FATA MORGANA

I was sailing in Greenland. We were in Scoresby Sund and had spent the last three days circumnavigating Milne Land, threading our way through thousands of icebergs. We had lifted the anchor at Denmark Island and were now on our way to the native Greenlander settlement of Ittoqqortoormiit. Some mouthful! We called it ITQ.

It had been a hot day and we were looking forward to a run ashore so spirits were high. As we approached the land we picked up a radio call but did not understand the language. It put us on alert though because out here there is no shipping traffic, so what was it and where was it?

Somebody was using their brains and they checked the radar. There was a small ship passing directly ahead
of us from port to starboard. But where was it? All we could see was ice which looked like the business end of a glacier. Then someone on board who was experienced in Arctic sailing said the ice was a type of mirage called a Fata Morgana and that the ship was behind it.

This is the first (and so far the only) time I had seen this phenomenon. I took a series of photographs and this amazed me because I had thought it would be a trick of the eyes and brain. I had not realised that I could actually photograph something which wasn't there!

We sailed closer and as we did so the Fata Morgana disappeared. We sailed on and anchored just off ITQ and that's another story for another post. When I got back to the UK I researched the subject of Fata Morgana and rather than go into detail here I'll refer you to the excellent and comprehensive article on Wikipedia. It's interesting and although you will see it mainly in Polar areas, you can see it elsewhere: indeed it is particularly associated with Sicily, (although I have never seen it there). Perhaps you have seen it and didn't know? You certainly wouldn't be alone. For example, Sir John Ross saw it and mistook it for land. So did Peary who saw it and actually named the "land" he had discovered. Sometimes it can cause you to see a ship that isn't there. I'll leave you with a couple of my photographs.