Victoria Strait

Geographical location

The Victoria Strait is a strait in the territory of Nunavut in northern Canada. It lies off the mainland in the Arctic Ocean and runs between Victoria Iceland in the west and King William Iceland in the east, both of which belong to the Canadian Arctic Archipelago -. The strait connects the located in the north Larsen Sound with the Queen Maud Gulf south.

The strait is about 140 km long and has a width of 70 to 100 km along. There is almost no islands within the Victoria Strait. In the West, Albert Edward Bay, a bay of Victoria Iceland opens. Prior to the Admiralty Iceland is located. At the southern exit of the Strait are the Royal Geographical Society Islands.

The strait has several shallow areas with water depths of 10 m. She is heavily iced most of the time in the year. The ice floes reach the Victoria Strait from the north via the McClintock Channel and Viscount Melville Sound. The end of July breaks the ice sheet in the strait. The end of September the Victoria Strait to ice up again.

At the entrance of the Victoria Strait, the point at which the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus were included during the Franklin expedition in 1848 of ice and is eventually abandoned.

Because of the dangers for a drive-through, a longer route around the King William around Iceland was preferred. This route is easier, although it is still shallow.

1967 went through for the first time an icebreaker, the John A. Macdonald, the Victoria Strait. 1975 repeated the icebreaker the passage. 1976 was followed by the icebreaker CCGS Louis S. St- Laurent and CCGS JE Bernier.