Northwest passage ships found...Canada.

An ancestor of mine was trapped in ice off Baffin island , he was a crew member aboard the whaling ship the Alert out of Peterhead, they were discovered the following year by another whaler, having spent around nine months trapped in the ice

The surviving crew were in very poor condition and unable to man the ship , however with a scratch crew from the ship that found them and some help they managed to get from another ship they sailed the Alert home.

The survivors told tales of great hardship of how when rations ran out they ate their boots and any articles of leather that were on the ship, there was suspicion that worse things may have been eaten.

Ten crew members survived and ten perished unfortunately my relative was one of the ones who perished.

He died on the 3rd of June 1861 aged eighteen years , he was buried in a barrel, as were the other crew members
at the Cumberland Straits
 
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Life aboard ships was always hard but to be stuck for all that time in an ice flow freezing. I can't imagine how hard it would have been.
the book I read was Nathaniels nutmeg. And whilst it wasn't specifically about the north west passage it did go into the reasons as to why they were so keen to find it and the various ill fated expeditions and it was a most excellent read as well.
Nathaniels Nutmeg - Giles Milton - Google Books
 
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