[drwhite]

Against this backdrop, climate change and thinner ice levels have coincided with a steady yet still humble increase in Northwest Passage maritime transits. After all, when compared to the Panama Channel, the Northwest passage is a 4,000-mile shortcut without Panamax restrictions. In 2019 there were a total of twenty-three transits of the Northwest Passage (with five of the transits conducted by cargo vessels) compared to just six total transits in 2000. Although the viability of the passage as a maritime shipping route remains negligible (especially due to exorbitant insurance costs), its practicality will continue to increase as the Arctic region inches toward ice-free summers. When considering China’s claim to be a near-Arctic state and its dubious goal of “creating a polar silk road,” it is foreseeable that China may take stronger action to build inroads into the Arctic region. It will have the capability to do this since China is poised to expand its nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet. [links]

[midnightmagic]

The primary basis for U.S. opposition to Canada’s internal waters claim over the Northwest Passage is that the international legal precedence could pose a challenge to the strategic interests of the United States in other parts of the world. As President Reagan aptly wrote in 1987, “I have to say in all candor that we cannot agree to an arrangement that obliges us to seek permission for our vessels to navigate through the Northwest Passage. To do so would adversely affect our legitimate right to freely transit other important areas globally.”

[wbgtrfv]

Diverging viewpoints on the Northwest Passage present China and other actors with the opportunity to exploit this ambiguity by utilizing the route for both commercial and military purposes.

[Marko]

As the climate change issue emerged during the early 2000s, the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper reintroduced the importance of Canada’s Arctic sovereignty by launching a new strategy that pledged funding for a deep-water Arctic port, armed naval icebreakers, and a new satellite-based surveillance system. This ambitious policy was later adjusted to fund lightly armed Arctic naval patrol vessels instead of developing full-scale icebreakers. Almost two decades later, Canada has finally launched its first domestically built Arctic patrol vessel, HMCS Harry DeWolf. With several more ships still years away from completion, Canada still faces a sizable capability gap in the Arctic region that makes controlling the vast Arctic and the Northwest Passage problematic. [links]

[wolfz0rz]

The Northwest Passage has been a longstanding point of contention between Canada and the United States. In 2019, U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dubbed Canada’s Northwest Passage claim “illegitimate“ and likened it to Russia’s outlandish Arctic ambitions. Since the Northwest Passage cuts through the center of Canada’s Arctic archipelagos, the Canadian Government considers the passage part of Canada’s historic internal waters, while the United States views it as an international strait similar to the Straits of Malacca or Gibraltar. What both sides fail to appreciate is these diverging viewpoints on the Northwest Passage present China and other actors with the opportunity to exploit this ambiguity by utilizing the route for both commercial and military purposes. Until a consensus found, the Northwest Passage remains a glaring gap in the North American security perimeter. In examining both the legal and strategic perspectives of both sides, it is clear that a joint arrangement for surveillance over the Northwest Passage could resolve this decades-long strain between the United States and one of its closest allies.

[alexaverbuch]

As a preliminary, it is useful to reflect on the unique history of the Northwest Passage dilemma. Concerns about Canada’s Arctic sovereignty rose to prominence in 1969 during the “Manhattan Crisis.” The Manhattan Crisis was triggered when a U.S oil tanker, the SS Manhattan, declined to ask permission to enter the Northwest Passage resulting in condemnation from Canada’s Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau. The U.S-Canadian dispute on the passage re-emerged in Canada’s national spotlight in 1985 when the controversial transit of the USCGC Polar Sea through the passage sparked outrage in Canada’s Parliament. By 1988 a frustrated Prime Minister Brian Mulroney told his friend President Ronald Reagan that the Northwest Passage was Canadian, “lock, stock and iceberg” and even floated the idea of purchasing nuclear submarines to assert sovereignty in the north.

[!0suspectedof]

This article has been produced in collaboration with Silversea’s Corporate Business Partner, the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), which enriches guests’ expeditions with over 500 years of geographical travel and discovery. Find out more here.

[iLoveMjesica]

Long before there were cruise ships through the Northwest Passage, Roald Amundsen became the first explorer to successfully cross the route. Joined by a team of six men and inspired by the skills learnt from the Inuit people of Northern Norway, he completed the journey in 1906. Having departed Christiana (now Oslo) in Norway on a ship named Gjøa some three years earlier, Amundsen’s voyage was at the same time treacherous and pioneering. His crew survived thick fog and an onboard fire to reach San Francisco, after conducting scientific research on King William Island for two years. During this time, Amundsen and his team built a magnetic variation observatory which they used to calculate the exact location of the magnetic North Pole.

[gilbertj0hn]

During William Parry’s second Northwest Passage expedition in June 1821, an overland mission – led by Sir John Franklin – ran desperately short on supplies while on route to Repulse Bay. The group resorted to eating rock lichen and the leather from their boots and jackets. Then things turned for the macabre. Explorer George Back went ahead to bring back supplies and Franklin struggled after him, leaving Richard Hood and two others behind with a hunter called Michel Teroahauté. After a while, Teroahauté caught them up with fresh meat, which he claimed was wolf flesh. John Richardson, the expedition’s surgeon and naturalist, believed the meat to be human flesh. A short while later, Teroahauté declared that Hood had committed suicide, but a gunshot in his head suggested murder. Eventually, Back returned with food and the survivors were spared any further horrors. [links]

[sahars]

In early 1988 Canada and the US reached an agreement to permit US icebreakers access to Arctic waters, including the Northwest Passage, on a case-by-case basis. The agreement, however, did not settle the question of sovereignty. Canada considers the Northwest Passage to be Canadian internal waters, but the US and some European countries say the passage is an international strait.

[loadingpicker87]

In 1845 Sir John Franklin led a British team in an attempt to find the passage. Neither he, nor any of his men, returned. The many expeditions that searched for the lost crew over the next 12 years finally defined the coastal outlines of most of the Arctic islands, and reported an uncertain ice-free period for ships of only 1-2 months in August and September.

[nikileshsa]

Martin Frobisher (1576) and later John Davis (1585) reported the barren obstacle of Baffin Island, but noted ice-blocked westward-leading passages north and south of the large island. Exploration in the early 17th century was sidetracked into the broad opening of Hudson Strait, but no sea routes were found west of Hudson Bay.

[AT-LOW]

The first west to east passage, by the RCMP vessel St. Roch under Henry Larsen, followed a similar route through the relatively shallow channels along the mainland coast in 1940-42. Larsen left the central Arctic through Bellot Strait and travelled north and east of Baffin Island. here

[Veltas]

But the ice of the Northwest Passage is melting, a phenomenon most scientists attribute to climate change. Many scientists believe this will ultimately open a commercially viable corridor. Estimates as to when summer ice will fully disappear range from 2031-2100. In 2012 satellite images appeared to show that most of the ice in the Parry Channel, a section of the passage, had melted in August.

[spaceshaker]

In 1819 Edward Parry, in command of ships of the British navy, explored the opening north of Baffin Island and west of Lancaster Sound to Melville Island. This route through Viscount Melville Sound is the widest passage through the Arctic islands, but Parry reported it blocked by eastward-moving heavy ice floes even in August. After 1829 John Ross confirmed the extension of Boothia Peninsula north from the mainland, which blocked any sea route through that part of the central Arctic, but he missed one of the keys to the puzzle: the narrow opening through Bellot Strait.

[jimmyrdavenport]

In 1957, three United States Coast Guard Cutters - Storis, Bramble, and SPAR - became the first ships to cross the Northwest Passage along a deep draft route. They covered the 4,500 miles of semi-charted water in 64 days.

[danny9robert]

NASA studies have shown that the extent of Arctic sea ice is declining at a rate of several percent per decade. As the ice cover is removed, solar radiation penetrates the water and warms it, instead of being reflected from the white ice.

[hilary33]

The benefits of a clear Northwest Passage are significant. Ship routes from Europe to eastern Asia are 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) shorter. Alaskan oil could move quickly by ship to ports in the eastern United States. The vast mineral resources of the Canadian North will be much easier and economical to develop and ship to market. more

[michb]

During the past few years, satellite images taken near the end of the Arctic summer often show that large portions of the Passage are relatively ice-free. In September, satellite images show that the Arctic Ocean has been clear enough to sail straight through the Northwest Passage. (Related: Arctic Ocean Features Map)

[altamic]

All routes through the Northwest Passage pass between the islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and within Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Canada. On that basis, Canada claims the route as "Canadian Internal Waters." However, the United States military has sent ships and submarines through the Passage without notification to Canada based upon the philosophy that the Passage is an International Water. This is one of many issues in the "who owns the Arctic Ocean?" question.

[nazgul]

There has been a progressive, year-by-year decline in the thickness and extent of Arctic sea ice. The graph on this page shows how the extent of Arctic sea ice has been on a steady decline between 1979 and 2020.

[Marsianin]

After returning from the first Franklin search expedition, a new search party was sent in 1850, with McClure in command of the second ship, Investigator. The two boats set out together but soon became separated. They didn’t regain contact for the rest of their trips. here

[kita59]

As Amundsen’s expedition travelled past Baffin Island, they harboured off King William Island to take shelter from the winter. They spent two winters (1903-04 and 1904-05) in what is now a community called Gjøa Haven. They learned from the local Netsilik Inuit people how to survive in the Arctic. [links]

[shelbsok67]

In 1845, Sir John Franklin was chosen despite being 59 years old to lead a lavishly-equipped expedition to chart the last unknown parts of the Northwest Passage. The two ships became ice-locked in 1846 near King William Island, roughly halfway through the Passage. Franklin died in 1847, leaving Francis Crozier in command. In 1848, they abandoned the two ships and tried to escape south by sled across the northern tundra. None survived. here

[chmod755]

The British were becoming frustrated by failing attempts and declared a £20,000 prize to anyone who discovered a northwest passage. This continued to stimulate and encourage future expeditions. more

[singingwolfboy]

Map of Bering Strait (oldprintshop.com) more