In 1849 under Commander James Saunders the '' North Star '' sailed to the Arctic in the spring on an expedition to search and resupply Captain Sir James Clark Ross ' venture , who in turn had sailed in 1848 trying to locate the whereabouts of Sir John Franklin 's expedition . Failing to find Franklin or Ross , Saunders 's mission aboard '' North Star '' consisted in depositing stores along several named areas of the Canadian Arctic coast and returning to England before the onset of winter . However , James Saunders 's ship progress northwards was hindered by ice in Melville Bay and the ship became trapped by ice off the coast of NW Greenland in North Star Bay . A paper left by Saunders in a cairn reads thus : During the winter 1849 – 50 Saunders named numerous landmarks in that area while wintering in the frozen bay . The bay was the site of a Cold War nuclear accident when a B-52 bomber carrying four thermonuclear bombs crashed , spreading contaminated material over the area
accident
1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash
North Star Bay