The North West Passage: An Arctic Obsession

Following 10-days archaeological work in Point Barrow a few years back a firm interest in the Artic began to take hold. Much of this has centered, for me, on Whaling. However, the North, and especially the North West Passage generates obsessive interest far beyond the search for Bow Head’s.

The National Maritime Museum in Greenwhich explores the arctic seas in The North West Passage: An Arctic Obsession. Drawing on stories of endurance, exploration, and tragedy the exhibition brings together a variety of object and primary sources to investigate just how important the North West Passage was for 19th-century explorers. In addition, information about the relationships between the explorers and the native Inuit people is brought to the fore.

On view at the National Maritime Museum until January, 2010.

Sample objects follow.