Gjøa Gjøa Gone

The only Innuit settlement on King William Island, was reached by Roald Amunsden in 1903. He named the settlement Gjøa Haven after his ship, the Gjøa. Amunsden’s expedition to discover the passage was put on hold for two years when ice locked the ship into this natural harbour and today this outpost of 1500 is another community which would be on the brink of collapse if not for government intervention. Coincidently and fortunately for Gjøa Haven, the discovery of the Franklin Expedition sunken ships the Erebus and the Terror in 2014 and 2016 respectively, were located about 12 miles from here so naturally a museum celebrating that discovery is in a local heritage building. And of course, the magnetic force of the discovery draws the curious as well as the historians. Unfortunately, the discovery site is off limits to mortals such as us. Parks Canada is the custodian and heads up the protection and research of the site. As well, there is a large bust of Amunsden displayed at another centre. It is a beautiful sunny day with no wind and the children are playing carelessly outside as the locals take advantage of going for a walk. I brought along Canada pins and offer them up to the kids on our walkabouts and they are always enthusiastic to receive them. We take advantage of the balmy weather do some beach scavenging on our walkabout and take pictures of some of the local birdlife. Today we head north towards Prince of Wales Island. It is considerably colder and last night around 05:00 I was awoken by a large bump and some shake and bake by the ship. Looking out the window it was apparent that we were locked in by the ice. Some manoeuvring by the ship’s captain and ice pilot allowed us to be set free, and on our way again. The weather is dull and the ice flows by. We are told later that in the event of a problem it would be at least five days before anyone could come to our rescue. Free of ice and calm waters once again, we resume our journey, as we have an appointment with a grave site tomorrow.