‘You’re at the mercy of the ice’: Polar adventurers return to Wick after Northwest Passage challenge
Polar adventurers David Scott Cowper and Susannah Broome were happy to be back in Wick after an arduous voyage in which they found themselves stuck in ice in the Arctic before enduring an Atlantic crossing that was “just hell”.
They completed their journey through the hazardous Northwest Passage in the 48ft motorboat Polar Bound in two stages, after an enforced winter break.
It means that David (83), a round-the-world yachtsman who is receiving treatment for cancer, has now completed all seven routes along the sea lane between the Atlantic and Pacific through the Arctic Ocean.
He was the first man to sail solo around the world in both directions.
When asked about his motivation for tackling such demanding challenges, David replied: “If one did nothing, it would be a boring world.”
Susannah (68) is an experienced sailor in her own right and this was her second Northwest Passage route. They were in the Arctic for about three months each time and Susannah described the conditions as “gale after gale”, adding: “It was absolutely exhausting.”
The pair, both from Newcastle, set out from north-east England in July 2024 on a journey of some 20,000 miles. On the way north they spent a week in Wick as David needed medical attention at Caithness General Hospital, having sustained a shin injury when tripping over the boat’s anchor.
They returned to Wick on Thursday and were planning to visit the hospital to thank the staff.
“We’re very grateful to the hospital, and the dispensing chemist was very helpful as well,” Susannah said. “We’re so happy to be here.”
David said: “We want to go and thank the hospital because the doctor there said if they hadn’t treated it sepsis was rampant.
“The instantly put me on an intravenous drip. If I’d been out in the Atlantic, it doesn’t take long for sepsis to kill you.”
Recalling their experiences after reaching the Arctic Circle, David said: “We got as far as Point Barrow in Alaska and then we had bad fuel in the main tanks and the engine just stopped, so we had to come back to Tuktoyaktuk and leave the boat there.”
Tuktoyaktuk is at the top of the Mackenzie River in Canada’s Northwest Territories.
“The boat then was subjected to minus 50 degrees during the winter. We had to immobilise a lot of equipment so it didn’t freeze and become damaged.”
Susannah pointed out: “All our fresh water we’d brought from Newcastle had to be drained out because of course when water freezes it expands, so it would break every pipe. It’s a really serious thing.
“David has been doing this for 40 years and he wanted to go through the Prince of Wales Strait. That was the ambition, because there are seven routes through the Northwest Passage.
“The seventh one was to go through the Prince of Wales Strait, which we achieved last year, but we didn’t achieve the complete Northwest Passage because we didn’t go through the Arctic Circle in the North Pacific. It’s not counted until you’ve done that.
“You don’t have to do the passage in a year. You can take many years – it depends on the ice and the snow and what’s around. So we had to winter the boat in Tuktoyaktuk.
“Then we flew back this year to Tuktoyaktuk, recommissioned the boat, got it working again, and we then went through the Arctic Circle to complete that passage this year.”
David explained: “We had a lot of ice. We spent a total of nearly 12 days in the ice, just stopped.
“It’s a very strong boat. It survives – it’s the people inside the boat that might not survive so well.”
Susannah admitted: “Last year we were frightened for our safety.
“In one of the big sounds, Lancaster Sound, the ice came down and just caught us and it immobilised us. There’s nothing you can do. You turn off your engine, you can’t do anything, you’re at the mercy of the ice.
“We got caught in that ice and there was a hell of a gale blowing, which is not traditionally what the Arctic is known for.
“We were being pushed in the ice, involuntarily, at three knots. We could see we were being dragged by this ice at three knots straight toward a rocky island.
“And however strong your boat is, if you’re going to be scraped between ice and rocks, that is not a happy place to be.”
She pointed out: “This is the best boat in the ice – David has designed it specifically for the ice.”
David and Susannah returned to the Wick marina on Thursday on their way back to Newcastle. “The challenge is over, so we’re going slowly,” Susannah said.
“David has achieved all the routes now, over 40 years. If you hear of people doing a Northwest Passage they’re usually the same ‘easier’ route.
“We’re exhausted. It was just hell coming across the Atlantic, it was so bouncy.”
David added: “You’ve got to be careful because if you lose your grip in the boat, and you get thrown, you can smash yourself to pieces.”
David and Susannah are raising awareness for a Newcastle-based charity called Daft as a Brush Cancer Patient Care, which provides free transport to and from hospital for cancer patients. The charity’s logo is emblazoned on the bow of Polar Bound.
Charity founder Brian Burnie (81) travelled to Wick last July to support the pair.
Their journey was originally scheduled for 2023 but David’s cancer diagnosis meant it was put on hold. It was during treatment at Newcastle Freeman Hospital that David became familiar with the service provided by Daft as a Brush Cancer Patient Care.
Polar Bound was built in Scotland 25 years ago and is specially equipped for Arctic and Antarctic regions.