Ships enter the Northwest Passage

St. Roch II

The two ships of the St. Roch II expedition have begun their attempt to travel through the Northwest Passage. The objective is to sail over the top of the world and reach Montreal by fall, recreating the famous voyage of the Canadian police schooner St. Roch. It was the first vessel to travel the passage from west to east between 1940 and 1942 - during the Second World War.

The ships entered the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia, but so far the wind has pushed the ice up against the shore and blocked the way.

The ice is also delaying plans to mount an archaeological expedition to try to find the lost ships of the Franklin Expedition. Franklin's ships, the Terror and the Erebus, are believed to have been crushed by the ice in 1845.

UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 2000

A Three Week Trip!
The St. Roch II has crossed through the Northwest Passage in just three weeks! When the original St. Roch went through, it spent two years trapped in Arctic ice, and it took the vessel 27 months to do what the St. Roch II did in a matter of days.

There was so little ice that most of the trip was smooth sailing except for the occasional iceberg floating by.

The ship's trip though one of the world's most feared routes has raised questions about whether or not global warming is to blame for the changing climate in the Arctic.

What are the Throps and Squallhoots going to do if all the ice melts away?!

UPDATE: OCTOBER 2000

St. Roch II Arrives in Halifax
In August 2000, the St. Roch II set sail from Vancouver (on the west coast of Canada) and 100 days later it arrived in Halifax (on the east coast of Canada), after sailing through the Northwest Passage.

It took the original St. Roch 850 days to travel from Vancouver to Halifax in the 1940's.

During the voyage, a research team aboard the support vessel for the St. Roch II discovered what they think are the graves of five members of the lost Franklin Expedition.

UPDATE: DECEMBER 2000

Home!
On December 15, 2000, After 169 days and 24,000 nautical miles, the St. Roch II arrived in Victoria, British Columbia, after sailing through the Northwest Passage and then all the way around North America.

The St. Roch II trip was not only a salute to the voyage of the original St. Roch (see above), but also an attempt to raise money for the restoration of the original vessel that is now drydocked and being destroyed by dry rot.