The quest for the Northwest Passage has occupied some of the best minds of Western civilization for half a millennium. The English called the hypothetical route the Northwest Passage, while the Spanish called it the Strait of Anián. The desire to establish such a route motivated much of the European exploration of both coasts of North America. In 2009, Adventure Canada will celebrate its 21st anniversary with the most coveted of Arctic itineraries, two journeys through the Northwest Passage. Beginning in Resolute, Cornwallis Island, we venture through the heart of the passage as we follow the Canadian mainland out toward the edge of the Beaufort Sea. Throughout the Canadian Arctic waterways, history manifests itself as we pass straits, islands and peninsulas bearing the names of the men who charted this forbidden coastline. During the first journey, we sail through Rae Strait, the final link in the Passage as discovered by John Rae in 1854. We stop at Uqsuqtuuq (Gjøa Haven), an Inuit settlement named after the Gjøa, in which Roald Amundsen became the first to navigate the Passage in 1904-06. We also pass Point Turnagain, where in 1821, during his first overland expedition, John Franklin began a desperate (and tragic) overland flight for survival. During the second journey, historical highlights include a visit to Kugluktuk (Coppermine), where in 1771, after trying and failing to prevent a massacre at nearby Bloody Falls, Samuel Hearne became the first European to reach the Arctic coast of the continent. And conditions permitting, we sail through Prince of Wales Strait, where in 1850, while trapped in what was then impassable ice, Robert McClure went sledging and claimed that he had discovered the Northwest Passage. Join us in tracing the “fatal passage” that conjures a history at once tragic and inspiring, a history encompassing hardship and death, but also courage, determination, and superhuman endurance.