Crew Log 75 – Farthest North

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August 28th, 2009 – At Sea, Lancaster Sound
by Harry Stern, Mark Schrader and Herb McCormick

(August 28): George Washington. When we spotted the big iceberg north of Baffin Island today – and, thankfully, from a good six-miles away, it popped up on radar like a pimple on prom night – it had the prominent profile not unlike the Rock of Gibraltar. But as we closed in on it I realized it was all about George. You could clearly make out the sloped forehead, shadowy eyes, Roman nose and flowing mane. I mean, I could see it, man. As so often happens, my watch-mate Dave Logan let the air out of my balloon. As the rest of the crew gathered on deck with their cameras and I started to explain my Mt. Rushmore-like vision of this giant ice sculpture, Logan chimed in, “What are you talking about? You’re crazy! Anybody can see that’s Thomas Jefferson!”

Drum roll, please: ba-dum. Thanks a million! We’ll be here all week!

Washington or Jeffferson? The debate continues.

Forty-eight hours earlier, Ocean Watch had emerged from Bellot Strait and put the pack ice of the Northwest Passage in her wake. But if in any way we labored under the misconception that ice was no longer part of our equation, the big berg off Baffin laid that notion firmly to rest. So, yes, while the pack is gone, icebergs will continue to present a different sort of threat and hazard for the foreseeable future. In their own way, they are magnificent entities, but they’re also solid and unforgiving, and must be accorded respect and vigilance.

The big hunk of severe blue ice wasn’t the only milestone of the day. In Lancaster Sound, for the first time in weeks, the air was resonant with the awesome scent of salt and brine. Even more momentous, today Ocean Watch reached what will be the northernmost point on our voyage Around the Americas.

So, with thoughts of Dr. Fritjof Nansen, the author of the two-part volume Farthest North (an original edition of which, from 1897, graces our onboard library thanks to expedition supporter Gail Carpenter), we celebrate the occasion with two reports. The first is a voyage update from skipper Mark Schrader, and the second, from resident scientist Harry Stern, puts the matter into historical perspective.

First, from Captain Mark Schrader:

“At 0835 local time (1335Z) Ocean Watch sailed to its most northern point, 73°53′.034 on her voyage Around the

Ocean Watch sailed to its most Northern point on her voyage Around the Americas.

Americas. Virtually all sailing for the next four months will be south and east toward Cape Horn, approximately 8,000 nautical miles from our current position. The Bering Strait was our westernmost point, the horn of Brazil will be the eastern point and Cape Horn will be our most southern point.  As milestones go, the northern point makes this a big day.

“Wind isn’t happening this morning. We have 7 knots from the west with slightly confused but fairly calm seas and good visibility. It’s nice to have the visibility but truth be told, the headlands just a mile away from our starboard beam are bold and bleak. The brown cliffs rise up from the water some 300 or 400 feet, all brown and really bleak. A shipwrecked sailor washing up on these scant beaches would have to burrow into a cave for shelter and work up an appetite for one’s own shoe leather – there’s nothing obvious from our vantage point to encourage or support life.  I’ll admit the starkness and scale are fascinating – in a cold, lonely and overpowering kind of way.

“Sailing into these waters from the east with no real charts, only wind for power and a useless compass for navigating, makes me shudder. No wonder the early explorers carried thousands of gallons of rum on their ships. Undoubtedly, without it sober crews would have set their determined Captains adrift in small boats and turned around to sail out of harm’s way. We’re out of rum but at least we’re headed in the right direction.  Adrift in a small boat here doesn’t sound like much fun.

“We’re laying a course to a reach called Navy Board Inlet, a narrow but deep channel between Bylot Island and Baffin Island. The community of Pond Inlet is nestled in a cove toward the eastern end of the Inlet, not far from the open water of Baffin Bay.

The stop in Pond will be short, just enough time to fuel the boat (ferried aboard via dinghy, yet again), check email messages, buy some milk and bread (if the supplies have come in by plane) and then head, yes, south.”

And now, this fine tale, entitled “Ocean Watch’s Farthest North,” from scientist and scribe Harry Stern:

This is what puts the “North” in Northwest Passage – sailing within 1,000 miles of the North Pole and over 400 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

“As we round the northern tip of Baffin Island and swing the bow of Ocean Watch eastward into Lancaster Sound, we have reached our most northerly latitude of the voyage, 73^o53′ N.  This is what puts the ‘North’ in Northwest Passage. We are within 1,000 nautical miles of the North Pole and more than 400 miles north of the Arctic Circle, at a latitude where the sun never sets between early May and early August, nor rises between early November and early February. At this turning point we take a moment to reflect on what is perhaps the greatest Farthest North ever achieved by a sailing ship, Nansen’s Fram.

“In 1884, Fridtjof Nansen learned that timbers from the Jeannette, which had been crushed in the sea ice on the Siberian side of the Arctic Ocean three years earlier, had been found in southern Greenland. He immediately realized that the drift of the ice pack that had transported pieces of a smashed ship over the pole could also transport an intact ship.  With a properly designed vessel and a properly chosen ‘freeze-in’ point, the North Pole could be attained on the Arctic’s own terms, by patiently drifting with the ice.  For hundreds of years Arctic explorers had battled the ice, had dreaded becoming beset in the ice. Nansen’s genius was to turn this on its head, to use the ice as his vehicle.

“In June, 1893, the Fram left Norway with Nansen and a crew of 12, with provisions for five years. Proceeding north and then east, the expertly designed and strengthened Fram was allowed to freeze into the pack ice and drift.  In March, 1895, realizing that the Fram would not pass directly over the North Pole, Nansen and one companion struck out by dogsled to the north, leaving the ship at 84^o4′ N.  In four weeks of difficult traveling over the ice, they attained a record Farthest North of 86^o13′ N before turning back toward Franz Josef Land (they could not hope to find the Fram because its drift was unknown to them).

“The stories of their adventures deserve volumes; suffice it to say that they reached land, built a stone hut with walrus-skin roof, wintered there, continued south in spring, serendipitously encountered the Jackson expedition, and finally returned to Norway, three years after setting out. Within weeks, the Fram emerged from the ice and returned home with all well on board, fulfilling the goal of the expedition and confirming Nansen’s theory of Arctic Ocean currents. Captained by Otto Sverdrup, the Fram had reached a Farthest North of 85^o55′ N, and had made numerous oceanographic measurements of value to science.

“Thirteen years later, Robert Peary and five companions finally claimed the North Pole, arriving by dogsled from northern Ellesmere Island. Captain Bob Bartlett, who expertly maneuvered Peary’s ship Roosevelt to 82^o27′ N and then sledged with him to 87^o46′ N, is perhaps Canada’s most famous mariner; we will write more about him in a later installment.

“In the meantime, cruising past icebergs in Lancaster Sound, Ocean Watch salutes the pioneering ice pilots of yore.”

- Harry Stern, Mark Schrader and Herb McCormick with photographs by David Thoreson

This crew log submitted by Iridium OpenPort and Stratos

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