I boarded the Louis in St. John’s while rubbing the sleep from my eyes in the golden glow of the morning. There is a smile on my face and a lump in my throat. I am destined for the Northwest Passage — a part of the Canadian Arctic that is remote, exotic and at the heart of so many environmental and political disputes.
I’m shown to my room, a small but clean, comfortable space below deck with a single bed, a sink and two narrow closets. I check for a seatbelt on the bed. A relative who sailed with the Canadian Navy advised me some Navy bunks have seat belts built-in as a safety precaution in rough seas. The Louis does not have this safety feature — although it has plenty of others.
The menu for the next couple of days makes my mouth water. Atlantic Cod with scrunchions, roast lamb, spicy sautéed scallops and cod tongues. Thankfully there is a gym on board, although I never use it.
Nobody sails for free. As media I’m paying $84.50 per night, meals included. It is a steal considering the $16,000-$20,000 commercial Arctic cruise companies charge.
Of the 60 people on board, more than 40 are Canadian Coast Guard staff from Newfoundland and the Maritimes. They are a colourful cast of characters. There is a Vietnam war vet and a former hog farmer. Many seaman are former fisherman who joined the coast guard when the cod fishery collapsed.
I’m convinced the bosun’s mate Dave Doherty of St. John’s has salt water in his veins. Doherty, 59, was eligible to retire four years ago. Yet “Double D” as he’s known dutifully stays, operating the ships cranes and carrying out a multitude of deck duties. Not even a recent case of tongue cancer could keep him at home for long.
“If I didn’t love my job I would not be here,” Doherty says. “I’ve seen seas most people will never see. Sixty foot swells with crosswinds. I had a ship ice up so bad it took 13 days to beat the ice off it. I’ve also had days that were beautiful, flat calm. You couldn’t ask for anything better. You just have to take the bad with the good and focus on the good.”
Halfway through the trip a number of scientific and business VIP’s join the ship. They include Blackberry CEO Jim Balsillie and Canadian Space Agency president Steve McLean. They have the expertise and the connections to improve how scientific data is collected in the Arctic: the type of data the onboard Ice Services specialist relies on. The men are joined by Dr. Brian Walker of the Resiliency Alliance, an international group of scientists looking at how communities and ecological systems respond to climate change. Walker is visibly moved by the one day of thick ice we encounter in Peel Sound — the heart of the Northwest Passage where British explorer John Franklin went missing.
“As you look over the edge of the icebreaker and you break through a metre and a half of ice and the bottom ice is multi-year ice, and it has a different color than the top part and the sun is shining on it. Then you see a polar bear jumping from one piece of ice to another. It is breathtaking,” Walker said.
We sail through calm waters with scattered ice for most of the trip. Second cook Cheryl Benger of Mount Pearl says it is not always smooth sailing.
“One trip coming in off the Grand Banks the wind was gusting 95 knots. While I was sleeping rocking chair came flying at me and woke me up. So that was a bit of a start, but you just get up, put the chair back in its place, you tip your mattress and snuggle down for the night,” Benger said.
Seaman Bill May says a couple of years ago it took three or four days to get through an area we sail through in just hours. “You’d hit the ice, have to back up, hit it again, back up. It was so bottled up with ice there would be no place for the ice to separate. Now it is a piece of cake,” May says.
A number of government scientists are collecting water samples, counting birds and studying plankton. Their presence is part of the Coast Guard’s longstanding tradition of allowing scientists around the world, including China, an opportunity to buy time on the ship.
Even at an estimated $70,000 a day and it is still cheaper than the cost to charter planes, helicopters and pay for hotel rooms in Resolute Bay, Nunavut (the most scientific-friendly community in the Arctic.)
I discover the Louis played a small role in the 1997 blockbuster move “Titanic.” The ship’s helicopter pad was used in a scene where old Rose arrives on the research ship at the beginning of the movie. Most of crew was on board in 2006 when CBC’s Peter Mansbridge hosted The National for an astonishing four days. I say astonishing given the technical and logistical demands a national news show demands.
The Louis’ chief electrician Phil Seaboyer remembers the first broadcast when the set lost power just minutes before going to air.
“There was panic,,” says Seaboyer who repaired the tripped circuit breaker with the same calm, cool demeanor he’s know for during his 30 years on the ship.
When we anchor is Kugluktuk, Nunavut, two weeks after leaving St. John’s the lump in my throat returns. The crew, however is thrilled at the prospect of six weeks off while a new crew takes over.
Captain Marc Rothwell understands why passengers like myself are less enthusiastic.
“We know we’re coming back but a lot of the people who are here just for this trip may get a little sad and sentimental. I think they’ve all enjoyed the trip and they’ve seen what the Coast Guard has to offer in the way of a good ship and crew and professionalism that goes through the whole coast Guard,” Rothwell said.
“We’ll be back in September for another six-week trip into the high Arctic and science work. That time of year will be a little more challenging because we’re getting into the winter There will be a lot of ice and we will be dealing with the dark.”
The Louis S. St. Laurent remains in the Arctic under the command of Capt. Andrew McNeill for August and part of September. Rothwell and his crew will bring the ship home to St. John’s in October. During the winter, the Louis joins the coast guard’s other icebreakers which keep the St. Lawrence’s shipping lanes ice-free.
