1 Intro
Historically the way to the riches of the Orient was by land. The only alternative – a sea route round Cape Horn was long and stormy. The five-century dream of a trade route to Asia avoiding both the land and the dangers of Cape Horn by way of a short-cut through the Arctic archipelago from the Atlantic to the Pacific has only now become a reality in the 21st century.
Over the last decade it has become clear that global warming has opened this fabled passage in late summer for freight and for bold tourists. Even well-found yachts are succeeding in increasing numbers.
The Northwest Passage is home for the majority of the world's seabirds, enormous numbers of whales and seals, a lot of polar bears and unicorns and more than enough mosquitoes. It is also home for hardy Inuit, who arrived from the east, adapted to a cruel climate, hunted with simple craft and were amazed and astonished when they first saw European ships. Their wrecks provided welcome plunder.
2 Atlantic approach. The key to the door.
Columbus tried first, John Cabot sailed to look for it in 1496, followed by other adventurous and brave Elizabethan seamen who reached north up the Davis Strait to Baffin Bay. But when they tried to penetrate west they were faced by a labyrinth of ice-choked channels and islands. After many rebuffs by many adventurers, Parry almost found a way in 1819, Franklin followed to become frozen in the ice, losing his ships and the lives of all 129 on board. A massive search involved the Royal Navy for years and proved the passage theoretically possible.
But it was Amundsen who at last cracked it in 1905. Then not till 1940 before the second passage was achieved when the Canadians took a patrol vessel through in order to confirm still-disputed sovereignty. Since then, a relatively small number of ice-breakers and ice-hardened vessels have carried adventurous travellers. Now global warming has reduced the ice cover of the Arctic Ocean, improving the annual window of opportunity in late summer.
3 The Passage
Landfall in Nunavut. Bylot Island, Pond Inlet, Lancaster Sound, Beechey Island and the Franklin story, Resolute. Inuit 'relocated' in 1953 by a Canadian govt anxious in face of cold war. One of the remotest communities in the world. Prince Regent Inlet and Bellot Strait. Amazing numbers of seabirds. Narwhals. Beluga whales.
Bellot Strait to Cambridge Bay
King William Island. Franklin's ships abandoned, the Inuit account of the end of the men. Taloyoak. Amundsen's winter harbour, Gjoa Haven. Queen Maud Gulf Bird sanctuary. Cambridge Bay. The Inuit.
Cambridge Bay to Holman
CANADIAN NORTHWEST TERRITORIES. Umingmaktok, Coronation Gulf, Kugluktuk. The copper story, Amundsen Gulf. Ulukhaktok. Brown bears, caribou. Arctic plants.
Holman to Herschel
Paulatuk Franklin Bay and the Smoking Hills. Sachs harbour, fish. Aulavik National Park. Muskox. Beaufort sea. Polar bears, walruses. Biggest concentration of belugas. Amauligak, oil. Tuktoyaktuk. Conflict between Inuit hunters and proposal for all-weather road for oil industry. Herschel Island. Bowhead whales, ringed seals. Canadian customs.
Herschel to Barrow
Now US TERRITORY. Prudhoe Bay. Barrow. Ross's gull. Oil. Ice
The Pacific exit
Chukchi Sea.. The Chukotsky peninsula. Anadyr bay Yttygran Island. Archaeology sites, amazing birds. Bering Sea. Fur seals.
Appendices.
Politics.
Climate change.
Mammal, bird and plant lists.
Refs
Acks
Index
Tony Soper is best known as a naturalist who has presented many programmes for the BBC Natural History Unit.
