Re-evaluating the explorers
Explorers' reputations | What does it all mean? | About Barbara
Barbara Tomlinson, the Museum's Curator of Antiquities, calls for a re-evaluation of the amazing contributions of Arctic explorers in the light of the 2007 thaw which made the North-West Passage more accessible to shipping.
Explorers’ reputations revived by Arctic thaw?
The recent satellite pictures from the European Space agency show that in 2007 the Arctic ice suffered an unprecedented summer thaw.
News that the North-West Passage is temporarily navigable raises the question – which North-West Passage? The discovery of a sea route through the Canadian archipelago was a claim shared by several expeditions, each finding a different way through the maze.
Until recently the discoveries of these men seemed of no commercial value whatsoever and their reputations were overshadowed by Scott and Shackleton, the heroes of Antarctica. The exploitation of the Passage by merchant shipping could change all that and it is already beginning to happen. There is also the prospect of exploiting a major oil field in the Beaufort Sea and an oil and gas field to the north of Melville and Bathurst Islands.
The ice cover, of course, varies seasonally and from year to year and arctic waters remain very hazardous.
The McClure Strait
The view from space shows the McClure Strait clear of ice. This is potentially the most direct deep water route between the Atlantic and Pacific but has hitherto been pretty impassable. In 1969, the tanker SS Manhattan, even with the assistance of an attendant icebreaker, had to make her transit through Prince of Wales Strait – a narrower passage, also discovered by Robert McClure in 1850. Maybe the time has come to re-examine the reputation of McClure who led the first Europeans to enter Baring Strait and emerge in Baffin Bay (with some walking in the middle).
Other routes
Present-day cruises (the first passenger transit took place in 1984) tend to use the route via Victoria Strait, near where Sir John Franklin’s men met their harrowing end on King William Island in 1848. The credit for discovering the North-West Passage tends to go to Franklin – something of a sympathy vote, promoted by the efforts of his formidable widow, Jane. The Franklin route links two settlements at Cambridge Bay and Resolute, both with air links and hotels. It is not large enough to take the biggest vessels.
Even narrower is the route taken by Roald Amundsen, in the 47-ton herring boat Gjøa in 1903-1906. Sailing round the east coast of King William Island, he was only just able to get his tiny vessel through the narrow channels between the Arctic islands and the mainland. Although he became the first to navigate the length of the Passage, his route is only suitable for yachtsmen.
(Incidentally, the MV Explorer, the first passenger ship to traverse the North-West Passage, sank in November 2007 after striking ice in Antarctic waters: read full story in BYM Marine & Maritime News.)
Of course, if even more polar ice melts, it may be easier just to cut across the Arctic Ocean avoiding the Canadian Archipelago altogether.
The Victorian (and earlier) exploration of the Arctic was a gruelling, expensive and tragic affair – but maybe not altogether futile.
Barbara Tomlinson,
Curator of Antiquities, National Maritime Museum
November 2007
What does it all mean?
Barbara Tomlinson's thoughts raise many questions about the past and future, about history and science, and about what we should value:
- What assessment can we make of the reputations of past explorers? What did we learn or gain from their journeys? Should we value them more now that the North-West Passage is no longer so difficult to navigate – or less because we may now see their trials as futile?
- Does understanding the history of Arctic exploration help our current need for knowledge in relation to the changing Arctic?
- Could there be any positive outcomes of the opening of the North-West Passage? Could it be better for the planet’s climate if ships can use this shorter route?
About Barbara Tomlinson
Maritime memorials
Barbara Tomlinson is the National Maritime Museum’s Curator of Antiquities. One of her particular interests is maritime memorials, which she is cataloguing for the Museum. Many of these memorials bear testament to the cost in human life that the search for the North-West Passage claimed.
The history of British Naval exploration is incredibly rich and throughout the country communities have commemorated seafarers. If you know of a memorial that you think should be in Barbara’s database you can let her know about it here.
Championing polar explorers
Barbara believes that many of the polar explorers who searched for the North-West Passage are not remembered as much as they should be. Whilst the search for the Passage was a cause celebré around the time of the expeditions, the fame of many voyagers has since faded. As you can read in Exploration, Adventure and Tragedy the stories of bravery and endurance that characterise the search for the North-West Passage are extraordinary and tell, says Barbara, of a ‘uniquely British approach to danger and newness’ – perhaps best summed up as ‘we’re not giving up, no matter how hard it is’.
The rightful accolades heaped upon famous explorers such as Cook or Shackleton, and the pre-eminence of the Antarctic in the popular imagination of ice-bound heroism have perhaps overshadowed the incredible contributions to polar exploration made by the men who went in search of the North-West Passage. Barbara also thinks that for many the polar experience could be considered simply ‘too depressing’. That said, tragedy is often a key part of any story. One need only read the accounts of ill-fated explorers such as Franklin (which chronicles almost unimaginable extremes of success and crushing misfortune) to be captivated.
With the North-West Passage now potentially navigable due to the effects of global warming Barbara feels it is time to re-visit and re-assess the British experience in the Arctic. As ships begin to sail the passage they will pass many relics of an incredible era of dogged British-led exploration.