New Britain herald., 1929-11-29
ARCTIC WATERWAY
 AGAIN NEGOTIATED
Only One OF Two Expeditions Have Preceded Present One

Northwest Passage, aim of explorers for 400 years, was nayigated this past summer.
 Three boats established continu- ous communication along tho icy straits of North America's northern most coast, according to a report brought to Montreal by a represen- tdtlve of the Hudson Bay Company
 Second or Third Time?
 Wcthcr the achievement marks the second or third time the North west Passage has been forced is open to debatc,' says a bulletin from the Washington, D. C. head quarters of the National Geographic Society, but that does not dim the brIliancc of the exploit
 North, Central and South Amcri- ca 400 years ago confronted Euro pCan explorers with a line as solid as a first class football line. ColUm- bus and Balboa vainly tried to drive through center to reach the goal which was India. Magellan finally made a successful run around left end. Encouraged by his success Cabot, IFrobishcr. Davis, Hudson Perry. Sir John Franklin and others tried to circle the right end of the 10000 mile continental land line. All failed
 Only Ono Boat Pushed Through
 'Only one small boat has ever sailed completely around inc ice cncrusted, island-filled north shore of North America. Gioa is the boat : name. It is preserved in a San Francisco pa'k, having been pre- scnted to the city by Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer, who took thrrc years to sail the 72-foot vessel around the North American Horn. That was 1903 to 1905.
 What is the Northwest Passage ?
 Prom St. Johns, capital of New fcundland. to Point Barrow. north crnmost Alaska, is 4,OO0 miles. The shore line between these two points IS roughly a straight line; Labrador" LnGava, Southampton Island lying lh the mouth of Hudson Bay. the northern borders of keewatin, Mac kenzie and Yukon territories, and Inc Alaska coast, facing the Beau rcrt Sea. The first 1000 miles along the Labrador coast is easy going and the next GOO miles throu sn Hudson Strait to the entrance Of Hudson Bay is sufficiently open in summer to warrant Canada to build wheat port at Churchill. Likewise he 1000 miles of water from Point Barrow, Alaska, southeast into Amundscn Gulf in summer time r2- , 2cives whalers and Hudson Bay trading boats.
 Chinese Puzzle Of Islands
 That leaves the HOO miles b4- tween Amundsen Gulf and South ampton Island as the real obStac;r.
 Franklin Territory, as Canada nas named it, in honor of Sir John Franklin, includes the maze of ls- lands lying off the 1 400 miles of coast choking tho waters between Inc Canadian mainland and Greer iand. No Chinese puzzle is more iG- .ricate than this labyrinth which blocked the carly explorers az
 
 The shortest water passage is up Fox Channel, through Fury and HeCla Strait between Melville Pcn- nsula and Baffin Land, up the Cuff of Boothia, through Bellot Strait be tween Boothia Peninsula and North Somerset Island, south of Victoria island to Amundscn Gulf.
 But explorers have found that T ,onger way around is the shorte5 5t way through the Northwest Passage. The best route seems to be throueh Davis Strait, up Baffin Bay, in through Lancaster Sound and Us westward extension. Barrow Stra [, in Strait to the lane of water be tween bulky Victoria Island and the mainland.
 Water Often Shallow
 Forcing the Northwest Passage will probably never be more than III exploit. Although the channels are yet 10 be charted in detail. the waters are known 10 be shallow in many places. Amundscn got the Ijoa through but often there was only a few inches of water under lcath the keel. Only the airpla1t .>an open mp this frozen archipelago O civilization. Pilots arc already fly Ing their planes into the snowy wilderness praying temperatures H4 oW as 60 degrees below zero
 England gave q reward of SJ0. 900 for the discovery of the North vest Passage to Admiral Sir Robert Mcclure who sailed in from the west and had to abandon his ship on Banks Island. He and his crew were rescued by another expedition coming from the cast so the admiral ,cCcived tho honor for discovering