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MARITIME FIRST FOR FRENCH FLAG:
COMPAGNIE DU PONANT CROSSES LEGENDARY NORTHWEST PASSAGE
MARSEILLE - (September 18, 2013) - Leading French cruise line and 5-star Expedition specialist COMPAGNIE DU PONANT has just completed a first in the French maritime world with a crossing of the Northwest Passage from Greenland to Siberia on LE SOLÉAL, a luxury yacht flying the French flag, specifically designed to navigate in extreme regions.
A FIRST UNDER THE FRENCH FLAG
Having left Kangerlussuaq in Greenland on the 26th of August, LE SOLÉAL arrived in Anadyr in Russia on the 16th of September, having successfully traversed the North Pole to become the first French commercial ship to take this mythical shipping route linking the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean via Arctic islands in North Canada; a legendary passage that has inspired generations of navigators since the 15th century.
The ship followed the historic route taken by Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer who in 1906 was the first to open the passage at the end of three years of exploration.
More than a century later, Captain Etienne Garcia, who has spent years navigating in polar waters, led this voyage in the footsteps of Amundsen, without assistance, through narrow channels of land and moving ice in what is still a little known region.
For the 215 passengers on LE SOLÉAL – Soléal meaning ‘one who leads the way’ – the latest generation of ship specifically designed for polar cruises, it was an unforgettable and moving experience with many exceptional encounters along the way.
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