Navigating Across the Top of the World

NAVIGATORS of the past dreamed of discovering a northern corridor linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, but they faced a daunting challenge: the Arctic sea route was blocked by ice.

Still, there was incentive to find a shortcut across the top of the world. By the 16th century, trade routes to the Orient​—around the southern extremities of Africa and South America—​were monopolized by Portugal and Spain. Foreign merchants would have to seek northern routes if they wanted to share in Eastern trade. Many tried, including the following.

The English: In 1553, Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor led the first English expedition. After their ships were separated in a storm, Willoughby was forced to winter on the barren coast of the Kola Peninsula in the far north of Russia. Ill-prepared for the harsh conditions, he and all those with him perished. Chancellor, on the other hand, made port in Arkhangel’sk. From there he traveled to Moscow at the invitation of Czar Ivan IV Vasilyevich, the Terrible. Chancellor failed to find a passage to Asia, but he opened the way for Anglo-Russian trade.

The Dutch: In 1594, Willem Barents first sailed to Novaya Zemlya. In 1596, however, on his third trip, on rounding the northern tip of this Russian archipelago, the ship became trapped in ice and was damaged beyond repair. After enduring a severe winter in a shelter built of driftwood and surviving on polar-bear meat, Barents’ crew returned in two small boats. Barents did not survive the journey.

The Russians: Russian explorers undertook an intense exploration of Siberia and the Russian Far East. In just 60 years, from 1581 to 1641, they pushed from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific. About that time, the Cossacks sailed to the Arctic Ocean on Siberian rivers. They claimed Siberia for Russia  and pioneered shipping along the northeast coast of Siberia. In 1648, Russian ships sailed through what came to be called the Bering Strait, named after Danish navigator Vitus Bering.

Further Expeditions

From 1733 to 1743, nearly a thousand men under Bering’s command set out in seven detachments to survey the Arctic and Pacific coasts of Russia. Ice repeatedly trapped their ships, and many mariners died. Nevertheless, the expedition mapped almost all the Arctic coast. The data compiled​—including charts, soundings, and information on ice conditions—​proved invaluable to future Arctic mariners.

All along, Arctic voyages had been made in wooden vessels. But Bering’s expedition made clear that these were woefully inadequate for crossing the Northern Sea Route. * In 1778, the British explorer James Cook reached the same conclusion when he sailed west through the Bering Strait, only to find ice blocking his path. Another century went by before Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, of Finnish origin, succeeded in navigating this passage by steamer.

Russian Expertise

After the Russian Revolution in 1917, shipping in the Russian Arctic was barred to all but Russian vessels. From the 1930’s onward, the Soviet Union developed the Northern Sea Route and built ports to serve new industrial settlements. Russia thus gained expertise in all aspects of Arctic navigation.

During the Cold War, the Northern Sea Route stayed closed to foreign ships. However, because of political reforms and a transition to a market economy, Russian authorities now encourage international shipping along this route. The following example illustrates the benefits.

During the summer of 2009, two German cargo vessels passed through the Bering Strait and then sailed west along the nearly ice-free northern shore of Asia and Europe to the Netherlands. It was the first time that a non-Russian shipping company had traversed the entire Northeast Passage. The voyage saved some 3,000 nautical miles [5,560 km] and ten days of sailing time. The company that made the voyage estimates that it saved some 300,000 euros (then $450,000, U.S.) per ship by taking the Arctic shortcut.

Today, Arctic sea ice is rapidly decreasing. As a result, large areas of ocean are now open each summer. * While this development may be of environmental concern if the melting continues, ships could avoid the shallows along the Russian coast and sail a direct route between the Atlantic and the Pacific​—right across the top of the world.

[Footnotes]

 [Map on page 15]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

ROUTES TAKEN BY

Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor

Willem Barents

Vitus Bering

Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld

Ice limits

[Map]

ARCTIC OCEAN

North Pole

Permanent ice limit

Summer ice-pack limit

Winter ice-pack limit

ARCTIC CIRCLE

SWEDEN

GREENLAND

CANADA

ALASKA

Bering Strait

RUSSIA

SIBERIA

URAL MOUNTAINS

Novaya Zemlya

Kola Peninsula

Arkhangel’sk

MOSCOW

[Picture on page 16]

Arctic sea ice is rapidly melting

[Picture Credit Line on page 14]

Library and Archives Canada/​Samuel Gurney Cresswell collection/​C-016105