And for your etymological digression, I wonder if Polynia is a spelling of "polynya", an area of open water in sea ice, from Russian polyn'ya. If so it was a new word then--Merriam-Webster On Line gives the first use in English as 1853. And the pronunciation changed, as the Newfoundland tape I've heard pronounced it to rhyme with "Carolina". And the fate of the ship was ironic.