Arriving in Qausuittuq (Resolute Bay) early afternoon, we embark the Clipper Adventurer.

Beechey Island

In 1845 Sir John Franklin took his expedition of 129 men in two ships into the Wellington Channel. Not a soul returned from the doomed expedition. It was two years before search parties were launched. Aside from the bodies of three souls buried here, only relics were found as clues to the disappearance. Until recently, the three graves had left no clues as to the fate of the rest of the men on board.

Prince Leopold, Somerset Island

Sir James Clark Ross, perhaps the greatest polar explorer of the 19th century, was based at Prince Leopold in 1848-49. Ross’ expedition in search of the Franklin party was overwhelmed by weather conditions and suffered much greater losses than Franklin’s during their first winter. It was also here that Sir John Ross (James’ uncle) escaped in 1833 after abandoning his vessel Victory following four harrowing winters stuck fast in the ice at Somerset Island. The tall cliffs of Prince Leopold Island are one of the top birding sites in the high Arctic both during the breeding and summering seasons.

Bellot Strait

Bellot Strait separates Somerset Island from the Boothia Peninsula, marking the northernmost point on the mainland of North America. The current in the strait can run at up to 8 knots and often changes its direction. The 2km-wide passage was discovered in 1852 by Captain William Kennedy, then commanding an expedition in search of Sir John Franklin. The passage was named for Joseph René Bellot, a French naval officer and arctic explorer who was Kennedy’s second-in-command who died in the Arctic a year later, aged 26.

Fort Ross

In 1937, the Fort Ross trading post was established by the Hudson’s Bay Company at the southeastern end of the Somerset Island, shortly after Scotty Gall became the first captain to cross Bellot Strait in the HBC Ship, Aklavik. Only eleven years later, however, it was closed, as the severe ice conditions rendered it uneconomical and difficult to access. This left the island uninhabited. The former store and manager’s house are still used as shelters by Inuit caribou hunters from Taloyoak.

Victory Point, King William Island

Long occupied by Inuit, this island (long thought a peninsula by John Ross) was originally named ‘King William Land’ for the reigning British King, William IV. A number of other polar explorers, while searching for the Northwest Passage, spent their winters at King William Island. John Franklin’s expedition was stranded in the sea ice northwest of the island and two of his crew are buried at Hall Point on the island’s south coast. The island is known for the large populations of caribou that summer there before walking south over the sea ice in the autumn.

Uqsuqtuuq (Gjøa Haven)

In 1903, explorer Roald Amundsen, while looking for the Northwest Passage, sailed through the James Ross Strait and stopped at a natural harbour on the island’s south coast. Unable to proceed due to sea ice, he spent the winters of 1903-04 and 1904-05. There he learned Arctic living skills from the local Netsilik Inuit, skills that would later prove invaluable in his Antarctic explorations. He used his ship Gjøa as a base for explorations in the summer of 1904, sledding the Boothia Peninsula and travelling to the magnetic North Pole. Amundsen finally left, after 22 months on the island, in August 1905. The harbour where he lived is now the island’s only settlement, Gjøa Haven, which he called “the finest little harbour in the world.” Today the population has blossomed from 110 in 1961 to 1,064 in 2006.

Queen Maud Gulf

The Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary contains the largest variety of geese of any nesting area in North America. The Sanctuary is one of the few nesting areas for both the Atlantic Brant (Brant bernicla hrota) and Pacific Brant (Branta bernicla nigricans). Almost the entire population of Ross’ Goose (Chen rossii) nests here. It was named by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen in 1905 for Maud of Wales, the Queen of Norway. The Ahiak Caribou calve along the Queen Maud Gulf coast in Nunavut and spend the summers here.

Inuinnaqtun (Bathurst Inlet)

The first Europeans known to have visited the area arrived as part of the first expedition of John Franklin in 1821. There was little outside contact until 1936 when both the Roman Catholic Church and the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) arrived. Although the Hudson’s Bay Company abandoned the site in 1964, Inuit remain in the area and continue a traditional lifestyle.

Coronation Gulf

The Coronation Gulf is host to several hundred islands and small islets. Major groupings include the Duke of York Archipelago, the Jameson Islands and the numerous small islands found in the southwest. The mainland south of the gulf may have substantial diamond and uranium deposits. Early explorers referred to the people of this area as the “Copper” Inuit because of the copper reserves in the area, which they used for tools and trade. The language of the Copper Inuit is more closely related to that of the people living around the Mackenzie than it is to that of the people of Hudson Bay to the east.

Kangiryuar (Prince Albert Sound)

Found on the west side of Victoria Island, The Hudson’s Bay Company post at Prince Albert Sound was opened in 1923, moved to Walker Bay in 1928 and finally to Ulukhaktok (Holman) in 1939. The large bluff that overlooks Ulukhaktok was the source that provided the slate and copper used to make ulus and give the community its name. Ulukhaktok is also the location of the most northern golf course in the Americas and hosts the “Billy Joss Open Celebrity Golf Tournament” every summer.

Iqaluktuuttiaq (Cambridge Bay)

With a population of just under 1,500, Iqaluktuuttiaq means “good fishing place.” It draws its English name from Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, and is a hamlet located in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut. It is the final resting place of the Baymaud captained by Roald Amundsen. Here we disembark Clipper Adventurer and make our way back to Ottawa.