The Arctic Voyage of the Crystal Serenity
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- Published on Tuesday, 11 October 2016 14:30
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1313 .... October 11, 2016
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The Arctic Voyage of the Crystal Serenity
Celebrating the Beginning of the "End Times"?
J. F. Conway
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"Global warming presents a clear and present danger to civilization."
— Lonnie G. Thompson, expert on glacial melt, 2010.
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Capitalism's four-century obsession with finding a more profitable route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans is finally satisfied. The voyage of the Crystal Serenity through the Northwest Passage proclaimed the route open for routine, if still risky, commercial shipping. The ship left Vancouver on 10 August 2016, arriving in New York on 16 September. The Northwest Passage reduces the voyage by 7,000 kilometers and an average of 14 days, compared to the Panama Canal route. The Canal will eventually fall into relative disuse -- it... will become too costly and too difficult, if not impossible, to accommodate the new increasingly gigantic ships, and often involves queues of up to 10 days.
Of the many who died in the search for the Passage, some were motivated by avarice (huge cash prizes were offered for success), some by glory, and many by both. The most famous and tragic effort was the 1845 expedition of Sir John Franklin -- his two ships disappeared and 129 men died. The dream of fame and riches, which drove so many to this usually futile and often fatal quest, has been finally realized. Global warming projections estimate the passage will become an all-year route at the earliest by 2031, and at the latest by 2100. Though not the first successful passage of ocean-going vessels (there have been an estimated 60 just since 2012, including two modest passenger ships), the Crystal Serenity is the largest.