The Northwest Passage – Evening of Day 10 to Day 14 on the ship – Arctic Bay to Dundas Harbour and then, we hoped, on to Beechey Island

After our visit to the Inuit community of Artic Bay on the northern part of Baffin Island we were called down to the ship’s lecture theatre for what we were told was a mandatory briefing for all passengers. This sounded ominous but when you go on any expedition in the Arctic seas, plans change all the time due to ice and weather. We had ice along the west coast of Baffin Island resulting in the first part of our itinenary being changed but we had now sailed past that and, whereas the wind had got up as we sailed north, there had been no more mention of problematic ice.

The Expedition Leader, Christian, took the microphone and told us that Quark Expeditions had advised him that our return charter flight from Resolute would not be happening as the airline had cancelled the flight due to a combination of unexpected aircraft technical issues and crewing challenges. We also received a letter in our cabins from Quark explaining that due to Resolute’s short gravel runway which is only suitable for specially-equipped aircraft, and aviation industry-wide COVID and suppy chain challenges, we would be returning to Kangerlussuaq in Greenland for our charter flight back to Toronto. This meant we would be losing 3 days of our trip. Had disaster struck again in our quest to visit the Northwest Passage?

Our Expedition Leader went on to say that we would sail overnight along the coast of Devon Island and go directly to Beechey Island so that we could visit it before making our way back along the Lancaster Sound and through Baffin Bay to Kangerlussuaq. Hurrah we cried, as at least we would be able to visit the most important place in relation to the Franklin story.

As we said in the prologue, our main reason for joining this expedition cruise to the Northwest Passage was not to see Polar Bears, Walruses, Belugas, Narwhals or visit remote Innuit communities, although all of these would add to the experience. We had ticked all but one of these off our bucket list in our trip to the Hudson Bay in 2014. It was the historical narrative that had attracted us to this trip in order to see the remoteness of the area and to get a feel for the challenges that the 1845 ill-fated Sir John Franklin expedition endured with 129 men losing their lives.

For us, the most poignant moment in the trip would be to sail down the Lancaster Sound and land on Beechey Island where 3 of Franklin’s crew were buried along with the grave of another unfortunate sailor who died and was buried there on a later mission in the 1850s to find out what happened to Franklin and his crew.

The dissappointment of losing 3 days of our trip would be negated, for us at least, if we finally got to Beechey Island. So when the boat set off overnight all looked positive. That night the wind got up and the sea became very rough but Quark’s newest ship in it’s fleet, the Ultramarine, dealt with the conditions very well.

After a good night’s sleep we woke to find the wind had subsided but the ship was stationary. The Expedition Leader came on the tannoy to advise us all that due to 100mph winds overnight the Captain had decided that his only option was to rideout the storm in a stationary position. This meant that we were still at the eastern side of Devon Island near Dundas Harbour and 70 nautical miles (roughly 80 miles) from Beechey Island. He also advised that this meant that our schedule did not allow us to get to Beechey Island and make it back to Kangerlussuaq. Instead we would cruise up to Croker Bay and make a landing at Dundas Harbour that had a Royal Canadian Mounted Police post, which finally closed in 1951. This site had also been used by the Hudson Bay Company in the early 1930s until fur prices collapsed. Dundas Harbour also had the remains of some settlements of the Thule people who are the ancestors of the modern day Inuit.

Yet again so near, but circumstamces beyond our control have scuppered our completion of this bucket list item.

Three days at sea now with not much to view as even the sea birds seem to have deserted us on this trip. The expedition staff are giving some lectures, which have been very interesting and informative but do not remove the disappointment of not reaching Beechey Island.

We have been lucky that we have two historians on this ship, both whom we have met before. Laurie Dexter who was part of the Expedition Team for our Hudson Bay trip and Ken Burton who was part of the Expedition Team on our last ill-fated trip to the Northwest Passage where we ran aground. Both have given excellent lectures on the Franklin story from his start in the British Navy, being govenor of Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania) to his last expedition, death and the many expeditions that followed to find out what happened. They also talked about the Erebus and Terror being found and the theories as to how the ships moved to their final resting places. The investigations are still ongoing and as bodies may still be on the ships, they could be declared British war graves. Time will tell on this aspect. Ken had even sailed the Northwest Passage in his capacity as a Royal Canadian Mounted Police ship’s captain and took Michael Palin onto Beechey Island when Michael was there researching his book, Erebus – The story of a ship.

Therefore, apart from a few lectures, we have to look forward to a charter flight from Kangerlussuaq to Niagra Falls, New York State, with a coach ride across the border to Toronto where we overnight and then home to prepare for our next journey, details to follow.

Copyright: Words and photos John Cruse 2022