Northwest Passage Canada. Northeast passage. Northwest Passage

Numerous islands in the northwest American continent separated from each other and the mainland by the waters of the Arctic. Sea routes in this part of the planet are called the Northwest Passage.

The search for a waterway from the Pacific to the Atlantic began in the early 19th century. In 1818, the Englishman Ross went to the Arctic. Later the attempt was repeated several times. And only in 1904, the Norwegian Amundsen managed to find a passage through the water in two navigations.

In June 1940, the small motor schooner Saint Rock left the Canadian port of Vancouver, located on the Pacific coast. The schooner, with a displacement of 328 tons, was specially designed and built for sailing in northern latitudes. The eight-man expedition was led by a Canadian police officer of Norwegian origin. Henry Larsen. Before the war, Larsen, having received the rank of inspector, was appointed responsible for organizing the Arctic detachments.

He took the St. Rock along the coast of Alaska along the usual route that fishermen and fur hunters set off for northern waters. After passing the Bering Strait, the schooner ended up in the Beaufort Sea. After passing the Amundsen Bay, the daredevils reached Victoria Island. At the north west coast, in Walker Bay, the expedition arranged the first wintering.

Larsen tried to choose optimal route. The following year, 1941, the expedition tried to go around Victoria Island from the north, to pass through the strait separating Banks from the island. The traveler believed that the waters of the Prince of Wales Sound would be freer than the Dolphin Sound. However, he was wrong in his assumptions. The Prince of Wales Sound was clogged with heavy ice. Complex ice conditions made them come back. The schooner headed east along the mainland. Passing Coronation Bay, she found herself in the waters of the Victoria Strait. In the most difficult navigational conditions, the water had already begun to freeze with ice, "Saint Rock" reached the Butia Peninsula. Larsen then turned north and took refuge in Pasley Bay in early September.

Here the expedition settled down for the second wintering. Conditions were much harsher than at the last stop. The air temperature dropped below 57°C. During this wintering, one of the crew members died. next year due to harsh winter the waters were freed from ice only in June. Saint Rock moved on. Passing between the Boothia Peninsula and Somerset Island, the schooner headed through the Lancaster Strait and ended up in the Baffin Sea. It could be considered that the expedition was a success. In October 1942, the St. Rock anchored in Halifax. The journey, which lasted 842 days, is over. The success of the expedition was achieved due to the right choice of vessel, equipment and proper training of the crew.

It should be noted that the leader of the trip himself very reservedly assessed the results of the expedition, calling it reconnaissance for laying the continuation of the Northern Sea Route. This route in the conditions of the Second World War had a very importance. According to Larsen, his expedition proved that the Northwest Passage can be completed in one navigation, but it can not be done every year.

The Larsen expedition was unable to assess to what extent northern route suitable for ships with a large draft. It wasn't until 1954 that the first commercial ship sailed through the Northwest Passage. Over the past 30 years, the movement of ice in the western part of the Arctic has been constantly monitored from space. Meteorologists have come to the conclusion that due to climate change, the number sea ​​ice significantly decreases, which makes the Northwest Passage open to navigation.

This month, former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard, now the French representative for the Arctic and Antarctic, traveled to the Arctic aboard the Canadian icebreaker Amundsen. Rokar did not speak very highly of the possibilities of the host in the far North. He stated: “I have the impression that Canada has abandoned the struggle to attract in the next 25-30 years most cargo flows on its Arctic route”.

Rocard added that Canada is too small a country to pay to turn the Northwest Passage into a viable shipping route. At the same time, he believes Russia is much more prepared to turn its Northern Sea Route into an attractive alternative to the Suez Canal. Russia already has four nuclear-powered icebreakers and is building at least one more. In addition, Russia has just announced that it will establish nine emergency response centers along the route, which will be located from Chukotka to the Barents Sea. Each center will cost $18.5 million and will include rescue, firefighting and helicopter equipment.

Dr. Alexei Knizhnikov, Russian Program Coordinator World Fund wildlife on the environmental policy of the oil and gas sector, says the following:

“Without such centers, any commercial operations in the Arctic are fraught with great dangers. These dangers will be significantly reduced as soon as Russia deploys a chain of such centers from Chukotka to the Barents Sea. These centers will ensure the protection of the local population and the fragile environment of the Arctic.”

There is a certain paradox that these centers should protect local population And environment. It seems that not too many preventive measures are being taken to prevent disasters. Rather, Russia is hosting emergency response centers that will be activated when tankers are found to have leaked oil or harmful substances into the water. Be that as it may, it cannot be denied that this country is investing heavily in the North in general, and in the Northern Sea Route in particular. Canada is lagging behind in this respect. Russia is even building 15 new observation stations and 30 automated observation posts. In total, there will be 70 and 33 of them, respectively. It even has the intention of placing additional satellites in space to monitor the weather in the Russian Arctic.

However, it is not entirely true that Canada is "too small a country" to develop the infrastructure of the Northwest Passage. In fact, if we talk about the economy, then its GDP is slightly larger than that of Russia, although Canada lives fewer people especially in the Arctic. Her problems are more related to geography and politics. Geographically, the Northwest Passage has a number of disadvantages. First of all, there is no clearly marked route through the numerous islands of the Canadian archipelago, while the North Sea the way goes mostly along the coast of Russia. In addition, Canada has very few infrastructure facilities near the Northwest Passage. Villages along the route, such as Cambridge Bay and Resolute, can only be reached by plane from elsewhere in Canada. At the same time, a favorable factor for Russia is that the ice-free port of Murmansk is located on the Northern Sea Route. At the same time it Big City with direct rail links to St. Petersburg. Although the two routes lie at roughly the same latitude - just south of 70 degrees north latitude - the Northwest Passage is generally more ice-covered than the Russian route. Also, in Canada, recent changes in ice melt are not mapped properly for the benefit of shipping. And because Canada doesn't have the icebreakers needed to steer ships through the treacherous passage, companies are reluctant to shift their shipping from the Suez Canal to the Northwest Passage, despite Somali pirate activity.

Politically, Canada's sovereignty over Northwest Passage disputed, and above all, it is disputed by the United States. There are no disputes about the Northern Sea Route, because it runs close to Russian coast. Also, because Canada is a parliamentary democracy, it's not easy for Canada to just invest in this project, no matter how hard Stephen Harper tries. On the other hand, it is much easier for the Russian authorities in this regard.

While Rocard accuses Canada of a lack of willpower in the Arctic issue, Russia is preparing for a posting along the Northern sea ​​route the largest tanker in history. The escort will be carried out by two nuclear-powered icebreakers. Yamal, which recently hosted an important conference on the Arctic, and 50 Years of Victory will lead the Suezmax-class tanker Vladimir Tikhonov with a displacement of 162,000 tons along the Northern Sea Route. Leaving Norway for Murmansk, accompanied by the “50 Years of Victory”, this tanker with gas condensate will reach New Siberian Islands, where he will meet with Yamal. Then he will continue sailing along the Northern Sea Route from final destination in Thailand. Canadian newspapers cannot boast of stories about wiring so large ships along the Northwest Passage. While this is a matter of the distant future.

"Her Majesty's Government have decided to make a further attempt to traverse the Northwest Route from Atlantic Ocean to Tikhiy, and found it convenient to entrust you with command over both ships Erebus and Terror allocated for this purpose. In accordance with this, you must, as soon as both ships are ready, go to sea ... ”, - said the instructions received by Captain John Franklin from the English Admiralty.

On far north the American continent, between the islands of the Canadian archipelago, Franklin hoped to find the North western passage, predicted back in the 15th century by the famous English navigator John Cabot. The passage would be for Europeans the most convenient and shortest road from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean. It was searched for in the 16th century by the Englishmen Robert Thorne and Martin Frobisher, in the 17th century by the Englishman Thomas James and the Frenchman de La Paterne, in the 19th century by the Englishman John Ross, William Parry and John Franklin himself on their previous Arctic expeditions.

On May 19, 1845, an expedition under the command of Captain John Franklin, consisting of 129 crew members, left England, and, accompanied by the transport ship Baretto Junior, went out into the ocean, heading west. A month later, Captain Franklin made his first stop near Disco Island in Baffin Bay, reloading food and fuel from the transport, then the transport turned back, and the Erebus and Terror moved further west. IN last time they were seen on July 26 west of Melville Bay by the captain of the whaling ship Prince of Wales, Dunnet, who reported a meeting with Franklin's ships. All members of the expedition were healthy and full of hope that the legendary northwest passage would finally be opened! No further information about the expedition was received ...

Captain John Franklin, who led the expedition, was an experienced polar explorer. This was already his fourth Arctic expedition, and the third under his command. Franklin was born on April 15, 1786 in England, Spilsby, at the age of 14 he entered the British Navy, fought, was wounded in 1814 in the battle of New Orleans, and in 1818, as commander of the ship "Trent" participated in the British Arctic expedition, which was supposed to reach Bering Strait, passing through the North Pole - at that time, the task was completely impossible. Having reached Svalbard, they were forced to turn back.

In 1819-1822, Captain Franklin himself organized and led an overland Arctic expedition to Canada, erasing from the map north coast America has many blind spots. The return journey of the expedition was especially difficult, during which 11 out of 20 people died of starvation and deprivation. In 1825-1827, he led a new, successful expedition, exploring more than 600 km of the North American coast, for which he was knighted in 1829.

What could happen to a well-equipped expedition? The ships at that time were also perfectly prepared for the Arctic voyage, and already participated in the successful expedition of James Ross in 1830-1843, for this voyage they were equipped with railway steam engines with a power of 20 hp, which made it possible to move at a speed of 4 knots per hour.

A year passed, another, a third... The absence of news was due to the forced wintering, without which at that time not a single Arctic expedition could do. There was enough food on board for three winters, and at first the Admiralty was not very worried. Three years later, in 1848, the first rescue expedition was equipped, which returned to London empty-handed.

On August 23, 1850, the captain of the English ship "Help" Erasmus Omeni landed on Cape Riley, Devon Island, where he accidentally discovered traces of some kind of camp and objects that clearly belonged to the sailors of the British fleet. On August 25, 1850, two ships - the English clipper "Prince Albert" under the command of Congrington Forsyth and the American "Success" of Captain De Haven, approached Devon Island. On the island, they found a cylinder with a note from Omeni telling about the find. The sailors found five ramparts (remnants of once tents) and some things that Forsyth brought to London, where they were carefully examined. According to experts, the finds belonged to the Franklin expedition.

In the meantime, Erasmus Omeni visited a small island near Riley's Point, Beechey Island, and found the site of another Captain Franklin's campsite - a hut of rough stones, tin cans and a torn book with a newspaper dated September 1844. Some time later, the Englishman Penny found three graves there, made of stone slabs with boards with the names of the deceased and the names of the ships - these were Franklin's ships.

In 1851-1852. Another expedition was equipped under the command of William Kennedy. Having opened Belov Strait, Kennedy headed west to the land of the Prince of Wales to Cape Walker, but he did not go south, where he could find Franklin's ships, but returned to England. Soon the British Admiralty appointed a prize for reporting information about the disappeared sailors.

In ice. Photo from liveinternet.ru According to the instructions received by John Franklin from the Admiralty, passing the Lancaster Strait between Baffin Island and Devon Island, the captain had to choose the direction of the further route to the Northwest Passage: follow the Wellington Sound or head west of Somerset Island - both directions were then almost unexplored. Franklin made a mistake - he went through the Wellington Strait and met fields of ice; then the ships headed south, but winter was already beginning, and the "Erebus" and "Terror" stood for the winter near Beachy Island. In the spring of 1846, leaving the first graves on the island, the ships moved on...

It has been 12 years since the expedition left England, and seven years since they found its camp on Beechey Island. Despite many rescue missions, none of Franklin's satellites have been found. Suddenly, the Englishman Dr. John Re, an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company, who in 1854 led an overland expedition to the Boothia Peninsula, heard from the local Eskimos a story about some white people who died of hunger. They saw about 40 white people when they hunted seals off the north coast of King William Island. People explained by signs that their ships were covered with ice and they were making their way to where they could hunt deer... fish river" (river Bak). Some of the corpses lay in tents, others under the boat, which was turned over so as to serve as a shelter for them. The Eskimos also reported cases of cannibalism among starving sailors, and the discovered remains confirmed this information.

So, the place where the Erebus and Terror were covered with ice was named - near King William Island. The traveler also discovered that some Eskimo families kept items of European origin - silver spoons and forks with the initials of Franklin's officers. John Re made a detailed report on his find at the Admiralty. He received the £10,000 bonus promised by the government. But judging by the report and the stories of the Eskimos, the expedition died four years ago. Members of the Admiralty Board declared all members of Captain John Franklin's expedition to have been undoubtedly dead in the Royal Service since March 31, 1854, striking their names from the lists of officers and sailors of the Royal Navy. The activity of government rescue expeditions was stopped.

In total, 39 polar expeditions were engaged in the search for the Franklin expedition. Lady Jane Franklin, the captain's wife, equipped some of them on personal funds spending all his fortune on it. She bought a 177-ton steam yacht Fox, and on June 1, 1857, the sailing ship Fox, under the command of the energetic and courageous captain Leopold McClintock, left the Scottish port of Aberdeen. The ship made its first stop on Beachy Island. Actually high place sailors installed a marble slab on the island - so that it could be seen from all sides. An inscription was engraved in gold on the plate - "In memory of Franklin and all officers and colleagues who suffered and died for the cause of science."

From Beachy Island, Captain McClinton headed for King William Island. The tides had already frozen, and the Fox was wintering a few miles from the island. McClinton bought sled dogs in advance and went to hiking. On April 2, 1858, “dividing into groups and following in different directions, we ... must find some trace, a remnant, and maybe even important message about those whose mysterious fate we seek to uncover,” McClinton wrote in the book “The Voyage of the Fox in the Arctic Seas.” McClinton himself commanded one party, and Lieutenant William Hobson commanded the other. From nomadic Eskimo families, they found all new items of European origin - silver dishes with initials, buttons from European clothes. The Eskimos claimed to have found them further south, "where many white people once died of starvation."

Lieutenant Hobson on the northwestern part of the island made a sensational discovery - under a pile of stones piled on the shore, he found a note left by officers of the Erebus and Terror. April 25, 1848. Her Majesty's ships "Terror" and "Erebus" were abandoned on April 22, five miles north-west of this place, where they had been icebound since September 12, 1846 ... Sir John Franklin died on June 11, 1847, and all died ... so far 9 officers and 15 crew members ... Let's go tomorrow, the twenty-sixth, to the Fish River ... ”, - from a note discovered by Lieutenant Hobson.

The same document stated that the ships went through the Pir Strait, but at the end of the summer they encountered pack ice, and in September the Erebus and Terror were covered with ice. They began to wait for spring, but in the spring the huge ice fields began to move. Ships frozen in the ice could not free themselves from it and began to drift along the ice fields. There was hope that the ice would still melt in the summer. Food supplies on the ships were running out. A large number of cans purchased from the London manufacturer Goldner were filled with sand and sawdust, and in the autumn of 1847, when the ice washed the ships to the west coast of King William Island, instead of taking them to clean water, the third in a row began, now a hungry wintering. People suffered from scurvy, a party of sailors sent to the mainland disappeared without a trace.

After the death of Captain Franklin, the surviving people decided to make their way south on foot - almost without food, hoping only for hunting. They went to the next world... All of them died during this terrible campaign - from hunger, cold and disease.

Charles Hall, an American who traveled in the 60s along the probable route of this detachment, found skeletons of officers and sailors of the expedition in the snow. In the 80s, the American Frederik Schwatka, according to the stories of the Eskimos, established the place where the Terror sank, crushed by ice. In the 30s of the XX century, the Canadian L.T. Baroush mapped the place of the death of the Erebus, which was drifting along with the ice for several years longer than the Terror. It is possible that other written documents and logbooks left by the expedition officers will still be discovered, and the burial place of Captain Franklin, who died on the verge of solving the age-old riddle, will be discovered ...

In Alaska and Canada, a cape, mountains, bay, and strait are named after Franklin. Dozens of expeditions looking for Franklin explored many previously unknown areas of polar Canada. But only one of the travelers, who almost exactly repeated the route of the Franklin expedition, reaching King William Island, but then turning a little east and rounding the fatal ice fields, famous Norwegian Roald Amundsen, finally. found the Northwest Passage. At the beginning of the 20th century, he took his ship "Yoa" from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Northwest Passage(English) Northwest Passage listen)) is a sea route across the Arctic Ocean along the northern coast of North America through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

The famous Franklin Expedition (1845-1847) perished while trying to pass along the Northwest Sea Route. In search of the missing expedition, as well as in the study this route many famous sailors and explorers, notably Edward Ingfield, John Ray, Francis McClintock.

The passage was first traversed entirely on water by Roald Amundsen in 1903-1906. Robert McClure, who passed it in 1850-1853, made part of the way on the ice and returned to England on a ship of another expedition.

In September 2007, the European Space Agency stated that over a period of about 30 years of satellite observations, the area of ​​Arctic sea ice had shrunk to a minimum level, making the Northwest Passage navigable. The Canadian government has declared that the passage is within Canadian territorial waters. This statement was received ambiguously by the international community, which in turn may complicate future international shipping.

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An excerpt characterizing the Northwest Passage

J. Franklin was already 60 years old when he left London in 1845 at the head of a large expedition of 129 people. Already famous sailing ships Antarctic expedition James Ross were converted into screw steamers and placed at his disposal. The Erebus was commanded by the head of the expedition, and the Terror was commanded by the experienced polar navigator Francis Crozier, who sailed in the Arctic with Parry and in the Antarctic with James Ross.

Passing north along the western coast of Greenland, the ships entered Baffin Bay. And this is the only thing known about them. No further information about the expedition was received. So three years passed, and the government sent several rescue boats, which could not find anything. For the salvation of at least one of the members of the expedition, a reward of twenty thousand pounds was appointed, half of this amount - for reliable information about the fate of the Franklin expedition. Dozens of ships participated in these searches, but for a long time no traces were found, although almost all the straits, bays and bays of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago were examined. Finally, in different places pyramids of stones (gurii) were discovered; under one of them in the spring of 1859 (fourteen years after the disappearance of the expedition) was found the last report of Franklin. By this time, quite a lot of finds of traces of the expedition had already accumulated: the remains of camps, various abandoned things, graves and skeletons of the dead.

Based on all these finds, the course of events has been restored, but only until 1848. After Baffin Bay, the ships passed Lancaster Strait. While the Terror remained at the southern entrance to the Wellington Strait between the islands of Cornwallis and Devon, Franklin and the Erebus moved on, but the ice did not let him out of the strait, and he, having rounded Cornwallis Island, returned to the Terror, prepared for wintering near Beachy Island. Three people died this winter. In autumn, when the ice cleared the way, the ships traveled about 250 km along the Peel Strait, leading south. Along the way, Prince of Wales Island was discovered. Behind the strait, which later became known as the name of Franklin, a wide expanse of water opened up. However, the ships could not use it - already at the beginning of the second decade of September they were frozen into the ice, being a few miles from King William Island.

The second wintering claimed the lives of twenty participants in the voyage: they were mowed down by scurvy caused by poor-quality products. As the winter drew to a close, eight men walked across the ice to King William Island and piled houris there with a note describing the expedition's route. Upon their return, these people did not find Franklin alive: having become seriously ill, he died on June 11, 1847. Off King William Island, the third wintering took place, by the end of which no more than a hundred people remained alive. The two legendary ships were abandoned off the west coast of King William, and the people went south, harnessed to a sleigh with a large boat mounted on them. (Subsequently, two bays along these coasts will be called Erebus and Terror.)

People went south, harnessed to a sleigh with a boat mounted on them. They didn't need her. Their path along King William Island is literally lined with dozens of corpses. Strongly knocked together coffins at the beginning of the journey are replaced by hastily knocked down ones, and then the dead were no longer buried - the skeletons lie without coffins. The last traces of the tragedy are on the small island of Aleleid, where the wreckage of a boat and a pile of bones were found, and at the mouth of the Back River, the Eskimos found the last forty skeletons.

Search work began in the spring of 1849, James Ross and a Scottish naval officer, Francis McClintock. During the winter they went around on a sled north coast Somerset Islands and through Peel Strait saw east coast Prince of Wales Islands.

New islands, straits, bays were discovered by subsequent expeditions. But William Kennedy and Rene Bello did especially important discovery: they reached on a sleigh the northern tip of the American mainland - the Boothia Peninsula and proved that the wide Franklin Strait separates it from Prince of Wales Island, the southernmost in the Canadian Arctic archipelago.

The entire third expedition of John Franklin, sent by the British Admiralty to continue the search for the northwest passage in 1845, perished. But a decade-long series of rescue expeditions led to significant discoveries in the north of the American continent. Including those that contributed to the discovery of the northwestern sea ​​passage to the Pacific Ocean from the east.

Four centuries ago, the epic search for this path began. Dozens of ships, hundreds of people took part in it, many victims were brought, and more than once the most authoritative polar explorers declared: to pass through the labyrinth of the straits of the Canadian arctic archipelago, constantly clogged with ice, is impossible. By the end of the 18th century, a chain of straits leading to the Northern Arctic Ocean or even to the Bering Strait. It remained only to make this passage and practically prove its possibility. This is what the young Norwegian Roald Amundsen decided to do. He was in his thirtieth year and had just returned from Antarctica, where he had been navigator on the Belgica and participated in the first Antarctic wintering aboard that ship.

R. Amundsen is carefully preparing for the expedition, which, apparently, must be difficult, long and dangerous, given the experience of previous expeditions, some of them ended tragically. Amundsen would become famous for the fact that none of his expeditions, however difficult they were, had no casualties. Except for the last one, where he himself became the victim.

But so far, only his second expedition (the first is his own) has begun. Having traveled to many shipyards, Amundsen chose a small yacht "Joa" (with a displacement of only 47 tons). For twenty years she went fishing off the coast of Norway and for seals in polar waters. The yacht was the same age as Amundsen - built in 1872.

In the spring of 1901, Amundsen tested the Gjoa in seal hunting between Svalbard and Greenland, making a series of oceanographic observations according to a program drawn up by Nansen. The necessary "finishing" of the vessel was made, but Amundsen's personal funds ended there. I had to borrow money, take out a loan for the future opening of the northwest passage. He himself lived extremely modestly. In Hamburg, where he lived and worked at the Neumeier Observatory, he rented a cheap room in the attic and spent the minimum on food. In the last days before sailing, a state loan was also received - 40 thousand crowns. With exceptional care, Amundsen rebuilt "Joa", himself participating in the work as a carpenter. Food was purchased for five years, and first-class scientific equipment was purchased. And suddenly in one newspaper there is an article under the heading "Does Norway need new skeletons among the icy deserts?". “Joa is a miserable vessel, and its captain is a frivolous person ...” - it was said in it.

The article had an effect on several creditors: they began to demand money back. It was a disaster. Is it really all the work, self-restraint, stress of the last months - all this is in vain?! And the dream of the northwest passage is not destined to come true?

No! Amundsen will not back down. There is only one way out, and it is very important that Nansen, who visited the yacht on the eve of sailing, agrees with this: "Joa" must go to sea secretly, at night, to escape from creditors.

"How wonderful! There are no more sorrows, annoying creditors ... Alone on a yacht! There are seven of us, we are cheerful and happy. We are sailing to unknown lands, but full of hope and faith," Amundsen wrote that day.

A few years later, Amundsen accidentally found out that then Fridtjof Nansen, without telling him anything, vouched for him to creditors. It was a purely Nansen act...

Amundsen took a five-year supply of food, fuel, clothing and equipment on board the ship, a prefabricated house was loaded on board the ship in case of wintering and material for the construction of a magnetic pavilion: after all, in addition to opening the northwestern passage, Amundsen planned to locate the North Magnetic Pole, located, presumably, on the northern tip of the mainland, on the Butia peninsula.

The first encounter with ice occurred off the western coast of Greenland, in Melville Bay, it took two months to fight against them and cross the Baffin Sea. And then the yacht entered the unexplored, unexplored Lancaster Strait. It was very hard way: I had to literally maneuver with jewelry precision among the numerous islands, rocks and shoals. Amundsen all the time while passing the strait, was in the "crow's nest" - on the front mast of the ship.

Violent storms also attacked the ship. Once, in order to save the ship, when the wind was swiftly carrying the helpless shell right to the reefs, Amundsen gave an order that seemed crazy to everyone: "Throw the boxes from the deck into the sea!" There were food in the boxes, but they had to be donated. The lightened ship was carried by the wave onto a smooth underwater rock, where it safely waited out the storm. But then a new misfortune arose - a fire in the engine room. And by some miracle it was possible to extinguish it, but thanks to the only correct decision taken by Amundsen - to block the access of air to the engine room.

The Lancaster Strait led to the Simpson Strait, along which, bypassing Victoria Island from the south, it would be possible to continue the journey, but Amundsen, having found a convenient bay for the vessel, decided not to risk it and stopped for the winter in early September. In addition, he was going to make magnetic observations on the Butia Peninsula, which was not far away.

Wintering in the bay on the west coast of King Wilman Island, which became known as Gyoa Bay, was exceptionally calm and productive. The ship, frozen into a three-meter monolith of ice, was constantly visited by the Eskimos, who built a kind of town around it from Eskimo igloos made of snow bricks. Communication with the Eskimos all winter was very close and mutually beneficial. In exchange for all kinds of iron products, the Norwegians received dressed deer skins, from the Eskimos Amundsen learned to build snow houses - igloos, load sleds, and transport them through cracks in the ice. The winter passed quickly, but the coming summer brought disappointment: the ice in the bay did not break, which meant a second wintering in the same place. But it also went well: there was not even a hint of scurvy that accompanied most polar expeditions. Of course, the abundance of wild deer around helped, hunting for which provided fresh food. The whole expedition worked hard all winter. In addition to constant meteorological, hydrological and magnetic observations, long trips on dog sledding along Victoria Island and the straits; about a hundred were put on the map small islands, but the main thing is that the point of the North magnetic pole is precisely set.

The summer of 1905 freed the Gyoa from ice captivity. On August 13, we weighed anchor and it was possible to move on. But again on the way - islands, shoals, underwater reefs, between which only due to its small size the yacht could maneuver. It was constantly necessary to measure the depth, and a special boat was in front of the ship, with which measurements were made, and sometimes no more than two centimeters of water turned out to be under the keel. Amundsen compared Simpson Sound to a "plowed field" - so carefully one had to move along it. But two weeks later, a whaling ship appeared on the horizon: "A ship is visible!" - there was a cry. It was the American schooner "Charles Hansson", which came from another ocean, from the Pacific. And it was a sign that the northwest passage, to which people had been striving for four centuries, had been passed.

“My throat constricted. I was in an extremely nervous state, overworked, and even if this is a sign of weakness, but ... tears welled up in my eyes ... I quickly threw on my clothes. I lingered for a moment in front of the Nansen portrait hanging on the wall, and the image came to life, it seemed Nansen was looking at me and nodding his head ... I nodded to him in response, smiling with happiness, and went on deck, "- this is how Roald Amundsen described this moment.

The goal was achieved, but then a new test - the yacht was jammed with ice, further way became impossible. Third winter!

This time it was lucky that there was a whole flotilla of American whaling ships: you could get everything you need. Amundsen, along with one of the whaler captains, sets out on an eight hundred-kilometer dog sled journey to the nearest radio station to inform the world of his discovery.

It was the most difficult route through the icy desert, crossing mountain range up to three thousand meters high, in winter conditions, when the air temperature dropped to fifty degrees. The journey took five months. And in the summer of 1906, the Gyoa entered the Bering Strait and arrived in San Francisco, met with triumph.

Amundsen's success was no accident. He was not seduced by that vast body of water, to which his predecessors went, but after passing through the narrow and incredibly difficult Simpson Strait, he chose a route near the coast Northern Canada and Alaska. Norwegian expedition to tiny yacht"Yoa" did so much that it took about twenty years to process the material she brought back.

However, unlike the northeast passage - the Northern Sea Route - this route from ocean to ocean has not found practical application. The Canadian entrepreneur Bernier tried to use it for trading purposes immediately after Amundsen passed it, but failed. Only during the Second World War did they return to this idea, and a small ship "Roch" was sent from Greenland to the west for transportation. But it was possible to pass the track only in two navigations. Only in 1944, the Norwegian sailor Larsen passed in one year from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, 12 years after a similar transition was made along the Northern Sea Route. After the American icebreaker Glasher successfully passed the northwestern route in 1954, from time to time the icebreakers began to go around North America. However, this way remains economically inexpedient.