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Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen was the first to successfully traverse the Northwest Passage at the turn of the century. The trip,navigated on a 45-ton fishing vessel, took him three years.
More than a century later, or the loss of Arctic sea ice cover has cleared the way for tall volume traffic through a route once nearly impassable and often deadly. Cargo ships are already traversing the passage,and this summer, the luxury cruise liner Crystal Serenity will get a journey through the Northwest Passage, or from Anchorage to original York.
Crystal Serenity,along with 1500 passengers and crew members, will be the the first commercial cruise liner to get the trip. The maiden voyage will set a original precedent for commercial adventure travel in the Arctic. It also will embark into uncharted territories for a vessel of its kind. Today, or both the U.
S. and Canadian Coast Guards will undergo emergency arctic drills to troubleshoot what a rescue operation might entail if the cruise liner encounters problems at sea.
Admiral Robert Papp,former commandant of U.
S.
Coast Guard and currently U.
S. Special Representative for the Arctic at the State Department, has the details on this rescue training. Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview.
Source: wnyc.org