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Another North West Passage: Fine Tolerance
Oct 22, 2004 23: 02 EST
Published Oct 12, 2004 12: 25 EST
"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 this 2-part story, ExWeb presents the ship, her crew, and a debrief on their 2004 NW passage attempt.
"Today a group of Eskimos came up"
In the past year, the couple have sailed Japan, the Aleutian Islands, Canada and South East Alaska. In Vancouver, they added a radar, spare GPS, diesel fired stove/heater, an enclosed bimini around the steering station and the stowage of one years supply of food and spares, "just in case we do get caught and have to spend a winter iced in."
Mid April they sailed up the inland passage to Sitka, crossed the Gulf of Alaska to Kodiak and from there sailed further west to False Pass which is the first pass from the east that leads into the Bearing Sea. From there it was straight north to Nome, and Barrow. "Today a group of Eskimos came up in a aluminium dinghy with carvings and beads for sale. The carvings, scrimshaw on walrus tusks, were quite spectacular," ended the first report.
But by September 15, it was over:
"The storm had indeed wreaked havoc on the ice and that there was a narrow lead along most of the west side of the Boothia Peninsular with only a small section, about ten miles wide, of thick heavy ice that still remained blocking our way. Elated we made our way back to 'Fine Tolerance' and started to prepare for an early departure.
Ice chunks came floating
Already there is over eight hours of darkness each night so it was in the early dawn, around five o'clock, that we set out to sail around King William Island, with our route planned to go up through James Ross Strait and into Franklin Strait, on from which we planned to cut through Bellot Strait, up and across Prince Regent Sound and hence out into Baffin Bay and finally south into the Atlantic Ocean.
The wind was with us and we arrived at the entrance to James Ross Strait a few hours before dark. As there were some ice chunks floating about we decided to anchor and continue in the morning. 'Polar Bound', following just a few miles behind us, anchored nearby and an hour or so later 'Dagmar Aaen', which had come to join us both from where they had been in Spence Bay anchored also close by just after dark.
Tomorrow: This morning we pulled the plug
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.
Image of Fine Tolerance and her crew, courtesy of bruceroberts.com.
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