The Northwest Passage is a sea route that runs in the Arctic Ocean. It passes through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and stretches along the shores of North America in its northern regions. With the help of it, the communication of two oceans - the Pacific and Atlantic.
It is necessary to distinguish between the Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route. The second of them is the shortest of all, connecting the Far East and the Russian Federation in its European part. The legislation of our country defines it as a national transport communication of the Russian Federation in the Arctic, which has developed historically.
Who discovered the Northwest Passage?
The search for a path that allowed the sea to pass from Europe to Asia through the Arctic archipelago, which is located north of the part of Canada located on the mainland, began long ago, at the end of the 15th century. At the same time, many unsuccessful attempts were made.
Many of them are associated with considerable human casualties and disasters. Finally, in 1903-1906. he was successfully completed. This was done by Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian researcher.
How it was?
With a small team of six people, Amundsen hit the road on June 16, 1903. He left Christiania (Norway, modern Oslo) on a ship called Joa. It was converted from fishing and had a displacement of 47 tons. The ship passed to the western coast of Greenland, and after that it headed across the Baffin Sea to King William Island. The team lived on it for about two years, conducting scientific experiments. A toboggan expedition was undertaken in unexplored northern areas, the length of which is approximately 1300 km.
Finally, the ship "Joa" August 13, 1905, having left the island of King William, set sail westward. The next stop for the winter is King Point, located in northwestern Canada, on the northern shore of the Yukon Territory. For the third time, having wintered in the Arctic, Amundsen and his team resumed their journey on July 2, 1906.
On August 31, the expedition reached Alaska, the city of Nome. They became the first of the sailors who successfully crossed the Northwest Passage.
Search for the best way
In June 1940, from the port of Vancouver in Canada, which is located on the Pacific coast, a small motor schooner called St. Rock set sail. It had a displacement of 328 tons and was designed specifically for swimming in the northern seas.
This eight-member expedition was led by Henry Larsen, a Canadian policeman of Norwegian descent. Before the war, he received the rank of inspector, and he was appointed the organizer of the Arctic units.
"Saint Rock" walked along the coast of Alaska along the usual route along which fishermen and fur hunters walked in the northern waters. Passing the Bering Strait, the ship entered the Beaufort Sea. Having passed the Amundsen Bay, the daredevils approached the island of Victoria. The expedition arranged its first wintering in Walker Bay, on the northwest coast.
Continuation of the Larsen expedition
Trying to find the optimal route along the Northwest Passage, the expedition in 1941 attempted to go around Victoria Island from the north and go through the strait that separates it from Banks Island. Travelers suggested that the waters in the Prince of Wales Channel would be somewhat freer than in the Dolphin Channel, but this was a mistake.
The Strait of Prince of Wales scored heavy ice. Due to the difficult ice conditions, the sailors were forced to return. After this, the schooner headed east along the mainland. When Coronation Bay was passed, the ship was in the Victoria Strait.
Despite the most difficult navigational conditions, when the ice had already begun to hold down water, St. Rock approached the Butia Peninsula. Then Larsen went north and took refuge in Palsi Bay in early September. A second wintering was held here, during which more severe conditions were observed than in the previous one.
The thermometer showed minus 57 degrees Celsius when one crew member died. The following year, due to the harsh winter, only in June the waters got rid of ice, and the expedition moved forward.
Travel success
After passing between Somerset Island and Butia Peninsula, the ship through the Lancaster Strait reached the Baffin Sea. By and large it could be stated that the expedition was successful. In October 1942, St. Rock dropped anchor in Halifax. This was the end of a journey lasting 842 days. Success was achieved due to the fact that the correct choice was the vessel, equipment and crew training.
A reservation should be made: the expedition leader evaluated its results very restrained. He called it intelligence, whose purpose was to lay the continuation of another Northern Sea Route. In the conditions of the Second World War, this route was very significant. As Larsen said, his expedition was evidence of the possibility of overcoming the Northwest Passage within the same navigation, but this can not be done in any year.
Further development of the passage
According to the results of the Larsen expedition, it was difficult to assess the extent to which vessels with a large draft can be used on this route. Only in 1954 the first commercial vessel was sent through the passage. As global warming contributed to the melting of the ice, interest in the passage grew. So, several of his attempts were made:
- 1969 - passed a heavy supertanker with a capacity of 43,000 liters. from. and with a displacement of 115,000 tons, which has ice reinforcement. At that time, it was the largest US civilian ship, which was accompanied by two icebreakers.
- 1985 - an icebreaker assigned to the US Coast Guard crossed part of the passage from the US air base in Greenland (Tula) to its port of registry in Seattle.
- 1999 - A tugged heavy cargo ship of the Russian Federation proceeded to the Bahamas.
Opened prospects
According to the European Space Agency in September 2007, over thirty years of satellite observations, the area of sea ice in Arctic waters has been reduced to a minimum. As a result, shipping along the Northwest Passage has become possible.
After that, the Canadian government announced that the passage is part of the territorial waters of Canada. The statement has been mixed by the international community, which could adversely affect future international shipping.
Comparison of two paths
Today, as it is developed, the Northwest Passage is much less developed than the Northern Sea Route. Among the reasons for this situation are the following:
- In the Arctic region of Canada, much fewer people live than in the Russian Arctic.
- Canada does not have icebreakers that can navigate ships along the Northwest Passage, unlike Russia.
- Weak infrastructure along the aisle. For example, villages such as Resolut and Cambridge can only be reached by air, while in the Russian Federation Murmansk is connected with St. Petersburg by rail.
- In the Canadian Arctic, ice changes in the interests of shipping are not tracked.
- There is no clear definition of the route of the ships.
- Climatic difficulties: The Northwest Passage is covered with ice much more, despite the fact that both paths are located at approximately the same latitudes.
- On the Northern Sea Route there is a port of Murmansk, which is ice-free.
Prospects
In August 2008, Peter Faber, a cable ship from Denmark, crossed the passage without difficulty. It is deeper than the Panama Canal and therefore may be accessible to larger vessels. These days, several cruise ships are sailing along the aisle with ice reinforcement. In September 2008, cargo was delivered to four locations in western Nunavut on the MV Camilla Desgagnes cargo ship from Moneral.
In addition to commercial shipping, passage prospects are associated with the discovery of new deposits. On Baffin Island organized the mining of iron ore, intended for export to Europe. In addition, a port is being built in Coronation Bay for the needs of the mining industry.
A project has been developed providing for the transportation of liquefied gas and oil from northern Alaska to processing plants and US markets on the east coast through the Northwest Passage. Its length from New York to Tokyo is 14 thousand km, and the path through the Panama Canal is 18.2 thousand km.