I think it was Columbus who said, “There must be a quicker way.”, or something to that effect. He realized that there had to be a short-cut through a rather large land mass that separates the Pacific from the Atlantic ocean. He was off by a few miles and never found it. Various other expeditions took the odd stab at finding the elusive route which would cut through the artic circle, saving shipping thousands of miles by not having to transit the yet to have been built Panama canal. Following the end of the war with Napoleon, England found herself with an excess of ships and sailors; a perfect combo to go and try to find the elusive passage in earnest. She sent off various efforts who, after only getting a toe or two wet in the Arctic waters, returned home saying it couldn’t be done. It wasn’t until the Franklin Expedition of 1845 did she that a first full court press was mounted. Two ships which had already proven themselves in the Antarctic, and 129 men set out from England with enough food for three years which could be stretched into 5. Neither ship nor sailor was ever head from again. Over the years over expedition went in search of now not only The Passage, but the missing Franklin Expedition. All met with varying degrees of success, but not so much that, 150 years later, three out of five grown and well educated men knew what or where The Passage is.

by Sprague
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