TheLastFirst cannot hold a candle to MAVTV's Dangerous Waters - check it out

Url: http://www.mavtv.com/shows/dangerous-waters.html

THEY WERE WARNED - Expect a new NW Passage attraction - JOULETANTIC?

They Were Warned

Posted on July 31, 2013by stevengoddard

June 29

(1) Mainstream Last First

I’m posting this now, while they still might be able to get out. It would be bad form later to say “I told you so” to the deceased.

Video url: http://youtu.be/ZidiQoccneA

HIP WADERS ON? Prepare before reading this non-sense - Should Obama asks Gore (Nobel Peace Prize re climate) for climate change science?

White House warned on imminent Arctic ice death spiral

National security officials worried by rapid loss of Arctic summer sea ice overlook threat of permanent global food shortages

The melting of sea ice in the Arctic has caught the eye of the US Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon. Photograph: John Mcconnico/AP


Senior US government officials are to be briefed at the White House this week on the danger of an ice-free Arctic in the summer within two years.

The meeting, hosted by the Office of Science and Technology Policy within the Executive Office of the President at the White House, is being organised by the Joint Office for Science Support (JOSS) of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) on behalf of the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC). The IARPC, charged with coordinating federal research on the Arctic Ocean, is chaired by the National Science Foundation, and includes among its members Nasa, the US Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon.

This is the latest indication that US officials are increasingly concerned about the international and domestic security implications of climate change.

Senior scientists advising the US government at the meeting include 10 Arctic specialists, including marine scientist Prof Carlos Duarte, director of the Oceans Institute at the University of Western Australia.

In early April, Duarte warned that the Arctic summer sea ice was melting at a rate faster than predicted by conventional climate models, and could be ice free as early as 2015 - rather than toward the end of the century, as the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected in 2007. He said:

"The Arctic situation is snowballing: dangerous changes in the Arctic derived from accumulated anthropogenic green house gases lead to more activities conducive to further greenhouse gas emissions. This situation has the momentum of a runaway train."

Duarte is lead author of a paper published last year in Nature Climate Change documenting how "tipping elements" in the Arctic ecosystems leading to "abrupt changes" that would dramatically impact "the global earth system" had "already started up". Duarte and his team concluded: "We are facing the first clear evidence of dangerous climate change."New NASA satellite imagery from March 2013 reveals massive cracks in ice connecting Beaufort Gyre region to Alaska

New research suggests that the Arctic summer sea ice loss is linked to extreme weather. Rutgers University climate scientist Jennifer Francispoints to the phenomenon of "Arctic amplification", where:

"The loss of Arctic summer sea ice and the rapid warming of the Far North are altering the jet stream over North America, Europe, and Russia. Scientists are now just beginning to understand how these profound shifts may be increasing the likelihood of more persistent and extreme weather."

Extreme weather events over the last few years apparently driven by the accelerating Arctic melt process - including unprecedented heatwaves and droughts in the US and Russia, along with snowstorms and cold weather in northern Europe – have undermined harvests, dramatically impacting global food production and contributing to civil unrest.

US national security officials have taken an increasing interest in the destabilising impact of climate change. In February this year, the US Department of Defense (DoD) released its new Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap, which noted that global warming will have:

"... significant geopolitical impacts around the world, contributing to greater competition for more limited and critical life-sustaining resources like food and water."

The effects of climate change may:

"Act as accelerants of instability or conflict in parts of the world... [and] may also lead to increased demands for defense support to civil authorities for humanitarian assistance or disaster response, both within the United States and overseas … DoD will need to adjust to the impacts of climate change on its facilities, infrastructure, training and testing activities, and military capabilities."

The primary goal of adaptation is to ensure that the US armed forces are "better prepared to effectively respond to climate change" as it happens, and "to ensure continued mission success" in military operations - rather than to prevent or mitigate climate change.

While the DoD is also concerned about the Arctic, the focus is less on risks than on opportunities:

"The Department is developing cooperative partnerships with interagency and international Arctic stakeholders to collaboratively address future opportunities and potential challenges inherent in the projected opening of the Arctic."

Arctic "stakeholders" include US, Russian, Canadian, Norwegian and Danish energy firms, which are scrambling to exploit the northern polar region's untapped natural wealth. The region is estimated to hold a quarter of the world's remaining undiscovered oil and gas reserves, sparking concerted efforts by these countries to expand their Arctic military presence.

The US Homeland Security Department's Climate Change Roadmapreleased last year raised similar issues, warning that climate change "could directly affect the Nation's critical infrastructure", as well as aggravating "conditions that could enable terrorist activity, violence, and mass migration".

On the Arctic, the report highlights the imperative to protect US resource interests by increasing regional military penetration:

"Melting sea ice in the Arctic may lead to new opportunities for shipping, tourism, and resource exploration, but the increase in human activity may require a significant increase in operational capabilities in the region in order to safeguard lawful trade and travel and to prevent exploitation of new routes for smuggling and trafficking."

A public statement in response to news of the White House's Arctic briefing released on Tuesday by the UK-based Arctic Methane Emergency Group (AMEG) - a group of international climate scientists – called on governments to recognise that the dramatic loss of summer sea ice in the Arctic would amplify the types of extreme weather events that have already affected the world's major food basket regions, undermining global food production for the foreseeable future with serious consequences for international security.

The group, which includes among its founding members leading Arctic specialists such as Prof Peter Wadhams, head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group at Cambridge University, stated that:

"The weather extremes from last year are causing real problems for farmers, not only in the UK, but in the US and many grain-producing countries. World food production can be expected to decline, with mass starvation inevitable. The price of food will rise inexorably, producing global unrest and making food security even more of an issue."

The AMEG statement adds that governments should consider geoengineering techniques - large-scale technological interventions in the climate system - to "cool the Arctic and save the sea ice" in order to avert catastrophe. Critics point out, however, that untested geoengineering technologies could have damaging unintended impacts on ecosystems, and that a regulatory framework is needed before embarking on major projects.

Dr Nafeez Ahmed is director of the Institute for Policy Research & Development and author of A User's Guide to the Crisis of Civilisation: And How to Save It.

• This article was amended on 7 May 2013 and 9 May 2013 to correct details of the meeting's organisers and attendees.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/may/02/white-house-arctic-ice-death-spiral

Check here for details: 

http://petitionproject.org/gw_article/GWReview_OISM150.pdf

http://www.populartechnology.net/2009/10/peer-reviewed-papers-supporting.html

http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/

http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/spectacularly-poor-climate-science-at-nasa/

http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/hansen-the-climate-chiropractor/

http://www.skepticalscience.com/global-warming-scientific-consensus.htm

http://www.skepticalscience.com/contradictions.php

and the list goes on and on... 

"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" – Richard Feynman

2013 ARCTIC BOAT LIST - COMMENTS WITH MORE DETAILS APPRECIATED - SEE BELOW

2013 ARCTIC BOAT LIST AS OF AUGUST 4, 2013

ACALEPHE (CA)
David Berger
Jean Gilles Lemieux
East to West NWP
13.9m x 4.18m x 2.3m
Nouanni 45 DI aluminum cutter rig sailboat
http://www.lemieuxarchitecte.com/
http://www.lemieuxarchitecte.com/?p=74
Tracker: http://www.lemieuxarchitecte.com/?p=66

ARCTIC JOULE (CA)
Denis Barnett
Paul Gleeson
Kevin Vallely
Frank Wolf
Inunvik to Pond Inlet
Cabin rowboat without a naval architect design, failed a capsize test on video
http://thelastfirst.com/
http://mainstreamlastfirst.com/
Tracker: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/gogl.jsp?glId=0iRTKLUZYPqVvo9fjJlhupoJlQx9xQgLG

ARCTIC TERN UK (GBR)
Les and Ali Parsons
43ft Bruce Roberts Steel cutter rig pilot house sailboat
East to west NWP
http://www.arcticternexpeditions.co.uk/wordpress/?page_id=24
Tracker: http://www.arcticternexpeditions.co.uk/wordpress/?page_id=27

BALTHAZAR (CA)
François Roberge
Inuvik to Nome?
10.5m welded steel sailboat
http://www.voilierbalthazar.ca/passage-du-nord-ouest
Tracker1:http://www.findmespot.com/mylocation/?id=DCDfE
Tracker2: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0I85NqqxZDA2fRNAem0tsCUlifyaziNsE

BABUSHKA (FRA)
Sebastien Roubinet
Vincent Berthet
Attempting a world first record from Barrow Alaska to the North Pole to Spitzberg 1750 miles
Hybrid catamaran rig with cuddy cabin
http://www.sebroubinet.eu/english/home.html
Tracker: http://www.sat-view.fr/interface/interface.php?login=voiedupole

BERNARD EXPLORER (USA)
Bob Bernard (great-great nephew of Captain Peter Bernard HMCS KARLUK)
46 ft. motor sailboat
Research site on Banks Island near Sachs Harbour
http://canadianarcticexpedition.com/
https://www.facebook.com/SearchingTheCanadianArcticExpedition
Blog & Tracker: http://canadianarcticexpedition.com/cae-blog

DAX (SWE)
Martin Sigge
Bengt Norviksvägen
Richard Tegnér
loa x b x d ?
http://northwestpassage2013.wordpress.com

DODO'S DELIGHT (GBR)
Rev. Bob Shepton
33 ft. fiberglass sloop - Westerly 33ft Discus built in 1980 
(2012 NWP returning on a west to east NWP 2013)
http://www.bobshepton.co.uk/
http://arcticmadnessblog.wordpress.com/
http://aaj.americanalpineclub.org/features/feature-aaj-2011/dodos-delight-by-bob-shepton/
http://www.richardnicolson.com/
http://www.richardnicolson.com/blog.html

FAIRMONT's PASSION (USA)
Matt McFadyen
Cameron Webb
Inuvik to Resolute Bay?
17.5 foot Norseboat mfg rowboat
http://www.beyondthecircle.com/
https://www.facebook.com/beyondthecircle2013
Tracker: http://tracking.redportglobal.com/Anonymous/beyondthecircle

GITANO (USA)
?

GLORY OF THE SEA (CA?)
David Frederick Collette
Johann Straumfjord Sigurdson
Manitoba, Hudson Bay, Greenland, Iceland?
50 foot aluminum exepdition cutter rigged sailboat
http://faraheim.com/
http://faraheim.com/category/expedition-diary/

IKIMAYIA (CA)
Olivier Giasson
Sebastien Lapierre
Tuktoyaktuk to Igloolik
Tandem kayak
5.94m x 72.4cm x 34.3cm
http://www.revedeglace.ca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/R%C3%AAve-de-Glace/342424112538131
Tracker: https://share.delorme.com/c436e43f67834116922e31fec36fc985

ISATIS (NEW CALEDONIA)
Janine and Jean Pierre Levie
14,25m x 4,39m x 2,60m aluminum cutter rig
Designer: Andre Maurique
builder: Pouvrot
No website

Traveling with LA BELLE EPOQUE

LA BELLE EPOQUE (DE)
Jürgen and Claudia Kirchberger
Louis de Dumas
13m x 3.9m x 2m steel ketch with cutter stay
East to west NWP
http://www.fortgeblasen.at/segelpage/webside/english.htm
http://www.fortgeblasen.at/segelpage/material/nordwestpassage/eisprognose.pdf
Tracker: http://www.winlink.org/dotnet/maps/PositionReportsDetail.aspx?callsign=OE5YCL

LADY DANA (POL)
Ryszard Wojnowski
Arctic Circumnavigation
14.3m x 4.5m x 2.0m steel sloop
http://arctic2013.pl/en/route/
http://arctic2013.pl/en/itinerary-of-the-voyage/

LE MANGUIER (FRA) (known as MANGO)
Philippe Hercher
Plans to circumnavigate Banks Island and winter over in Paulatuk or Ulukhaktok (HOW LONG IS YOUR CANADA VISA AND CANADA BOAT CRUISING PERMIT GOOD FOR? CHECK WITH CANADA CBSA AND IMMIGRATION ASAP)
21.1m x 6.5m x 3.4m ex-navy steel hull tug with stay-sails rig
http://www.navirelemanguier.com/
http://lemanguier.typepad.fr/le_manguier/

MALTESE FALCON (MALTA) (rumored NWP)
Elena Ambrosiadou
289' x 41' x 20' Dyna-rig computerized 3-mast automation furlers
Website: http://www.symaltesefalcon.com/
Tracker: http://www.symaltesefalcon.com/tracking.php 

MORNING HAZE (DE)
Jochen Winter
East to west NWP - cancelled 20130802 - rudder damage
16.9m x 4.64m x 1.8/3.5m Gerard Dijkstra aluminum cutter
http://www.morninghaze.de/
Tracker: http://www.morninghaze.de/position-map

NOEME (FRA)
Owner & crew ?
14.5m x 4.1m x 2.62m HAKA 145bm cold molded epoxy

Website: ?

Tracker: ?

POLAR BOUND (GBR)
David Scott Cowper
Jane Maufe
First yacht in history to transit the original Northwest Passage via McClure Strait since discovery by Captain Robert McClure aboard HMS INVESTIGATOR in 1851
2013 Northwest Passage route to be determined at sailing - David's 6th NWP
48' x 18' x 6' custom aluminum expedition motor vessel with a single Gardner 8LXB 150hp main engine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Scott_Cowper

ROWING ICE (FRA)
Charles Hedrich
Wales Alaska to Cambridge Bay to Pond Inlet to Atlantic Ocean Arctic Circle
21' cabin rowboat (See: http://www.expeditiontico.com/)
http://www.charleshedrich.com/
http://charleshedrich-nordouest.blogspot.fr/
https://plus.google.com/116430189753834685869

TARA (FRA)
Single-season Arctic Circumnavigation counterclockwise (West-to-east)
Including Northeast and Northwest Passages (NOTE: For a NWP TARA must cross BOTH the Pacific Ocean Arctic Circle (Bering Strait) and the Atlantic Ocean Arctic Circle (Davis Strait)
ETD 20130518 Lorient France ETA 20131206
36m x 10m x 1.5-3.5m aluminum expedition schooner motor-sailer
http://oceans.taraexpeditions.org
Tracker: http://oceans.taraexpeditions.org/carte/

TOOLUKA (NED)
Eef Willems, 
Length 14.15 metres 
http://www.tooluka.nl/
Alt website url: http://www.tooluka.nl/?taal=UK
http://www.tooluka.nl/CruisingWorld_aug2009.pdf

TRANQUILLO (NED)
Bart Veldink
Wintered off Pim Island destination unknown (NWP E5 2012)
56 ft. aluminum sloop, center board sailboat
https://twitter.com/BartVeldink

TRAVERSAY III (?)
http://traversayiii.blogspot.com/

RUMORS???

Not any more... the crew is driving towards Inuvik... look out rowers! 


DANGEROUS WATERS (USA)

Personal Water Craft (i.e. jetskis)
http://www.dangerouswaterstv.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DANGEROUSWATERSTV

Updates, corrections and new vessel details - please 

BERNARD EXPLORER sails for Sachs Harbor to search for the schooner MARY SACHS of NOME

Photo courtesy of the Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum

COMMEMORATING— A ship called the Bernard Explorer recently left Nome to retrace the route of the Mary Sachs, an support vessel for the Canadian expedition ship Karluk. The Karluk was the flag ship of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, the first Canadian government expedition to the western Arctic, between 1913-1918. The Karluk sailed from Nome on July 13, 1913 and became trapped in pack ice and drifted with the ice westward. The ship sank on January 15. The supply ship Mary Sachs’ captains were Peter Bernard and Joe Bernard. This summer, the Bernard Explorer under caption Bob Bernard, grand-nephew of Joe Bernard, is leading to Sachs Harbor on Banks Island to plant two plaques in honor of those who perished on the expedition.

The Mary Sachs wrecked near Sachs Harbor and crew of the Bernard Explorer hope to find relics or remains of the schooner.

FOLLOW THE EXPEDITION: http://canadianarcticexpedition.com/cae-blog

P.E.I.-born captain, Peter Bernard, and the ship, Karluk, photographed before its doomed role as the flagship in the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913-18.

- - - snip - - -

Re-post of blog content

Canadian Arctic Expedition LIVE Blog

Visit this page often for daily updates from the 2013 Arctic expedition

LIVE MAP (scroll down for more updates)

Sachs Harbour, NWT, Saturday July 27, 2013

posted July 28, 2013

The day started with a short interview with Roger Kuptana, who with his wife Jackie, runs the Polar Grizz Guesthouse where we are staying. Roger’s father, William, was a member of the CAE as a young boy. He was either “traded” or adopted to William and Annie Seymour, who were on the CAE ship, Polar Bear. William Seymour was from Australia, Annie from Alaska. Roger has travelled to the northwest corner of Banks Island where we are headed, but only in winter. It will be so exciting to get there!

The wind and waves had settled down enough that Mitzi, Kyle and I were able to go back out to the Mary Sachssite. It was a different place with all of the ice floes drifted in to the bay and along the shore. We made sure that Kyle was extra alert as polar bears can move in with the ice too. Today we used the metal detector to search along the beach where the historic site has eroded away. As we suspected, there was not much to find as the waves just carry anything small away. Just in the last 2 days, because of the waves, the beach has changed a lot and we never would have found that new old engine block today. We did find a few rusty bits of chain, stove parts and bolts in the sand below the mound where the Mary Sachs’s wheelhouse was placed.

It was cool in the wind, 0 degrees C, and a few snow flurries, but nice when the sun was out. I photographed each of the sites with Henry’s wonderful mini-camera at the end of a telescoping pole to give an overhead view.

Riding back in the boat was a joy with seals and ice floes keeping John alert at the wheel.

David

6

Sachs Harbour, Friday July 26, 2013

posted July 27, 2013

A foggy day in Sachs Harbour, with a strong west wind blowing ice in from the Beaufort Sea. There is more ice piling up on the shore all the way from here out to Cape Kellet, beyond Mary Sachs. Today was a mix of waiting, visiting and walking. Had a good visit with John and Samantha Lucas, John’s parents. Samantha’s grandmother was Violet Mamayuak, who was part of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, and traveled on the schooner Polar Bearto Victoria Island. She married Henry Gonzales, who became the ship’s captain, and seems to have been responsible for wrecking the Mary Sachs. He did not stay in the Arctic after the Expedition and she re-married.

We had hopes of the Aklak plane coming today, but the fog and uncertain weather led them (eventually) to postpone the flight until Sunday. So Mack has more time in Inuvik and Mitzi will miss her Mum’s 90th birthday party (which she organized!).

I walked out along the beach to the east, but didn’t see much. A few Glaucous Gulls, parts of muskox skulls, waves and many flowers still blooming in spite of the low temperatures and snow flurries.

Bob Bernard called this morning from the boat. They were just passing Herschel Island, Yukon, and making good progress. They were held up by ice near the US-Canada border, but the silver lining was that they were at Collinson Point, where the CAE over-wintered in 1913! They were able to visit and photograph the remnants of the CAE house there. So many good things on an un-planned day.

David

6

Sachs Harbour, NWT, Thursday July 25, 2013

posted July 26, 2013

It was a rainy and foggy day in Sachs Harbour today, and now it’s snowing. It was a “hurry-up-and-wait” day as the scheduled Aklak Air flight from Inuvik was supposed to take Mitzi Dodd (Peter Bernard’s great-great-niece) out and bring Mack (Alex) MacDonald in. Now we have to wait for tomorrow to see if the weather cooperates with our crew turnover. It was mostly an inside day today, a good opportunity to work on mapping the CAE camps. I have been talking with Elders here trying to relate the place names used in 1915 and 1930 with the names on the maps today. It is difficult to locate the old camps and caches because the Expedition journals often refer to places whose names have changed, and give distances from unknown places too. There were only a very few official place names on the old British Admiralty charts the CAE men were using. But with input from three different eras, I think I now have figured out where all the places we need to find really are!

We heard today via the old Inuit telegraph system (Facebook) that there is a sailboat in Tuktoyaktuk. But it may be the one boat that is ahead of our Bernard Explorer. But it is good news, if one boat has made it through, Bob can’t be far behind.

David

6

Wednesday July 24, 2013 (Cool wind, no mosquitoes, no snow flurries yet)

posted July 25, 2013

Sachs Harbour, NWT

Today we continued with our visits in the community. First stop was at Joey and Margaret Carpenter’s home. Joey’s father was Fred Carpenter who was one of the first to establish a permanent home here. He was also the first to open a store in Sachs Harbour in 1954. Margaret’s parents lived at Baillie Island and she was born there. Margaret’s mother was Cora Kemiksana, and her step-Dad was was Silas Palaiyak, who worked for the CAE scientists in 1915-1916. Cora told Margaret that Silas Palaiyak’s schooner “CORA” which we hope to visit and document next week, was named after her. This was something I had long suspected, and the personal confirmation today was one of those special little shared moments that make historical research so exciting. Tomorrow I will give Margaret photos of both Palaiyak and the CORA, which she has never seen.

Our next stop we thought was just to buy a local history book, but it turned out to be hidden treasure! Earlier this summer a young man from Sachs was hunting geese out at the Mary Sachs historic site. Right on the ATV travel route they use he found a large cross-cut saw which had just appeared on the sandy beach. It had already been run over by an ATV so he brought the saw home. Knowing our interest, he took us to see it and now wants us to find the proper home for this old CAE saw. We photographed it and captured the story. The saw would have been used to cut driftwood for use at the CAE camp for heat and cooking.

Update on the Bernard Explorer: The boat was held up by ice just west of Point Barrow Alaska for a couple of days, but they are now on the way and expected to arrive on Friday the 26th.

David

6

Tuesday July 23, 2013

posted July 24, 2013

It is a sad day in Sachs Harbour today. A young woman who grew up here, and who died in BC recently, was buried in the Sachs Harbour cemetery up on top of the hill above our lodgings. We went to the funeral along with virtually everyone in the community. At the community supper afterwards we met many of the people from Sachs who know about us and our Expedition. They are so pleased that someone from the outside knows their background and is excited about their local history. Earlier today we met with the RCMP officers stationed here (both from Ottawa), the Mayor, Betty Haogak, and the Postmaster, Joey Carpenter, who also are delighted about our project, and shared many local history connections with us. Almost everyone in town is related to the CAE in some way or another. We met Alex Kudlak who is related to Stefansson on one side of his family, and to Billy Banksland (Natkusiak) on the other! The Mayor and her family used to camp at the Mary Sachs site we have been working on. It is a traditional site for hunting geese in the spring. So today was as rewarding in its own way as were the previous days, the new treasures being family stories of the people and their love of the land.

We think the mosquitoes are done! It is rainy and going down to -1 tonight with possible snow flurries tomorrow. Hurray!

David

6

Monday July 22, 2013

posted July 23, 2013

Back to the CAE historic site at Mary Sachs Creek today for our third day of research. We travel out and back by boat which is the best way to travel here. We have seen an Arctic fox patrolling the shoreline, and a Tundra Swan flying over as we travel. The shores are sandy or light gravel so John Lucas, our driver, just runs agound where we want to be. He picks us up again at the end of the day. John will be going with us on the boat trip up the west coast.

Today our main chore was to get GPS locations for each of the sites and for the major artifacts. For that we used the great little inReach device. We also completed a few measurements so that we can tie everything together for the Map. Highlights were making rubbings of the raised letters on some glass bottle fragments and a cast iron “Success” stove, finding a wooden box probably from the CAE partially buried in the creek bed, and filming insects slowly walking on the ice floe. There were several large weevils (beetles) which I suspect are new species for Banks Island. We also walked up the lake formed by the ocean damming Mary Sachs Creek with a sand bar at the mouth. Saw relatively fresh polar bear, arctic wolf and arctic fox tracks all together on the sand, plus sand hill crane and snow goose tracks.

The down side of the day was that the mosquitoes were actually worse still! There was little or no wind, it was hot (well 12 +) with layers of anti-mosquito clothes. You just can’t believe how “buggy” they are until you experience them. Several times today we retreated to the shoreline, hoping to find a little breeze, or some respite on the grounded ice floes, but there wasn’t much. Picture Mitzi and me snuggling up to opposite sides of an ice floe, me sticking my head into an icy hole and still not able to get away from the bugs! Kyle, our wildlife monitor, has no control over bugs! Imagine. He just lies out flat on the beach gravel with his hoodie over his face! It was so refreshing to be in the boat on the way home, with a cool breeze and no bug jacket over our heads. Another great day in the Arctic.
David

6

posted July 22, 2013

It was a good day today out at the MARY SACHS site. The mosquitos were terrible , even worse than yesterday. The street of Sachs Harbour is empty because the kids can’t go out and play. Today we measured and made rough maps of each different feature of the site, trying to figure out what each foundation or ground detail means, comparing what we see with the photos from 1915 etc. Also listing and photographing the artifacts in each feature. There are six major and obvious features, one being the house which was the Headquarters, and another where the wheelhouse of the Mary Sachs was used as a home, even as late as the 1930s. And the 2 Desperate Venture guys stayed in one of these too. Then there are the Inuit tent rings or tent platforms as well, plus the two engine blocks (now 3 as we found one buried in the beach sand). I tried to photograph individual artifacts with a close-up lens today and got my hands well-bitten. We found a neat little glass/ceramic/stone bead today, a beautiful, teardrop shape of pale green colour. Not sure how old it is, but my feelings is that it is from the CAE, so 100 years. Kyle and I also moved the 3rd engine block up the sand slope from the eroding beach to a safe place. It was heavy work as it had to be rolled or flipped uphill in sand and it is way too heavy to lift. So now it is safe. We heard from Captain Bob Bernard last night. They are in Point Barrow, Alaska, still a little behind schedule, but all is going well. Point Barrow is where the ice hangs in the longest, so it is great that they made it. I have to check the ice charts now and see what challenges they still face. The people from Sachs saw 3 Orcas earlier this week just off Sachs Harbour and 3 bowheads this weekend in the ice off Cape Kellet. So we hope we will see the whales later as well. There are 5 cute little husky puppies across the road.
David

6

Saturday, July 20, 2013

posted July 21, 2013

An emotional day for David and Mitzi, just being at Mary Sachs Creek (see inReach map), base camp for the Northern party of the CAE, Captain Peter Bernard’s home for two years (Mitzi’s great, great uncle, who was lost trying to deliver mail at the north end of Banks Island).

Incredible erosion happening. David was there in 2009 and sketched a building foundation. A corner of that foundation is about to fall into the ocean. The drop from the land turf to the beach was about a metre in 2009, now it is about 3 metres because the beach under it has been washed away, as well as about a ½ m of turf.

Found a second major chunk of the Mary Sachs engine block, its tip just visible in the sand. Also found a wooden pulley block, probably used to pull the Mary Sachs up on the beach, or to raise sail. They are not allowed to remove anything. On the ground lots of bits of pottery, glass, and a brass nail, probably from the Mary Sachs. They also established where the Mary Sachs wheel house was by a couple of upright tongue and groove boards. It had been left as a house for trappers.

Saw one Arctic fox, three loons (yellow-billed?), three ringed seals.

10 degrees and wind from north. Some photos ruined because so many mosquitoes in front of lens.

Two new members on the expedition! Kyle Wolki, bear monitor, and John Lucas, guide; both men have family connections to the CAE.

Tomorrow they will go back to measure and map the site, about 30 km west of Sachs Harbour.

6

Just arrived…

posted July 19, 2013

David and Mitzi have arrived in Sachs Harbour! It is about 13 degrees and the sun is bright, and there are BILLIONS of mosquitos, more than there have ever been before.
People are staying inside. Tomorrow they meet with Elders. They expect the Bernard Explorer on Saturday. The ice looks clear along the mainland, though there is still some in the Passage.
They flew in under cloud but just as they passed over Baillee Island the clouds opened and they had a good glimpse.
They hope to blog every few days – it depends where they are. Through their inReach device we can at least track them daily, and they can send a simple, “everything is fine” message. Whenever they can they will send more.

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The Bernard Explorer

posted July 13, 2013

Captain Bob Bernard beside his boat as he prepares to leave Cordova.