Northwest Passage

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By Mark Stratton

MAY 16, 2024

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Footsteps crunching on the coarse shingle, I make a slow climb towards the most iconic site in the Northwest Passage, Beechey Island. It’s a warm blue sky morning. The speckled beach curves away as a spit towards the imposing rock fortress of Devon Island. But for now my focus is on three windswept graves ahead of me, a reminder of the most compelling story ever told in Arctic Canada.

Petty officer Torrington, Private Braine, and able-seaman Hartnell, lie beneath rectangular wooden tombstones arranged up the hillside. They died in 1845 during Sir John Franklin’s expedition to discover a route through the Northwest Passage in a bid to forge a high-latitude trade route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The expedition ended in disastrous failure as all hands and two ships, the Erebus and Terror, were lost. There’s a haunting spine tingling atmosphere to this austerely beautiful place.

With the Arctic’s sea-ice decreasing, sailing the Northwest Passage these days is no longer such a fearsome task. Yet it remains one of the greatest adventures in travel. The entire voyage is above the Arctic Circle and 7 navigable routes thread their way through a maze of islands and straits. The classic route passes south of King William Island where both Franklin’s ships sank and it enters or exits the passage via Lancaster Sound, just above Baffin Island.

Your biggest decision will be time and budget. A full traverse of the Northwest Passage running completely across Arctic Canada’s Nunavut province takes around 25 days and costs between £30,000-£40,000. From the Atlantic side, heading west, you’ll sail from either Reykjavik or West Greenland and transit towards the Pacific, typically the Alaskan town of Nome. These voyages operate vice-versa too. With less time or a lower budget, you can make a partial transit. Heading eastwards, these transits commonly depart from Cambridge Bay via the Victoria Strait and head through the passage to West Greenland. You’re looking here at a 16-17 days voyage in the region of £11-15,000.

I’ve made a partial transit twice and despite not fully completing what Amundsen first achieved in 1906 in forging the Northwest Passage route, in no way did I feel short-changed as just being within the awe-inspiring landscapes imbues a sense of pioneering spirit, whether you take a longer or shorter option.