THE ARCTIC A NEW PORT OF CALL?
A Almost exactly 175 years ago, in 1845, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror sailed west from Disko Bay, Greenland on a planned three-year expedition led by Captain Sir John Franklin, aiming to navigate the ice-choked waters between Baffin Bay and the Pacific coast. By the following September, both ships were icebound; a year later Franklin perished, followed by the rest of his crew, some of whom allegedly resorted to cannibalism. None completed the journey.
In September 2016, around the time the wreck of the Terror was discovered, some 1,000 tourists sailed from Anchorage to New York, enjoying close encounters with polar bears and whales – as well as a choice of restaurants and bars, a gym and pool, even a cinema and nightclub. The Crystal Serenity was the first conventional luxury cruise ship to traverse the infamous Northwest Passage – but it won’t be the last.
Change is afoot in the Arctic, largely driven by climate change. On 16 September 2012, Arctic sea-ice reached its lowest recorded extent: 3.41 million km›, nearly 50 per cent less than the 1979–2000 average minimum. Stretches once consistently packed with
