THE NORDIC IMPRINT IN THE CANADIAN ARCTIC A Finnish Captain Part II closes a very long chapter and opens another

By John Bechtel, Freelance Features Writer

Part I in the Spring 2016 issue of Scandinavian Press

fter 400 years of trying to find a across the Far North of laconically summarizes a millennium of trial, effort, and countless tragedies the North American continent, it took Roald Amundsen three years on the attempting to prove the existence of, and successful crossing of the almost Asmall ship Gjoa to make his passage, and many of the waterways he chose mythical Northwest Passage: “Finnish multi-purpose MSV Nordica were too shallow to carry commercial ships. By contrast, a century later it took and MSV Fennica completed their voyage through the challenging late-season another Norse seafarer, Finnish Captain Matti Westerlund of the MSV Nordica, ice conditions of the Northwest Passage and arrived in Nuuk, on just 15 days to travel 4,000 deep-channel-miles from Dutch Harbor in to October 31st. This marked the first time Finnish icebreakers have sailed through the city of Nuuk in Greenland from October 16, 2015 to October 31, 2015. multiyear sea ice in the sound of the NWP. Both icebreakers returned from their In their corporate press release about the achievement of their ships Nordica summer season ice management missions in the , off the coast of and Fennica, the Finnish company , in typical Nordic understatement, Alaska.” Just another day at the office? (Continued on page 32)

3) SUMMER 2016 | Scandinavian Press Scandinavian Press | SUMMER 2016 3! PHOTO: WWW.POLAR-DISCOVERIES.COM

(Continued from page 31) MOV_PEOPLEOFAFEATHER_WWW.STRAIGHT.COM PHOTO: or perished. The vanished Viking a change to the division of powers The ice problem the status and sovereignty of the But in the Far North, as we will see civilization in west Greenland is a between the federal government and There is a difference between the indigenous people continues to evolve. over and over again, ice was the great good example, but more about that in a the provinces requires a constitutional natural and the legal attributes of The mass migration of Europeans to equalizer. future issue of this magazine. amendment, a similar change affecting Canada, as with all of the other seven the New World brought two different The indigenous tribes had developed Since we are talking about the the territories can be performed Arctic nations. There is a history to civilizations into contact with each a survival culture for the extreme Northwest Passage, let’s take a brief look unilaterally by the federal Parliament their development as nation states that other, and the results varied from place climate that was completely foreign to at the political development of Canada. or government. Moreover, in modern we cannot ignore if we are to truly to place, from conflict to cooperation. the Europeans, and the early Europeans Our thanks to Scandinavian Press Canadian constitutional theory, the understand current events. Nowhere The Europeans brought superior either learned from them and adapted; reader Richard Bennett from British provinces are considered to be co- is this truer than in the Arctic, where technology, especially with weaponry. or abandoned the area to the natives Columbia, who shares this with us: sovereign divisions, and each province “The provinces and territories has its own “Crown” represented by of Canada combine to make up the the lieutenant governor, whereas the world’s second-largest country by area. territories are not sovereign, but simply In 1867, three provinces of British parts of the federal realm, and have Pack ice North America—New Brunswick, a commissioner who represents the Nova Scotia and the Province of federal government.” Canada (which, on the formation of The Far North is a geographical, not Canada, was divided into Ontario and political, term and in Canada it applies Quebec)—united to form the new to the area between the main landmass nation. in lower Canada and the North Pole, “Since then, Canada’s external and this area is comprised of 36,500 borders have changed several times, islands separated by innumerable and the country has grown from waterways, many of which are too the original four provinces to ten narrow or shallow to allow for large provinces and three territories. The ships to pass through, and most if not ten provinces are Alberta, British all, of these waterways at certain times Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, of the year are impassable due to ice, Sheet ice Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova either sheet ice or pack ice. Some of Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, these waterways are impassable most may have exceeded the size of some of Quebec, and Saskatchewan. The three months out of the year due to ice. The the sailing vessels of the 19th and early territories are Northwest Territories, thickness of the ice may be just a few 20th centuries. Many a ship and its Nunavut, and Yukon. feet to multiyear ice of 12 feet or more. crew vanished when they anchored for “The major difference between a Pack ice is when sheet ice breaks the night and nearby ice locked them Canadian province and a territory into large floating slabs that bump and into place and then crushed them like is that provinces receive their power grind against each other, and moved by a vise as horrific pressure turned their and authority from the Constitution currents and tides in the water beneath, ship into kindling wood. The unlucky Act, 1867 (formerly called the British pile up onto each other into small hills crew would be plunged into dark water North America Act, 1867), whereas and mountains of ice that fail to melt so cold death came within minutes, or territorial governments have powers entirely in the summer and grow larger at best were thrown onto the ice where delegated to them by the federal with each successive winter, but still they starved or froze. government. This means that while floating on the surface. Some of this ice (Continued on page 34)

3@ SUMMER 2016 | Scandinavian Press Scandinavian Press | SUMMER 2016 3#

(Continued from page 33) unknown regions, by sail, by sled, and by foot, and they charted, mapped, The USS Jeanette and measured coastlines, rivers, and A good example of this is the landmasses and bequeathed this ill-fated expedition of the U.S. Navy knowledge to those who followed. Jeanette that sailed north from San Even with today’s advanced Francisco towards the Bering Strait technology, the Arctic is still deserving in July, 1879. Believing that certain of great respect for would-be travelers warming currents from the Pacific and shippers. What was most passed through the strait and provided remarkable about the brief voyage an ice-free water route to the North of the Nordica and Fennica was its Pole, they quickly encountered ice daring timing, late in the season, conditions that worsened as they when the waterways of the passage pushed north. By September 7, the were freezing up again, and it gave ship got stuck in the ice and for 21 the Finns a chance to display their months the ship floated in a generally confidence in their ships. Global northwest direction at the top of the warming notwithstanding, satellite world, above Siberia, locked in place photos indicate ice conditions are still and moving randomly and erratically severe and hazardous even in July and by the ocean currents beneath the ice. Fortified ship Fram breaking through polar ice. The crew of the USS Jeanette August, and passage by ships can never Imagine the sense of barely controlled abandoning the ice-trapped ship. be taken lightly. panic and despair of a crew essentially Painting done in 1883 based on Due to a cold Canadian Arctic under a house arrest imposed by drawings of Captain De Long. spring last year (2015), there was so nature as they drifted hither and about, much ice choking Frobisher Bay that backwards and forwards, towards no found the frozen bodies of their former even by the second week of July the known destination, surrounded only comrades. by endless sheets of ice, a diminishing Canadian Coast Guard supply of food on board, and the Polar drift CCGS Pierre Radisson and the sealift encroaching long Arctic darkness. Incredibly, two years after that, cargo ships it was escorting sat nearby Almost two years from when they first on June 18, 1884 wreckage from the waiting for the weather to warm up set sail, on the night of June 12, 1881 Jeanette was found on an ice floe and the ice to melt more before they the inevitable happened: the pressure thousands of miles to the east, on the could offload their resupply cargo of the ice crushed the ship. During southwestern coast of Greenland. This to Iqaluit, the largest town (about that long, dark, and cold night the indicated there is a west-to-east current 7,000 population) and capital of the despairing crew offloaded provisions across the polar seas. This gave another territory of Nunavut. Iqaluit is about and equipment before the ship finally polar explorer, Norwegian Fridtjof Polar explorer Roald Amundsen 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle. sank. George Washington De Long, captain Nansen, the idea that a specially was loaned the Fram for his Depending on the weather, sometimes They had three small boats and of the ill-fated USS Jeanette. fortified ship shaped to prevent it successful expedition to the South helicopters are sent out ahead of ships supplies, which they loaded onto from being crushed by the ice could Pole, 1910-1912. to better determine ice conditions. sledges, and which the men themselves intentionally sail into a pack of ice, There are many smaller communities then hauled across the ice, hoping to inviting itself to be locked in place, the basic principles of ships designed in the Arctic that are supplied by air or stumble across land and a settlement and then just drift to the North Pole. to survive hazardous voyages through ship, and both of these can be and are of indigenous tribal people. No sled To oversimplify, we could say, park the ice fields. The Fram and Amundsen’s limited by weather conditions. dogs—human labor had to do. They ship on ice and pass the time on board earlier ship Gjoa and also Thor There are seven routes that a did come across such a community in as best you can with observation and Heyerdahl’s Kon Tiki are preserved in ship can take through the Canadian what is now called the New Siberian scientific measurements for several maritime museums in Bygdøy, near archipelago, going either east or west. Islands, got food and rest, and then years, waiting for the ocean currents to Oslo, Norway. The route chosen will depend to a great exchanged their sledges for their three take you to your destination. extent on the size and ice capabilities boats for the next part of their return A ship was actually built for this The Arctic still demands respect of the ship, the time of the year, and to civilization. Beset by a violent storm, purpose, and Nansen led a failed and extreme caution current ice conditions. The Nordica the three boat parties got separated. expedition on the Fram from 1893- What we know today about and Fennica had made the Northwest One small crew found a native village 1896 to prove his theory. Later, this travel over and through ice has been Passage once before, crossing in and were rescued. A second boat same fortified ship Fram was loaned learned at the cost of many lives and 2012, but last year’s crossing was by capsized during the storm and all were to Roald Amundsen for his successful incredible suffering by people who a different route, sailing directly into lost. Of the third group, only two of “discovery” of the South Pole (1910- WWW.BESTTRAVELVIEW.COM PHOTO: knew the risks of exploration and did multi-year ice when entering the the strongest men survived. The next Norwegian polar explorer Fridtjof 1912). The Fram was an early precursor The Fram rests in the Fram Museum, it anyway and passed on what they Passage from the Chukchi Sea. spring of 1882 they went back and Nansen designed fortified ship, “Fram.” of an icebreaker, incorporating some of in Bygdøy, near Oslo, Norway. learned. Generations of men explored (Continued on page 36)

3$ SUMMER 2016 | Scandinavian Press Scandinavian Press | SUMMER 2016 3%

PHOTO: WWW.BESTTRAVELVIEW.COM

(Continued from page 35) the loose pack ice follows and closes in fi/en/services/icebreaking/. The latest behind it. Sometimes a cargo ship that Ice management vessels generation of icebreakers have as much has been freed by an icebreaker gets as 75,000 horsepower. The fearsome conditions that locked in again and has to be towed awaited any mariners who sailed above by the icebreaker to open water. The at the helm the Arctic Circle still exist, and travel latest generations of icebreakers can Merchant vessels that routinely in the Far North remains extremely move forward and backward with equal call on ports known for occasional hazardous. Global warming may be power. Typically an icebreaker can or permanent ice conditions are melting some of the ice, but not equally move through four to five feet of ice at also strengthened for ice during in all areas, and may also be causing a constant speed. An excellent video manufacture. They are not powerful more violent storms and greater on how icebreakers function can be enough to manage the ice conditions turbulence in the Arctic Ocean. But found on Arctia’s website: http://arctia. (Continued on page 38) ice management can be a problem far south of the Arctic as well. Take Finland, for example, which has no coastline above the Arctic Circle. A small country about the size of the greater Philadelphia area, with just 5.5 million people, it has 60 port cities in the south of the country, and it is vital to Finland’s economy that at least a third of these ports be kept ice-free during the winter. So it may come as no surprise that Finland is a world leader in the technology, design, and manufacturing of icebreakers, those special-purpose ships designed to navigate ice-choked waterways, Icebreaker technology has come along way from the Fram—Finland’s sister and to escort and rescue other ships icebreaker ships, Nordica and Fennica, wind their way through the ice. attempting such transit. Icebreaker technology has come If you have ever put your dry finger ship to roll in the water, shaking off a long way from the Fram. Today to the surface of ice, you know that it the clinging ice. Others have powerful icebreakers look like a freak of the will stick to your finger. So icebreakers water jets around the bow that shoot shipyard. Instead of a pointed bow are also designed to be resistant to ice, water and bubbles under pressure onto designed to cleave through the open for ice that bonded to the ship’s their own hulls, using water to shed ice. water at the highest speed possible, it could destroy its maneuverability in Icebreakers need huge amounts has a spoon-shaped bow and a shallow the water. So icebreakers often have of energy to power themselves as a keel. It is designed to ride up onto the multiple ballast tanks in their hold, maritime battering ram that charges ice and fracture it into pieces with the abreast of each other, with powerful at walking speed into exceptionally weight of the ship. The shape of the pumps that can move water from one thick ice and powers itself right up hull causes the ice to move around or tank to the next one to the next one, on top of it. As the icebreaker crashes under the ship. and in the process causing the entire through the ice and moves forward,

3^ SUMMER 2016 | Scandinavian Press Scandinavian Press | SUMMER 2016 3&

(Continued from page 37) There has to be area available for cargo needed new ships. While Congress and scientific personnel on board. is bandying around a price tag of by themselves, however, and need to —————————————— one billion dollars for each, Finland’s be escorted by icebreakers that open Arctia is talking a price tag of less than a route through ice fields for them to There are about 100 half that. The U.S. Polar Star, built pass through. Icebreakers are often icebreakers currently in use by Lockheed in 1976 was recently used as research ships by countries worldwide, and Finland claims refurbished at a cost of $90 million. such as Argentina and South Africa, that in whole or part it is The voyage of the Nordica and countries not usually associated with responsible for the construction Fennica last October through the ice management needs. This is why Northwest Passage shaved 18 days and many such vessels look like a ship with of over 60% of them. concomitant fuel, plus canal expenses a small apartment building on the deck. —————————————— Today, these icebreakers are very off of the usual cost of traveling expensive. Both Canada and the U.S. south from Alaska, past Mexico, and require their icebreakers, as naval through the Panama Canal, through vessels, to be constructed by companies the Caribbean Sea and northward to of their respective national origins. Scandinavia. In the global economy, There is some discussion about looking this could be worth far more than the to Finland to provide desperately tea and spices envied by 15th century European monarchs. With a legacy of 1,000 years of Nordic record setting in exploration of the North American Arctic, how appropriate that the five Norse countries find renewed partnership with Canada, the U.S. and Russia in the Arctic Council to manage Arctic trade, transport, safety and rescue Crew of the MSV Nordica, under the command of Finnish Captain Matti Westerlund, pose for a photo aboard the Finnish among other concerns. Out of a icebreaker while at Nuuk, Greenland. In addition to their excellent icebreaking characteristics, both Nordica and Fennica total of 4 million inhabitants of the are well-suited to DP (dynamic-positioning) operations, towing merchant vessels in difficult ice conditions, and providing Arctic, approximately 500,000 belong ice management services to the oil industry in Arctic areas. With the aid of winches, cranes and A-frames, the vessels can to indigenous peoples. Indigenous switch rapidly from one task to another. Thanks to Arctia’s sizable investments, the ships meet all of the strict criteria and peoples’ organizations have been guidelines applying to offshore operations. Both vessels have decks reserved for passengers, including office premises with granted Permanent Participants status a local area network for workstations. Depending on the ship, accommodation capacity is 45 to 47 guests. in the Arctic Council. The past meets the future in the Arctic. Finland is set to chair the Council in 2017. A new chapter begins.

John Bechtel is a professional freelance writer for the food, wine, and tourism industries; ghostwriting non-fiction books; and web content strategist for Nordica’s Captain Matti Westerlund, Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker, Rossiya, right, picks up an ice pilot from businesses. right, and First Mate Harri Russian, at MSV Nordica. During the winter of 2012-2013, Rossiya was stationed in the Gulf You can follow him on his web-site the helm. of Finland. www.greatplainsdrifter.com.

3* SUMMER 2016 | Scandinavian Press Scandinavian Press | SUMMER 2016 3(