Navigating Across the Top of the World

AVIGATORS of the past dreamed of dis- made port in Arkhangel’sk. From there he collection/C-016105 Cresswell Gurney Canada/Samuel Archives and Library N covering a northern corridor linking the traveled to Moscow at the invitation of Czar Atlantic and Pacific oceans, but they faced a Ivan IV Vasilyevich, the Terrible. Chancellor daunting challenge: the Arctic sea route was failed to find a passage to Asia, but he opened blocked by ice. the way for Anglo-Russian trade. Still, there was incentive to find a shortcut The Dutch: In 1594, Willem Barents first across the top of the world. By the 16th cen- sailed to Novaya Zemlya. In 1596, however, tury, trade routes to the Orient—around the on his third trip, on rounding the northern southern extremities of Africa and South tip of this Russian archipelago, the ship be- America—were monopolized by Portugal and cametrappediniceandwasdamagedbe- Spain. Foreign merchants would have to seek yond repair. After enduring a severe winter northern routes if they wanted to share in in a shelter built of driftwood and surviving Eastern trade. Many tried, including the fol- on polar-bear meat, Barents’ crew returned in lowing. two small boats. Barents did not survive the The English: In 1553, Sir Hugh Willough- journey. by and Richard Chancellor led the first En- The Russians: Russian explorers under- glish expedition. After their ships were sepa- took an intense exploration of Siberia and the rated in a storm, Willoughby was forced to Russian Far East. In just 60 years, from 1581 winter on the barren coast of the Kola Penin- to 1641, they pushed from the Ural Moun- sula in the far north of Russia. Ill-prepared tains to the Pacific. About that time, the Cos- for the harsh conditions, he and all those with sacks sailed to the Arctic Ocean on Siberi- him perished. Chancellor, on the other hand, an rivers. They claimed Siberia for Russia

14 Awake! October 2010 Bering ALASKA Strait

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ROUTES TAKEN BY

Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor SWEDEN Willem Barents MOSCOW Vitus Bering ¨ Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiold Ice limits and pioneered shipping along the north- the Soviet Union developed the Northern Sea east coast of Siberia. In 1648, Russian ships Route and built ports to serve new industrial sailed through what came to be called the Be- settlements. Russia thus gained expertise in ring Strait, named after Danish navigator Vi- all aspects of Arctic navigation. tus Bering. During the Cold War, the Northern Sea Further Expeditions Routestayedclosedtoforeignships.How- From 1733 to 1743, nearly a thousand men ever, because of political reforms and a tran- under Bering’s command set out in seven sition to a market economy, Russian author- detachments to survey the Arctic and Pa- ities now encourage international shipping cific coasts of Russia. Ice repeatedly trapped along this route. The following example illus- their ships, and many mariners died. Never- trates the benefits. theless, the expedition mapped almost all During the summer of 2009, two German the Arctic coast. The data compiled—includ- cargo vessels passed through the Bering Strait ing charts, soundings, and information on ice and then sailed west along the nearly ice-free conditions—proved invaluable to future Arc- northern shore of Asia and Europe to the tic mariners. Netherlands. It was the first time that a non- All along, Arctic voyages had been made Russian shipping company had traversed the in wooden vessels. But Bering’s expedition entire Northeast Passage. The voyage saved made clear that these were woefully inade- some 3,000 nautical miles and ten days of quate for crossing the Northern Sea Route. sailing time. The company that made the voy- In 1778, the British explorer James Cook age estimates that it saved some 300,000 eu- reached the same conclusion when he sailed ros (then $450,000, U.S.) per ship by taking west through the Bering Strait, only to find the Arctic shortcut. ice blocking his path. Another century went Today, Arctic sea ice is rapidly decreas- ¨ by before Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiold, of ing. As a result, large areas of ocean are now Finnish origin, succeeded in navigating this open each summer. While this development passage by steamer. may be of environmental concern if the melt- ing continues, ships could avoid the shallows Russian Expertise along the Russian coast and sail a direct route After the Russian Revolution in 1917, ship- between the Atlantic and the Pacific—right ping in the Russian Arctic was barred to all across the top of the world. but Russian vessels. From the 1930’s onward,  Because of this and other factors, the length of the naviga-  The “Northern Sea Route” is the Russian name for what tion season has nearly tripled in the eastern Arctic and more is elsewhere called the Northeast Passage. than doubled in the western Arctic.

Arctic sea ice is rapidly melting