Northwest Passage Timeline of Events

Home / Timelines / Northwest Passage

Northwest Passage

The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...

Timeline of Events

1585

8.8.1585

John Davis enters Cumberland Sound in search of the Northwest Passage.

1610

8.2.1610

Henry Hudson sails into what it is now known as Hudson Bay thinking he had made it through the Northwest Passage and reached the Pacific Ocean.

1794

8.8.1794

Joseph Whidbey and George Vancouver lead an expedition to search for the Northwest Passage near Juneau, Alaska.

1845

5.20.1845

HMS Erebus and HMS Terror with 134 men under John Franklin sail from the River Thames in Britain, beginning a disastrous expedition to find the Northwest Passage. All hands are lost.

1903

6.16.1903

Roald Amundsen commences the first east-west navigation of the Northwest Passage by leaving Oslo, Norway.

1940

6.21.1940

The first successful west-to-east navigation of Northwest Passage begins at Vancouver, British Columbia.