NORTHWEST PASSAGE
Deep within the Arctic Circle lies one of the most dangerous places on earth to sail a ship -- a 1,000-mile maze of islands and drifting ice where channels open without warning and close again just as fast. The Northwest Passage, a sea route connecting the Arctic chain of islands in Canada to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, was believed to provide an easier and shorter route from Europe to the spice-rich land of the Orient. Beginning in the 1400’s and lasting the next several hundred years, well over seven hundred explorers and crewmen perished at sea or on land while commanding rugged expeditions in search of the Northwest Passage.
Britain commissioned voyages to discover the Northwest Passage to provide the country with greater access to the wealth of the Indies, and in 1745, the House of Commons offered a reward of 20,000 Pounds to anyone who could find this fabled strait. Despite disappointing and often disastrous results, Britain continued to search for the elusive passage until the end of the nineteenth century. In 1845, Sir John Franklin left England determined to find the elusive passage in the ice-choked waters above the Arctic Circle but this expedition was never heard from again.
For the next several years, numerous expeditions, including that of Sir Edward Belcher in 1852, set out to solve the mystery of Franklin's disappearance and discovered that his two ships had become stuck in ice and the entire crew had perished from exposure. During his two-year stint in the Arctic, Belcher proved the existence of the Northwest Passage, however by 1854, conditions forced him to return to England and leave behind four ships that had become stuck in the ice -- one being the HMS Resolute.
Although several intrepid voyages were made through the ice in the next century, the dream of sailing to China via the Northwest Passage was no longer considered a practical possibility especially since ships could now go through the Panama Canal. However, the numerous expeditions – including that of Franklin and Belcher -- were not a complete failure, as much of Canada and the world were put on the map.