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Later expeditions

The first traversal of the Northwest Passage via dog sled was accomplished by Greenlander Knud Rasmussen while on the Fifth Thule Expedition (1921–1924). Rasmussen and two Greenland Inuit travelled from the Atlantic to the Pacific over the course of 16 months via dog sled.

Canadian Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer Henry Larsen was the second to sail the passage, crossing west to east, leaving Vancouver on June 23, 1940, and arriving at Halifax on October 11, 1942. More than once on this trip, he was uncertain whether St. Roch, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police "ice-fortified" schooner, would survive the pressures of the sea ice. At one point, Larsen wondered "if we had come this far only to be crushed like a nut on a shoal and then buried by the ice." The ship and all but one of her crew survived the winter on Boothia Peninsula. Each of the men on the trip was awarded a medal by Canada's sovereign, King George VI, in recognition of this feat of Arctic navigation.

Later in 1944, Larsen's return trip was far more swift than his first. He made the trip in 86 days to sail back from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Vancouver, British Columbia. He set a record for traversing the route in a single season. The ship, after extensive upgrades, followed a more northerly, partially uncharted route.

In 1954, HMCS Labrador completed the east-to-west transit, under the command of Captain O.C.S. Robertson, conducting hydrographic soundings along the route. She was the first warship (and the first deep draft ship) to transit the Northwest Passage and the first warship to circumnavigate North America. In 1956, HMCS Labrador again completed the east-to-west transit, this time under the command of Captain T.C. Pullen.

On July 1, 1957, the United States Coast Guard Cutter Storis departed in company with USCGC Bramble and USCGC Spar to search for a deep-draft channel through the Arctic Ocean and to collect hydrographic information. The US Coast Guard Squadron was escorted through Bellot Strait and the Eastern Arctic by HMCS Labrador. Upon her return to Greenland waters, Storis became the first U.S.-registered vessel to circumnavigate North America. Shortly after her return in late 1957, she was reassigned to her new home port of Kodiak, Alaska.

In 1960, USS Seadragon completed the first submarine transit of the Northwest Passage, heading east-to-west.

In 1969, SS Manhattan made the passage, accompanied by the Canadian icebreakers CCGS John A. Macdonald and CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent. The U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers Northwind and Staten Island also sailed in support of the expedition.

Manhattan was a specially reinforced supertanker sent to test the viability of the passage for the transport of oil. While Manhattan succeeded, the route was deemed not to be cost-effective. The United States built the Alaska Pipeline instead.

In June 1977, sailor Willy de Roos left Belgium to attempt the Northwest Passage in his 13.8 m (45 ft) steel yacht Williwaw. He reached the Bering Strait in September and after a stopover in Victoria, British Columbia, went on to round Cape Horn and sail back to Belgium, thus being the first sailor to circumnavigate the Americas entirely by ship.

In 1981 as part of the Transglobe Expedition, Ranulph Fiennes and Charles R. Burton completed the Northwest Passage. They left Tuktoyaktuk on July 26, 1981, in the 18-foot (5.5 m) open Boston Whaler and reached Tanquary Fiord on August 31, 1981. Their journey was the first open-boat transit from west to east and covered around 3,000 miles (4,800 km; 2,600 nmi), taking a route through Dolphin and Union Strait following the south coast of Victoria and King William islands, north to Resolute Bay via Franklin Strait and Peel Sound, around the south and east coasts of Devon Island, through Hell Gate and across Norwegian Bay to Eureka, Greely Bay and the head of Tanquary Fiord. Once they reached Tanquary Fiord, they had to trek 150 miles (240 km) via Lake Hazen to Alert before setting up their winter base camp.

In 1984, the commercial passenger vessel MV Explorer (which sank in the Antarctic Ocean in 2007) became the first cruise ship to navigate the Northwest Passage.

In July 1986, Jeff MacInnis and Mike Beedell set out on an 18-foot (5.5 m) catamaran called Perception on a 100-day sail, west to east, through the Northwest Passage. This pair was the first to sail the passage, although they had the benefit of doing so over a couple of summers.

In July 1986, David Scott Cowper set out from England in a 12.8-metre (42 ft) lifeboat named Mabel El Holland, and survived three Arctic winters in the Northwest Passage before reaching the Bering Strait in August 1989. He continued around the world via the Cape of Good Hope to return to England on September 24, 1990. His was the first vessel to circumnavigate the world via the Northwest Passage.

On July 1, 2000, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police patrol vessel Nadon, having assumed the name St Roch II, departed Vancouver on a "Voyage of Rediscovery." Nadon ' s mission was to circumnavigate North America via the Northwest Passage and the Panama Canal, recreating the epic voyage of her predecessor, St. Roch. The 22,000-mile (35,000 km) Voyage of Rediscovery was intended to raise awareness concerning St. Roch and kick off the fund-raising efforts necessary to ensure the continued preservation of St. Roch. The voyage was organized by the Vancouver Maritime Museum and supported by a variety of corporate sponsors and agencies of the Canadian government. Nadon is an aluminum, catamaran-hulled, high-speed patrol vessel. To make the voyage possible, she was escorted and supported by the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Simon Fraser. The Coast Guard vessel was chartered by the Voyage of Rediscovery and crewed by volunteers. Throughout the voyage, she provided a variety of necessary services, including provisions and spares, fuel and water, helicopter facilities, and ice escort; she also conducted oceanographic research during the voyage. The Voyage of Rediscovery was completed in five and a half months, with Nadon reaching Vancouver on December 16, 2000.

On September 1, 2001, Northabout, an 14.3-metre (47 ft) aluminium sailboat with diesel engine, built and captained by Jarlath Cunnane, completed the Northwest Passage east-to-west from Ireland to the Bering Strait. The voyage from the Atlantic to the Pacific was completed in 24 days. Cunnane cruised in Northabout in Canada for two years before returning to Ireland in 2005 via the Northeast Passage; he completed the first east-to-west circumnavigation of the pole by a single sailboat. The Northeast Passage return along the coast of Russia was slower, starting in 2004, requiring an ice stop and winter over in Khatanga, Siberia. He returned to Ireland via the Norwegian coast in October 2005. On January 18, 2006, the Cruising Club of America awarded Jarlath Cunnane their Blue Water Medal, an award for "meritorious seamanship and adventure upon the sea displayed by amateur sailors of all nationalities."

On July 18, 2003, a father-and-son team, Richard and Andrew Wood, with Zoe Birchenough, sailed the yacht Norwegian Blue into the Bering Strait. Two months later she sailed into the Davis Strait to become the first British yacht to transit the Northwest Passage from west to east. She also became the only British vessel to complete the Northwest Passage in one season, as well as the only British sailing yacht to return from there to British waters.

In 2006, a scheduled cruise liner (MS Bremen) successfully ran the Northwest Passage, helped by satellite images telling the location of sea ice.

On May 19, 2007, a French sailor, Sébastien Roubinet, and one other crew member left Anchorage, Alaska, in Babouche, a 7.5-metre (25 ft) ice catamaran designed to sail on water and slide over ice. The goal was to navigate west to east through the Northwest Passage by sail only. Following a journey of more than 7,200 km (4,474 mi), Roubinet reached Greenland on September 9, 2007, thereby completing the first Northwest Passage voyage made in one season without engine.

In April 2009, planetary scientist Pascal Lee and a team of four on the Northwest Passage Drive Expedition drove the HMP Okarian Humvee rover a record-setting 496 km (308 mi) on sea-ice from Kugluktuk to Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, the longest distance driven on sea-ice in a road vehicle. The HMP Okarian was being ferried from the North American mainland to the Haughton–Mars Project (HMP) Research Station on Devon Island, where it would be used as a simulator of future pressurized rovers for astronauts on the Moon and Mars. The HMP Okarian was eventually flown from Cambridge Bay to Resolute Bay in May 2009, and then driven again on sea-ice by Lee and a team of five from Resolute to the West coast of Devon Island in May 2010. The HMP Okarian reached the HMP Research Station in July 2011. The Northwest Passage Drive Expedition is captured in the motion picture documentary film Passage To Mars (2016).

In 2009, sea ice conditions were such that at least nine small vessels and two cruise ships completed the transit of the Northwest Passage. These trips included one by Eric Forsyth on board the 42-foot (13 m) Westsail sailboat Fiona, a boat he built in the 1980s. Self-financed, Forsyth, a retired engineer from the Brookhaven National Laboratory, and winner of the Cruising Club of America's Blue Water Medal, sailed the Canadian Archipelago with sailor Joey Waits, airline captain Russ Roberts and carpenter David Wilson. After successfully sailing the Passage, the 77-year-old Forsyth completed the circumnavigation of North America, returning to his home port on Long Island, New York.

Cameron Dueck and his crew aboard the 40-foot (12 m) sailing yacht Silent Sound also transited in the summer of 2009. Their voyage began in Victoria, BC, on June 6, and they arrived in Halifax on October 10. Dueck wrote a book about the voyage called The New Northwest Passage.

In August–September 2010, Graeme Kendall (New Zealand) sailed the 41-foot (12 m) Astral Express through the Northwest Passage. He was the first person to sail solo non-stop through the passage. He began in Lancaster Sound on August 27 and ended 12 days later at Point Barrow, Alaska, on September 9. The trip covered 2,300 nautical miles (4,300 km). It was part of a circumnavigation that started and ended in New Zealand.

On September 9, 2010, Bear Grylls and a team of five completed a point-to-point navigation between Pond Inlet and Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories on a rigid inflatable boat (RIB). The expedition drew attention to how the effects of global warming made this journey possible and raised funds for the Global Angels charity.

On August 30, 2012 Sailing yacht Billy Budd, 110 feet (34 m), an English SY, successfully completed the Northwest Passage in Nome, Alaska, while sailing a northern route never sailed by a sailing pleasure vessel before. After six cruising seasons in the Arctic (Greenland, Baffin Bay, Devon Island, Kane Basin, Lancaster Sound, Peel Sound, Regent Sound) and four seasons in the South (Antarctic Peninsula, Patagonia, Falkland Islands, South Georgia), SY Billy Budd, owned by and under the command of an Italian sporting enthusiast, Mariacristina Rapisardi. Crewed by Marco Bonzanigo, five Italian friends, one Australian, one Dutch, one South African, and one New Zealander, it sailed through the Northwest Passage. The northernmost route was chosen. Billy Budd sailed through the Parry Channel, Viscount Melville Sound and Prince of Wales Strait, a channel 160 nautical miles (300 km; 180 mi) long and 15 nautical miles (28 km; 17 mi) wide which flows south into the Amundsen Gulf. During the passage Billy Budd – likely a first for a pleasure vessel – anchored in Winter Harbour in Melville Island, the very same site where almost 200 years ago Sir William Parry was blocked by ice and forced to winter.

On August 29, 2012, the Swedish yacht Belzebub II, a 31-foot (9.4 m) fibreglass cutter captained by Canadian Nicolas Peissel, Swede Edvin Buregren and Morgan Peissel, became the first sailboat in history to sail through McClure Strait, part of a journey of achieving the most northerly Northwest Passage. Belzebub II departed Newfoundland following the coast of Greenland to Qaanaaq before tracking the sea ice to Grise Fiord, Canada's most northern community. From there the team continued through Parry Channel into McClure Strait and the Beaufort Sea, tracking the highest latitudes of 2012's record sea ice depletion before completing their Northwest Passage September 14, 2012. The expedition received extensive media coverage, including recognition by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. The accomplishment is recorded in the Polar Scott Institute's record of Northwest Passage Transits and recognized by the Explorers Club and the Royal Canadian Geographic Society.

At 18:45 GMT on September 18, 2012, Best Explorer, a steel cutter 15.17 metres (49.8 ft), skipper Nanni Acquarone, passing between the two Diomedes, was the first Italian sailboat to complete the Northwest Passage along the classical Amundsen route. Twenty-two Italian amateur sailors took part of the trip, in eight legs from Tromsø, Norway, to King Cove, Alaska, totalling 8,200 nautical miles (15,200 km; 9,400 mi). Later in 2019 Best Explorer skippered again by Nanni Acquarone became the first Italian sailboat to circumnavigate the Arctic sailing north of Siberia from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Tromsø and the second ever to do it clockwise.

Setting sail from Nome, Alaska, on August 18, 2012, and reaching Nuuk, Greenland, on September 12, 2012, The World became the largest passenger vessel to transit the Northwest Passage. The ship, carrying 481 passengers, for 26 days and 4,800 nmi (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at sea, followed in the path of Captain Roald Amundsen. The World ' s transit of the Northwest Passage was documented by National Geographic photographer Raul Touzon.

In September 2013, MS Nordic Orion became the first commercial bulk carrier to transit the Northwest Passage. She was carrying a cargo of 73,500 short tons (66,700 t) of coking coal from Port Metro Vancouver, Canada, to the Finnish Port of Pori, 15,000 short tons (14,000 t) more than would have been possible via the traditional Panama Canal route. The Northwest Passage shortened the distance by 1,000 nautical miles (1,900 km; 1,200 mi) compared to traditional route via the Panama Canal.

In August and September 2016 a cruise ship was sailed through the Northwest Passage. The ship Crystal Serenity, (with 1,000 passengers, and 600 crew) left Seward, Alaska, used Amundsen's route and reached New York on September 17. Tickets for the 32-day trip started at $22,000 and were quickly sold out. The trip was repeated in 2017. In 2017 33 vessels made a complete transit, breaking the prior record of 20 in 2012.

In September 2018, sailing yacht Infinity (a 36.6 m ketch) and her 22-person crew successfully sailed through the Northwest Passage. This was part of their mission to plant the flag of Earth on the remaining Arctic ice. Supported by the EarthToday initiative, this voyage was a symbol for future global collaboration against climate change. The flag of Planet Earth was planted on September 21, 2018, the International Day of Peace.

From July to October 2023, the Arctic Cowboys, became the first people to kayak the central portion of the Northwest Passage from Pond Inlet to Cape Bathurst, marking them as the first to navigate the Canadian Archipelago completely self-propelled, meaning no motors or sails were used. Additionally, the team completed the 2,600 km (1,600 mi) expedition in a single season. The expedition was led and organised by West Hansen, along with Jeff Wueste, Mark Agnew, and Eileen Visser. The four travelled in two tandem kayaks.

Agnew was awarded European Adventurer of the Year as a result.

All four were arrested by Parks Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Cambridge Bay, on August 25, 2023 and charged with violations of the Migratory Birds Convention Act and the Canada National Parks Act. They were due to appear in court on January 8, 2024. Charges included "... possessing a firearm in a park, disturbing wildlife in a park, unlawfully entering a park without registering, unlawfully entering a restricted area in a park, camping on public land in a park, and possession of a firearm in a migratory bird sanctuary." However, on May 6, 2024, 39 of the 45 charges were dropped, it is unclear at this time the disposition of the remaining 6 charges.A Freedom of Information request has been submitted to determine the final disposition of charges. the Crown.