Page 71 - DreamScapes Magazine | Spring/Summer 2024
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Since Baffin Island hamlets like Pangnirtung and Pond Inlet were off-limits due to sea ice, we sailed far west to Resolute, Nunavut. But, at least we weren’t trapped like Franklin.
Zigzagging across Lancaster Sound,
there were wildlife and historical highlights aplenty. Hundreds of white belugas and long-tusked narwhals swam freely in turquoise-tinted Radstock Bay. Marauding polar bears and rough seas prevented our landing at Beechey Island, a National Historic Site where three Franklin crew members are buried.
Still, I enjoyed exploring Somerset Island’s Port Leopold. At this former Hudson Bay trading post, a carved rock commemorates Sir James Clark Ross’s 1849 visit in search of Franklin.
But when Ultramarine finally reached Iqaluit, Nunavut’s capital, we had travelled an epic 7,800 kilometres. I was happy to head home with incredible memories, having escaped Franklin’s dark fate. DS
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SPRING/SUMMER 2024 DREAMSCAPES 71
