Northwest Passage

“Through cruel hardships they vainly strove
Their ships on mountains of ice were drove”

(From “Lady Franklin’s Lament,” a traditional British folk song)

The Northwest Passage has been pursued like the Holy Grail by mariners for centuries. Cabot, Hudson, Vancouver, Franklin, and others all tried and failed to find a water passage north of the American continent. The reason for failure was simple. Much of the water north of Canada is covered in ice year round. The reason for pursuing it was also simple. Prior to the Panama Canal the only way to get a boat around the continent was via the far southern tip of South America. Even with the Canal, freight from the northeastern U.S. or Canada had a long haul down into the Gulf of Mexico.

Note that I wrote, “had a long haul.”

Back in 1969 a specially equipped tanker rammed through the ice at an optimal time of the year, but that was a one-time experiment. Just this September an ordinary cargo vessel made the trip from Montreal out the St. Lawrence, north around Newfoundland, and west across the top of the continent to several towns in Nunavut. It wasn’t a government-sponsored experiment, but a scheduled commercial cargo delivery. There was an icebreaker standing by, but according to the captain they didn’t see “one cube of ice.”

This is novel and ominous. The water north of Canada has been impassable for eons and the Northwest Passage merely wishful thinking since Europeans first explored the Americas. The ice thwarted, trapped, and killed hundreds of sailors led by hopeful navigators. Now it’s just a boat ride.

Can we stop screwing around now and get serious about global warming?