WI: Earlier Discovery of the North-West Passage

[JonasResende]

Sir John Franklin attempted to find a route around the north of Canada back in the late 1840s. His two ships, the Erebus and the Terror froze fast in the ice and finally were abandoned, however, there were no survivors, although his widow, Lady Jane Franklin, continued to sponsor voyages in the hope of finding out what had happened to her late husband.

Franklin was not the first, in Nelson's day, Nelson himself had served aboard one of two ships, the Racehorse and the Carcass tasked with finding the elusive northern route to the Pacific. What would the results be of an earlier discovery of the North-West Passage? And is a date before the 19th century plausible?

 

[Happers]

Well Vikings already knew about the North-West passage as we have recently discovered.

If the Vikings we more open with the Christian world we could have learned about the New World a lot sooner, and in your questions case discovered the North West passage at a much earlier date then in our own history.

 

[Escape Zeppelin]

I don't think there would be much impact as the passage isn't useful for shipping of any kind, especially in wooden ships. By the 1790's it was clear that any Passage would exit north of the Bering Strait and discovery became more a point of pride than any quest for a useful route. I think a earlier discovery is possible with a very well prepared expedition with a great deal of luck or a concerted government effort to map it. 1780s-90s is probably the absolute earliest.

 

[telynk]

The northwest passage can only really be reliably traversed once icebreakers come around. UntIl then you have to get really lucky and make it through in the short times when the passage is ice-free. Even today, the northwest passahe is only becoming important because climate change us increasing the number of ice free days.

The only lasting impact of an earlier discovery that I can think of is an ealien contact between the inuit of the western North American arctic and whoever it is doing the exploring. Maybe an earlier introduction of kayaks to the non-Arctic world, or the introduction if interesting ideas into inuit culture??

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Well Vikings already knew about the North-West passage as we have recently discovered.

If the Vikings we more open with the Christian world we could have learned about the New World a lot sooner, and in your questions case discovered the North West passage at a much earlier date then in our own history.

Say WHAT!?!?!?

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

The northwest passage can only really be reliably traversed once icebreakers come around. UntIl then you have to get really lucky and make it through in the short times when the passage is ice-free. Even today, the northwest passahe is only becoming important because climate change us increasing the number of ice free days.

The only lasting impact of an earlier discovery that I can think of is an ealien contact between the inuit of the western North American arctic and whoever it is doing the exploring. Maybe an earlier introduction of kayaks to the non-Arctic world, or the introduction if interesting ideas into inuit culture??

Note that most of the pre-icebreaker passages required up to 3 years - stuck in the ice part way through for 1 or 2 winters.

So, no, an earlier discovery isn't going to be more than a footnote in the history books.

Heck, even today, WITH icebreakers, we don't have any significant traffic.

 

[Happers]

Say WHAT!?!?!?

Yeah we've found peices of Viking longboats in the North West Passage.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Yeah we've found peices of Viking longboats in the North West Passage.

1) cite, please
2) there has been some (mildly disputed) evidence of Norse (not Viking, by the way, that's a job description not an ethnicity) artifacts on Ellesmere Island (and/or Baffin Island). But those are the very, very eastern end of any Northwest passage.
3) to prove they'd actually gone through the NWP, you'd need evidence from probably Alaska, and I'm sure there's no reputable evidence for that.
4) I'm not aware of any boat remains anywhere in the arctic archipelago.