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the top of every unfurled Mercator map in our two of 31 expedition guides onboard who gave Passengers stand
childhood classrooms? We were there. Greenland! formal talks, but were also happy to hang out on the bow of the
Silver Cloud as it
The Arctic! We were heading to the far north, and, over meals and share their stories.
sails through the
in my opinion, almost nothing is more exciting. Discussion of humans in the Arctic too icy water near
One of the defining differences between the frequently centers around the exploits of 18th- Qaanaaq.
far north of our planet and the far south is the and 19th-century European explorers—tales of
presence of humans. Other than the transient bravery and discovery, but also often of hardship
residents of Antarctica’s scientific stations, no and death. The famously doomed Franklin
group of people has ever colonized the frozen Expedition, for example, set out from England
far southern latitudes, but the Inuit and their in 1845 in search of the last portion of the
predecessors have lived in Arctic parts of Canada Northwest Passage. Its two ships were lost and
and Greenland for thousands of years. “They all 129 men eventually succumbed to illness and
are the most adaptable people on earth,” said exposure as, somewhere nearby, the local Inuit
Canadian archaeologist Jane Thompson in a carried on with their lives. An extravagant
lecture. “They’ve lived in this extremely harsh succession of expeditions were sent to look for
place for a heck of a long time without the remains and had limited success. In 2014 and
damaging their environment, which is more 2016, both ships were finally found, thanks to
than any of us can say.” Thompson and her melting ice—pretty much exactly where Inuit oral
husband, Callum, also an archaeologist, were tradition, long ignored, had said they would be.
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