Dutch explorers courted disaster in efforts to find a Northwest Passage
Early expeditions into the Earth’s polar regions were never so successful as when they failed.
Sir John Franklin’s journey in search of a Northwest Passage to the Pacific in 1845 ended disturbingly; his ships were crushed by ice and the entire party of more than 100 men perished. His calamity drew public attention. Likewise, the nearly two-year-long ordeal of Ernest Shackleton and his crew, who were trapped in ice floes and stranded during an attempt to
