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Fine Tolerance and the North West Passage, part 2

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Expedition diaries

Oct 13, 2004 10: 04 EST

Yesterday, we presented the first leg of Fine Tolerance and her crew. Today, read part 2 final on this NW passage attempt. The crew are trying to head up James Ross Strait, with only 160 miles to get up to the critical Bellot Strait:

A thick wall of ice

"The next morning saw us proceed through towards the northern end of the strait but only half way along we came across a thick wall of ice. We retreated back a short way and anchored to give the strait a bit more time to clear itself of the ice. The tidal current runs at about two knots and we felt that by morning we would be on our way again.

The next morning we could still see a lot of ice, not much further away than the previous day, but set out to see if we could find a way through. 'Dagmar Aaen' has a crows nest half way up the mast which gives them a great advantage over 'Fine Tolerance' and 'Polar Bound' in finding gaps in the ice but even with this advantage the ice proved too thick and we all retreated once again and anchored.

A few miles large chunk of ice swept down on us

A constant lookout needs to be kept when anchored in icy waters and rightly so. We had only been anchored a few hours when, with the tide change, a large section of ice, a few miles in length, swept down on us from the main ice wall, threatening to trap us up against the north shore of the strait. Hurriedly we pulled up our anchors and retreated a few miles further back.

When we awoke the next morning the ice could scarcely be seen and with high hopes we took of once again but once more, only a few miles further than we had gotten the previous day we hit the solid wall of ice again.

Spent the rest of the day fending of ice

Come morning there was no ice at all in sight. We pulled up our anchors and once again started to head up the James Ross Strait. Presently we came to some thick ice but we worked around it and with 'Dagmar Aaen' leading and 'Polar Bound" and ourselves following we starting running along the edge of the ice. In three hours we had made over ten nautical miles but then the lead through the ice started to curl around and block our passage.

After a search we once again had to give up and retrace our wakes. With only 160 miles to get up to Bellot Strait we were not that far from victory. We anchored just back from the ice face and once again spent the rest of the day fending of chunks of ice that were being blown down onto us.

This morning we pulled the plug

Both 'Dagmar Aaen and 'Polar Bound' are much more powerful vessels then 'Fine Tolerance'. 'Dagmar Aaen's' engine alone weighs half the weight of our entire vessel. They can push through ice far easier than we can and can also travel at twice the speed. With the headwinds now forecast the chances of us being trapped against a hostile shore where just too great and so this morning we pulled the plug and with sadness said goodbye to our friends on the other vessels, wishing them every success but that for us our attempt was over.

As for us, we are at present heading back to Gjoa Haven knowing that we have done our best. There has only been about 15 small vessels in the whole history of the North West Passage that have made it in one year so it is no disgrace to have got this far and failed. We nearly made it. We felt that we could almost reach out and touch the other side, it was in our grasp, but it was not to be.

Spend the winter in Cambridge Bay

After Gjoa Haven we will go back to Cambridge Bay where we will most likely have to spend the winter with 'Fine Tolerance'. Our escape route back to the Pacific has also been cut off although there is still just a chance that the small ice blockage near Cape Bathurst will break free and release us. If it does then Pacific Bound we will be. If it doesn't then here's looking towards an Arctic Winter."

"This year we are attempting the North West Passage. This is the sea route that crosses over the top of North America. Blocked with ice for over 11 months of the year there is only a small window each summer, and then sometimes even no window at all," begins the firts newsletter from another Nortwest passage ship, the "Fine Tolerance" of Phil and Liz. In the next ten entries they describe the passage attempt, and finally, the end: They got caught by ice in Ross trait and will over winter in Cambridge Bay for another attemt next year.

Brief history of the Northwest passage courtesy of "Fine Tolerance':

*1576 ..... Frobisher made his first voyage in search of a North West Passage over the top of the Americas.
*1845-1848 ..... After many famous explorers had tried and failed Franklin on his third attempt disappeared with all 134 hands. His wife and the English government spent the next 8 years attempting to find him during which time much of the eastern entrance was mapped.
*1903-1906 ..... The 'Gjoa' , a converted fishing boat skippered by Roald Amundsen, became the first boat the transit the Passage, over three hundred years after the first attempts had been made. This is the same Amundsen the became the first man to the South Pole.
*1940-1944 ..... The 'St Roch', a Royal Canadian Mounted Police vessel became the first vessel to complete the passage in one season and the first vessel to pass through both ways.
*1969 ..... Exxon's specially modified oil tanker, the 'Manhattan' became the first commercial vessel to transit the passage. Accompanied by two ice breakers and at a cost of ten's of millions of dollars it symbolically took on one barrel of oil. As of 2004 it remains the only commercial vessel to make the passage.
*1977 ..... The Belgian, Willie de Roos, sailing his 44 ft steel sailboat became the first sailboat to transit the passage and completing the voyage in one season.
*1995 .... 'Dove' a 27ft steel sailboat, built and skippered by Winston Bushnell and with two friends as crew also completed the voyage in one season becoming the fifth boat in history to do so.
*2003 .... On the 100th anniversary of 'Gjoa' first ever transit seven vessels attempted the passage. Two made it through successfully. Three were caught in the ice where they have been for the past 10 months. The remaining two we haven't yet been able to track down.
* 2004 .... We're making the attempt.

Images of Fine Tolerance's iced over dinghy and an ice breaker haul, courtesy of bruceroberts.com.

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