Ship’s historic crossing signals extent of Arctic melt
This is a clear signal that there’s climate change.
NICOLAS PEISSEL
MONTREAL EXPLORER
With a 9.3- metre fibreglass sailboat, Nicolas Peissel and his crewmates were able to do what seasoned explorers on hulking Arctic ships attempted over centuries but never succeeded.
They crossed the northernmost route of the Northwestern Passages, which connects Baffin Bay to the Arctic Ocean in Canada’s far North.
“There’s no reason why we should have been able to do that,” Peissel, who hails from the Montreal area, said Friday over satellite phone aboard the Belzebub II, three months into its journey.
At any other time in history, the M’Clure Strait, the last stretch of land- bound water before the Beaufort Sea, would have been entirely covered in ice.
But it wasn’t. And the boat, which would have easily been ensnared by ice like those of many explorers before it, is now sailing peacefully on the Beaufort as it heads to Alaska.
“This is a clear signal that there’s climate change,” Peissel said.
And this was the point of the whole journey.
Thirty- five- year- old Peissel, his cousin Morgan Peissel, and Swede Edvin Buregren are making history to demonstrate how Arctic ice is at an all- time low, and the serious implications for humanity.
“The ice caps contain millions upon millions of litres of fresh water that are melting into our oceans.
“The melting is responsible for higher water levels and the unpredictable weather the world is seeing,” he said.
He described the Arctic as the canary in the coal mine that tells us what’s happening to the rest of the world.
A watery M’Clure Strait doesn’t mean the Belzebub II had an easy time of it. The Parry Channel, a long waterway leading to the M’Clure, was iced over, forcing the crew to zigzag between floes until a channel opened up.
The boat navigated through 55 km/ h winds and waves that crested at four metres. And those waves, Peissel said, were packed with sharp pieces of ice.
“This is a boat that you would use on Lac St. Louis. If we get hit by a piece of ice, it will put a gaping hole into the boat,” he said.
When they reached the M’Clure Strait, an adviser from the Canadian Ice Service sent an updated ice map and a warning: Do not attempt the cross. Ice from the north was pushing down on the strait.
“But it was our only window. So we made a decision to push through. We wrote them back and said thank you, we understand the risks. Please provide us with updates for the next 48 hours,” he said.
And for the next 48 hours, the crew did not sleep.
They sailed a narrow passage along Banks Island, rock on one side, sea ice on the other.
At any time the ice could surround and trap them, as it did to the strait’s namesake, Robert McClure, in the 1850s.
And there was no retreat. As the crew passed the narrow passage, the ice was sealing up behind them.
Had the ice trapped the boat, the crew would have had to find a safe spot to anchor and hike to the nearest hamlet — 500 kilometres away.
At worst, they would have to live inside the ship for the next eight months.
But by Thursday, they had safely made it through.
The Belzebub II will sail down to Vancouver via the Bering Strait.
Peissel said he will be glad to return to Montreal in October and sit on a terrace before the cold sets in.
But now, he understands why so many Arctic explorers shared a certain madness with the far north.
“There’s the midnight sun, the incredible ice formations, the purity and colour of the water, there’s a seal swimming off the boat right now.
“There are narwhals, beluga whales, muskox, all these mythical creatures. Then there are these amazing visual effects like the northern lights, Fata Morgana, all sorts of crazy sunbows, rainbows of white light ... It’s like you entered a parallel universe.”
For more information about the expedition, visit belzebub2. com.