These essays trace the history of the British search for the Northwest Passage – the Arctic sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans – from the early modern era to the start of the nineteenth century.

Studies the history of the search for the Northwest Passage including voyages by Ross, Buchan, Parry, Franklin, McClure and Amundsen.

Well illustrated account of the history of the search for the Northwest Passage beginning Sebastian Cabot in the early 16th century.

The Northwest Passage has captured the imagination of nations and explorers for hundreds of years. And today, as global warming reshapes geography, trade along the passage is becoming a reality for the first time. This book provides a sweeping history of the route from the earliest attempts to navigate through its punishing landscape to breaking news about its economic viability in modern day.

In 1755, Robert Rogers is a brash young frontiersman from New Hampshire’s wilderness who is determined to find the Northwest Passage. Captivated by hearsay lore and his daring dream, Rogers wants nothing more than to walk over the horizon and never come back. While on a hunting expedition one day, Rogers encounters a reverend and his daughter, Hannah Dunbright, who are seeking shelter from the unforgiving wilderness. He invites the pair back to his cabin, where he realizes that he and Hannah share a mutual attraction. But on the day they share their first kiss, Hannah and her father are kidnapped by Captain Andre Durantaye, a cunning French-Canadian coureur de bois. Meanwhile Rogers, who believes he has lost Hannah forever, attends a governor’s ball, where he meets Elizabeth Browne, a friend of Hannah’s; it seems she also has her eyes on the frontiersman. As events unfold, one of the women betrays him and the other seeks revenge--the consequences of the tempestuous love triangle. In this epic story of love, betrayal, and redemption, a young explorer embarks on an audacious and dangerous quest to fulfill his dream amid the British struggle for empire and revocation.

The elusive dream of locating the Northwest Passage--an ocean route over the top of North America that promised a shortcut to the fabulous wealth of Asia--obsessed explorers for centuries. Until recently these channels were hopelessly choked by impassible ice. Voyagers faced unimaginable horrors--entire ships crushed, mass starvation, disabling frostbite, even cannibalism--in pursuit of a futile goal. Glyn Williams charts the entire sweep of this extraordinary history, from the tiny, woefully equipped vessels of the first Tudor expeditions to the twentieth-century ventures that finally opened the Passage.

The centuries-long quest for the fabled Northwest Passage rivals the story of Antarctic exploration for heroism, drama, and tragedy. Expedition after expedition set off in search of a sea route connecting Europe with Asia's riches; each expedition suffered extreme hardship and ended in defeat, until Roald Amundsen finally succeeded in 1903-06. Across the Top of the World brings this incredible saga to life through exhaustive research, grim firsthand accounts, and hundreds of dramatic images. Paintings, engravings, and photos of the intrepid men and their ships, as well as of relics and archaeological sites, provide a poignant and compelling link with the past, while landscapes and seascapes of the harsh yet beautiful Arctic illustrate the challenges that faced explorers. Covering all the major expeditions in detail, and written with passion and authority, this book is both a scholarly reference and an eminently readable history of Arctic exploration.

The National Library of Canada presents a chronological timeline of the search for the Northwest passage to the Far East through North America by various explorers, from the 15th to the 20th century.

The Northwest Passage is a sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Arctic Ocean. Interest kindled in 1564 after Jacques Cartier's discovery of the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, Martin Frobisher had formed a resolution to undertake the challenge of forging a trade route from England westward to India. In 1576 - 1578, he took three trips to what is now the Canadian Arctic in order to find the passage. Frobisher Bay, which he discovered, is named after him. On August 8, 1585, under the employ of Elizabeth I the English explorer John Davis entered Cumberland Sound, Baffin Island. Davis rounded Greenland before dividing his four ships into separate expeditions to search for a passage westward. Though he was unable to pass through the icy Arctic waters, he reported to his sponsors that the passage they sought is "a matter nothing doubtful and secured support for two additional expeditions, reaching as far as Hudson Bay. Though England's efforts were interrupted in 1587 because of Anglo-Spanish War, Davis's favorable reports on the region and its people would inspire explorers in the coming century. In the first half of the 19th century, parts of the Northwest Passage were explored separately by a number of different expeditions, including those by John Ross, William Edward Parry, James Clark Ross; and overland expeditions led by John Franklin, George Back, Peter Warren Dease, Thomas Simpson, and John Rae. Sir Robert McClure was credited with the discovery of the Northwest Passage by sea in 1851 when he looked across McClure Strait from Banks Island and viewed Melville Island. However, the strait was blocked by young ice at this point in the season, and not navigable to ships. The only usable route, linking the entrances of Lancaster Sound and Dolphin and Union Strait was first used by John Rae in 1851. Rae used a pragmatic approach of traveling by land on foot and dogsled, and typically employed less than ten people in his exploration parties. The Northwest Passage was not completely conquered by sea until 1906, when the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, who had sailed just in time to escape creditors seeking to stop the expedition, completed a three-year voyage in the converted 47-ton herring boat Gjøa. At the end of this trip, he walked into the city of Eagle, Alaska, and sent a telegram announcing his success. His route was not commercially practical; in addition to the time taken, some of the waterways were extremely shallow

Series of articles which summarize issues involved in Canada's claim to sovereignty over the Northwest Passage arranged in four parts: the setting; international arctic politics; Canadian arctic politics; conclusions.