It was operational for only eleven years, being abandoned in 1948, as severe ice conditions in the surrounding waters made the site hard to reach and economically unviable.

[3] The post is situated at the eastern end of Bellot Strait, on a southeastern peninsula of Somerset Island, between Hazard Inlet and Brentford Bay.

As all Canadian planes suited to perform the evacuation were unavailable due to the country's participation in World War II, the Canadian government requested assistance from the United States In November, a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Douglas C-47 Skytrain was outfitted for the trip.

refurbished and strengthened, and is still used as a shelter by Inuit caribou hunters from Taloyoak, and as a refuge for researchers and small boat travellers passing through.

In the summer of 2006, CBC's The National visited Fort Ross in their travels on the Coast Guard icebreaker Louis S. St-Laurent in a special series focused on climate change.