Day 12 — August 14
Fury and Hecla Strait The sun was shining on a brilliant blue sea as we passed Igloolik Island to port and Rowley Island in the distance to starboard. Small groups of arctic terns wheeled over the water, along with occasional Sabine’s gulls.
By 0830 we were entering the Fury and Hecla Strait, the narrow body of water that separates Baffin Island from the Melville Peninsula. The place is named after the two vessels used by Sir William Parry in 1821-1823, when he penetrated the strait to its western end. The two vessels were identical—which facilitated repairs and availability of spare parts—to such an extent that the sailors had difficulty recognizing which ship they were on. As we approached the narrowest point only some four miles across, a thick fog blocked our way, produced by the winds and temperatures prevailing across the gap. We passed through several belts of fog at the narrowest points, but encountered little ice during our transit. Glaucous gulls and Thayer’s gulls were the most common birds, providing opportunities for comparing and identifying the two species.
At length, we emerged into the Gulf of Boothia, a large strait separating Baffin Island from the Boothia Peninsula to the west. The two “Boothia” geographical features are named after the Booth’s Gin company in recognition of its sponsorship of Arctic expeditions and voyages searching for John Franklin. Franklin had been sent out from England in search of the Northwest Passage, which it hoped would provide a much shorter shipping route between Europe and the Far East. He led a well-equipped expedition comprising the two ships, Erebus and Terror, and a complement of 129 men. The ships ended up being crushed by the ice, and the entire party eventually perished.
We cruised along the coast of Crown Prince Frederick Island, the terrain west of Kendall Point consisting of an extremely barren sweep of light-brown-gravel raised beaches. As the slopes became more vegetated, we spotted flocks of snow geese, strung out as white dots or thin white lines on the marshier ground.
The ice cover increased and we alternated between sailing through open patches and pushing through thick ice. As we progressed, Ian delivered a lecture on The Contents of the Kettles: Charles Dickens, John McRae and Cannibalism on the 1845 Franklin Expedition. Although much mystery remains about the fate of the individual members of the crew of the expedition, enough has been discovered of human remains along the shores of King William Island to indicate that those that died had indeed been eaten by their still-living shipmates. When news reached Britain of this possibility, Charles Dickens and John Rae engaged in “literary fisticuffs,” as Ian put it, in a series of articles in Household Words, a publication edited by Dickens, who took the view that something so shocking could not possibly have happened to members of the British Navy.
As we continued cruising through the leads, bowhead whales were spotted, blowing and diving in patches of open water, several passing near the ship. Polar bears were also sighted on the pack ice.
At 1700 Jim presented a lecture on The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, again reviewing a large body of evidence of the rapid climatic warming that has been taking place in the Arctic. There was an intuitive link between his talk and the light ice cover we have experienced so far on our voyage.
Not long after, we assembled in the lounges for a cocktail party hosted by Zegrahm Expeditions, World Wildlife Fund, and Harvard Museum of Natural History. George Powell and Jim spoke on behalf of WWF and HMNH, respectively, noting their close association with Zegrahm Expeditions over the years. Mike then took the floor and described some of the exciting plans that Zegrahm is developing for the future.
A fine French dinner followed, and because the ice and sunset were so spectacular, we went on deck to watch the sunset. The phenomenon of the green flash was hotly debated, and as the sun dipped below the horizon, there were those that saw it and those that did not.
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