Another day at sea on route to Red Bay, Labrador, tomorrow and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Temperatures have risen to 7⁰C and the calm sea at 56N means we have left Polar waters. We had a lovely sunset during the evening meal but didn’t have the camera with us to capture it.
Today was a ‘getting there’ day. We are crossing the Labrador Sea towards the North Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Labrador and Nova Scotia. The weather improved during the afternoon and we have a slight chop before dinner – the sea that is, no lamb chops in sight!!
We must have had a good work-out yesterday because we missed breakfast! By the time we were in expedition mode we were on approach to the small settlement of Sisimiut 75km north of the Arctic Circle. We had a chance to go walk-about around the old settlement. The settlement used to be on an island …
Overnight we continued the choppy crossing of the Davis Strait. By lunchtime the wind had dropped, the sea was calm and the fog had cleared as we entered the icefjord at Ilulissat. Ilulissat in Inuit (Inuktituk) means icebergs. Our afternoon walk was through parts of the settlement that did not exist the last time we …
Overnight we crossed Baffin Bay. It was in these waters in 1845 that there was the last sighting of Franklin on his mission to find the NWP, from Greenhithe, London. Two small English vessels, called The Prince of Wales and The Enterprise, came across the two large vessels Erebus and Terror and stopped to check …
Overnight we entered Baffin Bay by rounding Bylot Island and approaching Pond Inlet from the east. Here we had our first sighting of snow-capped mountains and more ice, but it looked like it would not deter us from the transit. As we are following the history of the NWP in reverse, it was in this …
At 0800 we were in Lancaster Sound heading east, off northwest Baffin Island. The sea was calm and with sunshine we were at 1.7⁰C. Icebergs are alongside us as we move eastwards. On both sides are the sedimentary rocks that exhibit life before the last Ice Age. At lunchtime we turned into Croker Bay. In …
At breakfast we had reached 74N 90W with an overcast sky passing fog, a moderate chop and some snow showers. By 13:00 we were dressed for our landing, just as our title page states, “This is how a (couple) must dress to step outside” – at least 5 layers, over trousers and good strong boots. …
An early start, 06:45, for arrival at Conningham Bay. There is a stronger wind today and so one feels the cold for the first time. The landscape here, again is of glacial origin, only on a larger scale as the eskers here are particularly high and extensive. Yesterday and overnight, we were close to the …
At this stage of the transit, we are at the centre of the Franklin Expedition of 1845 controversy. Overnight we travelled to 69N 95W. Where we are, in 1845, was the location of the last chance for the British Admiralty to ‘conquer the Far North’. There were a reducing number of supporters for big ventures …