NO BUSY SHIPPING LANE
Experts estimate, that due to climate change the Northwest Passage might become a viable option for commercial shipping by 2040 to 2055. For now, no large commercial cargo vessel has ever passed the Passage without the assistance of icebreakers. Using icebreakers is so expensive, that it renders any such trips commercially useless.
Near the three or four small frontier settlements that Stefan and his four team-mates might pass by on their rowing expedition this summer, there will be plenty of vessels on the sea.
Apart from that, the expectation is that perhaps a dozen other ships and boats will be encountered over the whole period of 6 to 10 weeks. Inuit hunters in kayaks. Boats of the Canadian Coast Guard. Maybe another group of adventurers, most likely in a sailing boat.
All pics in this post are royalty-free stock photography, mostly from Pexels
A few small, commercial ‘expedition’ ships (with ‘expedition’ in inverted commas) perhaps. Most of those ships will do roundtrips from ports outside the Passage and only go 200km into the Passage, before making a U-turn. Theoretically, Stefan and his team-mates might encounter a small Hurtigruten ice-class cruiser coming towards them. The company will attempt to do the whole sea lane West to East at the same time Expedition members are rowing East to West. The chances are, of course, extremely slim, because the horizon is only about 6km away at sea-level.
WHAT’S THE COLDEST TEMPERATURE EVER MEASURED IN CANADA?
The coldest temperature ever measured in Canada was -63C (-81F) on 3 February 1947 in the small village of Snag in the Yukon Territory, a fair bit South of the Northwest Passage. This year’s Northwest Passage Expedition will finish in the Yukon Territory. Like Snag, the few tiny settlements along the Northwest Passage have temperatures that vary extremely between winter and summer. Tuktoyaktuk, in the Northwest Territories, where this year’s expedition will get back on land, has a record high temperature of 30C (86F) for July (mean daily high 15C/59F) and a record low temperature of -49C (-56F) for January (mean daily low -30C/-23F).
AMUNDSEN TOOK THREE YEARS TO DO IT
The first person to ever successfully pass the Northwest Passage by ship, was Roald Amundsen, who, from 1903 to 1906, took three years to do so in a small sailing boat.
SAINT LAWRENCE RIVER WAS THOUGHT TO CONNECT EUROPE WITH CHINA
In the 16th Century, European exploration of the Saint Lawrence River was the game of the day for a brief period. People thought that the river would connect Europe with China. When French explorer Jacques Cartier bumped into waterfalls near today’s Montreal, he called them La Chine waterfalls, because he expected China to be just on the other side of them. Lachine Rapids are a popular day trip destination for locals to this day.
A CENTURY LATER, THE HUDSON RIVER WAS THOUGHT TO BE A POTENTIAL NORTHWEST PASSAGE
A hundred years later, in the early 17th century, Henry Hudson sailed the river that is now named after him up to present-day Albany, New York, from what was then called New Amsterdam. He thought he might have found the Northwest Passage.
MODERN EUROPEAN EXPLORATION LAGGED WAY BEHIND THE VIKINGS
While the Vikings had managed to make it two thirds up north along Greenland’s Western coast near Ellesmere Island during the Dark Ages, it took until 1602, that modern Europeans started exploring the Hudson Strait, near the very southern tip of Greenland. The main entry point to the Northwest Passage, Pond Inlet, is about half-way between the other two points. So the Vikings had made it way further up north, the Europeans never got anywhere near the entry point until 1616. It would take another 200 years, before any modern European would make it any further up North.
THE FIRST BIG HORROR STORY IN THE EXPLORATION OF THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE
In 1619/20, Danish explorer Jens Munk set out to discover the Passage. He left with two ships and 65 men and returned home with one ship and only two other men. The rest had succumbed to the cold, famine, and scurvy.
WHO FOUND THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE IN THE END?
In 1851, Sir Robert McClure was credited with the discovery of the Northwest Passage. He had discovered the Strait that was named after him. However, neither was there any known connection between that strait and the Eastern entrance to the Northwest Passage on the other end, nor was the McClure Strait navigable at the time. This dude clearly had some friends in high-up places.
NO, WHO REALLY FOUND IT?
It was three years later, in 1854, that Scottish physician, explorer, and Hudson’s Bay Company employee John Rae discovered the real Northwest Passage. The route is close to the one taken by the current Northwest Passage Expedition. Last year’s team rowed all the way from Pond Inlet to Cambridge Bay. This year’s team will attempt to complete the feat by rowing from Cambridge Bay all the way to Herschel Island.
FRANKLIN LED TWO EXPEDITIONS ENDING IN CANNIBALISM
Two of Sir John Franklin’s expeditions are likely to have involved cannibalism towards the end.
His ill-fated Northwest Passage expedition of 1845 is the most famous one of many ill-fated expeditions. One of the two ships was aptly called ‘Terror’ (the other one ‘Erebus’). All 129 men died, after the ships became icebound in Victoria Strait near King William Island in what is today the Canadian territory of Nunavut. The starting point of this year’s Northwest Expedition, Cambridge Bay, is broadly at the same latitude, just a bit further to the West.
Franklin and many others perished the following year. The remaining men then used the diseased for sustenance and abandoned ship to go on by foot. Some evidence suggests that a dozen men or so survived another 4 or 5 winters, before they died.
A quarter of a century earlier, in 1819, Franklin’s so-called Coppermine Expedition had set out overland from Hudson Bay to the Northern coastline of the Canadian mainland to map the coastline. While making their way along the Coppermine River, 11 of the 20 men died. Most from starvation or exhaustion. But many historians are convinced that there was also at least one murder and various instances of cannibalism.
METALLICA PLAYED A GIG IN THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE
In September 1995, the Molson Brewing Company organised a concert of Metallica, Hole, Moist, and other popular bands in Tuktoyaktuk. It was a publicity stunt to promote Molson’s ice-brewed beer. A documentary called ‘Invasion of the Beer People’ was made about it. The 1,000 soul frontier settlement is going to be the drop-off point of this year’s Northwest Passage Expedition. After we finish the rowing part and switch on the electric motor to return to civilisation.
TUKTOYAKTUK FEATURES IN ‘ICE ROAD TRUCKERS’
The popular Discovery Channel TV show ‘Ice Road Truckers’ features Tuktoyaktuk.
