NorthWest Passage - Roald Amundsen, Sir John Franklin & Simpson Strait

[Martin Timothy]

YouTube - Simpson Strait.

An iceberg dwarfs Amundsen's ship "Gjøa" in the Northwest Passage.

It took the great Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen two weeks to get thru the Simpson Strait in his ship Gjøa in August 1905.

Skipper Eric Forsyth in his yacht Fiona sights MS Hanseatic in the Simpson Strait in August 2009.

Amundsen and the Crew of the Gjøa.

Besides Amundsen the party consisted of Godfred Hansen, Lieutenant in the Danish Navy, Second in Command, Navigator, Geologist & Astronomer; Anton Lund, First Mate, Peder Ristvedt, Meteorologist & Engineer. Helmer Hansen, Second Mate, Magnetic Observer Gustav Juel Wiik and Cook Adolf Henrik Lindstrøm. The Gjøa Expedition, 1903-1906.

Map showing the route of Amundsen's voyage.

Google Maps.

Pack Ice at the Eastern End of Simpson Strait in 2023 .. it does not look like anyone will be going thru the strait this year until the ice clears in any case!

Simpson Strait Marine Chart.

Link, Graphic Images.

Captain Sir John Franklin led a British voyage of Arctic exploration that departed from England in 1845 aboard two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror in 1845, both ships became stuck in ice and were abandoned North West of King William Island, ice drift took both vessels well to the south before they sank, all of the 134 officers and crew perished.

NorthWest Passage.

Video .. Arctic ships travel through the Queen Maud Gulf and the Simpson Strait, passing King William Island and arriving at Shepherd Bay in 1955.