Exploration of the Arctic Region

Since the time in memorial, various parties have been in the pursuit of exploring the arctic. In fact, the sea exploration began long before Columbus’s discovery, but intensified soon after several voyages to the arctic in the consequent hundred years. However, by the eighth century a vast portion of the arctic remained unexplored. Voyages made being different explorers such as, Bering, Moor and Cook towards the Northern sea route kept the interest alive during the eighteenth century. Notably the exploration of the arctic became more earnest in the nineteenth century. Although the discovery of a passage route was the main motivation behind the exploration, other factors began to surface inevitably due to crushing forces of powers seeking to take control of the North Pole.

In the nineteenth century, great advances towards the arctic were with more ship expeditions being sent to the sea route passage, The Canadian Archipelago in particular. The expeditions were further hastened by the disappearance of Sir John Franklin. More than twenty-eight sledding parties were sent to the Canadian islands in pursuit of rescuing Sir John Franklin. Elisha Kent Kane was the key figure in these expeditions, but he made small advances strategically designed to counter the harshness of the polar region. He managed to penetrate only fifty mile towards the north passage before masses of dense ice forced him to halt his advances.

After suffering medical complications, Kent was succeeded by Hayes who remained optimistic of a breakthrough in making it through the passage route through the arctic. However, the onset of winter made severe complications to the food and fuel supplies. The parties suffered severe scurvy ailments, but Kent insisted on advances. However, the appearance of sunshine in 1885 resulted in general improvement of the team members. Kent resulted in use of force to make the team members advance further. Consequently, Hayes had to make further progress due to the fear Kent posed on him and other team players despite the disparities. However, the team managed to reach at Greenland settlements, where the locals welcomed them (Trevor, 2004).

Hayes had a great conviction and still made progress owing to his experiences and his believe of an open polar sea. He raised funds to facilitate his mission after his return from the Grinnell expedition. Unfortunately, most of his dogs that helped with sledging expeditions died of the extreme weather conditions. He sent for reinforcement form nearby Eskimos, but sonnatag did not make it back. Hayes was forced to change his direction to the dry land through Kane Basin and returned after a distance observation of a land mass veered off, which left only the ocean that he assumed would be cleared office.