franklin Strait (northeast). The Royal Geographical Society and Jenny Lind islands are near the southern entrance of the strait. In 1845 Sir John Franklin, the English explorer, led an expedition of 129 men in the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror in search of the Northwest Passage, a route through the Canadian Arctic archipelago connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The ships became hopelessly icebound in Victoria Strait just northwest of King William Island, and all lives were lost.