PONANT’S Le Commandant Charcot luxury icebreaker has become the first French cruise ship to cross the notorious McClure Strait on the eastern end of the Beaufort Sea in Canada’s Northwest Territories. The Strait is renowned for difficult ice conditions similar to those of the Northwest Passage, which Charcot also successfully...
PONANT’S Le Commandant Charcot luxury icebreaker has become the first French cruise ship to cross the notorious McClure Strait on the eastern end of the Beaufort Sea in Canada’s Northwest Territories.
The Strait is renowned for difficult ice conditions similar to those of the Northwest Passage, which Charcot also successfully traversed.
Captain Etienne Garcia said, “we crossed the Northwest Passage in difficult conditions…thick ice regularly makes the McClure Strait impassable, and weather conditions are always difficult to predict in this region.”
“Le Commandant Charcot is designed for this kind of challenge, which for me as a sailor are highlights never to be forgotten…it’s another milestone for the list of records of Le Commandant Charcot,” he said.
Other key achievements include taking guests to the Geographic North Pole for the first time last Jul, as well as reaching the southernmost navigable latitude in Antarctica’s Ross Sea in Feb.
