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1578 - The English explorer Sir Martin Frobisher tries to find a shipping route from Europe to Asia through the Arctic's waters. Frobisher and 13 other men, five of which are lost during the voyage, get no further than the inlet now known as Frobisher Bay on Baffin Island, Nunavut.
1607 to 1610 - The English explorer Henry Hudson took four voyages looking for the elusive Northwest Passage. On his last voyage in 1610, Hudson and crew members, including his 17-year-old son, left from England and sailed through the Hudson Strait and into Hudson Bay. They later went as far south as James Bay, but winter set in and the ice trapped them. Supplies were low. When some of the crew rebelled, Hudson, his son and seven others were cast adrift in a small boat. The mutineers set sail for England, but four of them were killed in a battle with the Inuit off what is now Digges Island, Nunavut. Only eight made it back to their home country.
1845 to 1848 - Sir John Franklin journeyed from England, on order of the Queen, with two ships looking for the Northwest Passage. He took two fully stocked ships, carrying 134 men and supplies for three years, including a piano, fine crystal and 1,200 books. They never returned. For years, the disappearance of the Franklin Expedition was considered one of the world's greatest unsolved mysteries, as people tried to uncover where the ships ended up and what killed the crew.
1848 to 1859 - The disappearance of the Franklin expedition provoked one of the most expensive search-and-rescue operations ever mounted. Over 11 years, more than 2,000 men in as many as 40 ships searched for Franklin's fleet. In 1859, searchers found relics and bodies on King William Island northwest of Hudson Bay. They found two notes that said that the ships had frozen in the ice. The notes also indicated that Franklin died on the ship in 1847. Survivors abandoned the vessel the year after, but all died trying to reach the mainland. Scientists later discovered that lead poisoning from the soldering on tins of canned food might also have been a factor. The bones left behind also point to cannibalism. Nonetheless, Franklin and his rescuers were credited with mapping much uncharted territory in the North.
1903 - Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen becomes the first person to sail the entire length of the Northwest Passage. He made the journey in a 21-metre fishing vessel.
1940 to 1942 - A Royal Canadian Mounted Police schooner called the St. Roch becomes the first ship to navigate the passage from west to east. The Canadian ship then turns and goes the other way, making it the first vessel to do the journey in both directions. The schooner set sail during wartime to demonstrate Canadian sovereignty over the Northwest Passage.
1969 to 1970 - The U.S. tanker ship, the SS Manhattan, takes a voyage through the Northwest Passage in an attempt to prove the route is viable for shipping oil, without asking for Canada's permission. Canada grants unsolicited permission and provides a icebreaker to escort the vessel. The ship takes another trip through the passage in 1970. The political fallout results in environmental regulations, but the issue of who controls the waters remains unresolved.
1985 - The U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Sea comes through the passage without asking the Canadian government for permission. Ottawa regards this as the most direct challenge to Canada's Arctic sovereignty.
1986 to 1988 - Canada's Jeffery MacInnis and Mike Beedell become the first people to navigate the Northwest Passage with a wind-powered vessel. Their voyage took 100 days over the course of three summers. They spent the winters in Southern Ontario.
1988 - Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and U.S. President Ronald Reagan sign the Arctic Co-operation Agreement. The political fallout of the unauthorized Northwest Passage voyage of the U.S. icebreaker Polar Sea leads to the creation of the document. The terms of the document specify that the United States will not send any more icebreakers through the Northwest Passage without Canada's consent, and Canada will always give consent. The issue of who has ultimate control over the waters is again left unresolved.
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- Researching climate change in the Arctic (Aug. 1, 2006 | Runs 5:25).
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- On the icebreaker Sir Wilfred Laurier (Aug. 1, 2006 | Runs 7:48).
- Will the Bowhead whales return? (Aug. 1, 2006 | Runs 3:50).
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- Future of polar bears (Aug. 2, 2006 | Runs 2:30).
- Life in the Arctic (Aug. 2, 2006 | Runs 3:16).
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- Life on the Louis S. St-Laurent (Aug. 2, 2006 | Runs 9:52).
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- Climate Change
- In depth
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- In depth
- Breaking the Ice: Canada and the Northwest Passage
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External Links
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