Saturday Speaker Series — The Northwest Passage–The Challenge, the Suffering, the Discovery

This was the quest: to find a short route to Asia. Magellan's discovery of the passage from the Atlantic to Pacific was monumental, but not practical. So thousands of men in hundreds of ships attempted to find a northern route. This presentation brings life to the history of valiant sailors who attempted and eventually succeeded in finding a way through the ice. It concludes with modern explorers finding new ways to complete the passage and an explanation of the fast-changing nature of the Arctic environment. The Pacific Northwest became a focal point for searching for a warm water entrance from the Pacific side. Cook, Vancouver and others mapped the coast and explored the openings to no avail. Failure to find the opening accelerated the efforts through the Arctic from the Atlantic side.

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Ed Sobey is an oceanographer, author, and former museum director and naval officer.  He…