The Bellot Strait is a narrow, treacherous waterway in the Canadian Arctic territory of Nunavut. At approximately 25 kilometers (16 miles) long and only 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) wide at its narrowest point, it separates Somerset Island to the north from the Boothia Peninsula to the south. This location also marks the northernmost point of the North American mainland.
On our 2023 trip to Svalbard, we stood on the northernmost point in Europe at Nordkapp. Here we are on the northernmost point of continental North America, less than 100 km further north.
The strait was discovered in 1852 by a British expedition searching for the lost Franklin expedition. Led by Captain William Kennedy and his second-in-command, French naval officer Joseph René Bellot, the party reached the strait by dogsled from Batty Bay. Kennedy named the passage after Bellot, who would die in the Arctic just a year later. Despite its discovery, the strait proved to be a formidable navigational challenge. The passage is notorious for its strong, unpredictable currents that can reach up to 8 knots, as well as being frequently choked with dangerous small icebergs. These hazards thwarted early attempts to sail through it, including a notable effort by explorer Francis Leopold McClintock in 1858. It wasn't until 1937 that the Hudson's Bay Company ship Aklavik made the first recorded crossing from west to east. Today, the Bellot Strait remains a key, if perilous, section of the Northwest Passage, a testament to the extreme challenges of Arctic navigation.
