Wheres the Northwest Passage?
The Northwest Passage is a water route linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through northern Canada’s Arctic Archipelago, and along the northern coast of Alaska. John Franklin, born on April 16, 1786, was one of the many explorers, including Martin Frobisher and Henry Hudson, who sought to prove the existence of the route, but failed. In Franklin’s case, the attempt proved to be fatal. He set out in 1845, leading an expedition of two ships carrying 129 men, attempting to travel the last unexplored section of the passage. The ships were frozen in after passing the west side of King William Island. Franklin and others died during this part of the trip; the rest of the team perished later of scurvy, starvation, and lead poisoning from their tinned foods. Roald Amundsen led the first successful expedition across the Northwest Passage; it took three years (1903-1906).
