(GBR) Our greatest living Yachtsman, David Scott Cowper, age 70, and Jane Maufe as crew aboard M/V POLAR BOUND has become the first yacht and crew in history to successfully navigate through McClure Strait over the top of Banks Island on the original Northwest Passage route discovered by Captain Robert McClure in 1851 aboard HMS INVESTIGATOR.
Captain David Scott Cowper has done what no one else in the last 161 years could - not even the 1,005 foot, 43,000hp Icebreaker SS MANHATTAN could not transit through the sea ice - she had to turn around in McClure Strait - Captain Cowper achieved his accomplishment with his specially built aluminum 48 foot M/V POLAR BOUND powered with a single 170hp Gardner 8LXB engine carrying 10 tons of diesel fuel.
August 29, 2013, Captain Cowper and Jane Maufe, who by the way is the fourth Great Niece of Sir John Franklin, are aboard M/V POLAR BOUND in Cambridge Bay and reportedly will proceed east for Bellot Strait to stop at historic Fort Ross and cache a new visitor's logbook for signatures.
David Scott Cowper has completed five (5) official Northwest Passages (four solo and one with crew) passing through the Atlantic Arctic Circle and the Pacific Arctic Circles; in 1986 aboard M/V MABLE E. HOLLAND, in 2001, 2009, 2011 & 2012 aboard M/V POLAR BOUND.
Upon completing this 2013 Passage David Scott Cowper will have six Northwest Passages to his credit.
My hat goes off to you and Jane! A job well done!
GOD SPEED POLAR BOUND AND HER GOOD CAPTAIN AND CREW!
What a difference a year make - McClure Strait ice chart today on 20130829
1 comment:
Amazing accomplishments! Thank you for making this information available to us on your blog. Best wishes to Captain Cowper and Jane on their eastward 2013 Northwest Passage. I'm really looking forward to see where POLAR BOUND navigates in the next few weeks.
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