Dear Editor: I read with interest your Sept. 4 story, 1,900 Arctic kilometres by rowboat.
I am glad that they are safe.
When I first read about their plans I was concerned as I felt they were underestimating the task, particularly the time frame and the conditions they may face. What they did achieve is remarkable, and I commend them on the common sense to realize when to quit.
However, that is not the reason for this letter! In your second paragraph you state "a trip previously only possible aboard hulking icebreaker ships." I beg to differ. For more than 100 years, Arctic navigation during the short summer season has been possible with comparatively small and low powered vessels. Great shiphandling skills and some luck were required. Franklin was unlucky, he apparently sailed during a period of very harsh winters.
The first vessel to transit the Northwest Passage was the tiny Norwegian boat, Gjoa. She is only 21 metres long, wooden construction with sails and a small motor, built in 1872, and sailed east to west 1903 to 1906, wintering in the ice. A generation passed before it was done again. That was the Canadian vessel St. Roch, built in North Vancouver in 1928. She is 32 metres long, wooden construction with sails and a motor. She made the voyage west to east 1940 to 1942, also overwintering in the ice, and made the return voyage in 1944. Later, St. Roch became the fi rst vessel to circumnavigate North America via the Panama Canal. Both the Gjoa and St. Roch still survive, the latter at the Vancouver Maritime Museum and well worth a visit.
Gordon Passmore
North Vancouver
