Waiting at Booth Point

It’s 1am, early Tuesday morning, when we glide onto the isthmus of Booth Point, a narrow spit at the southeast tip of King William Island, with a tiny islet at its end. Bones from the Franklin crew were found there. Todd Island is visible from here too. There were bones found there as well. Was this a jumping-off point for crew members heading to the mainland? Why were bodies found here specifically? We can only surmise.

We pitch camp on the strip of sand. Locals tell us it’s only in recent years that this was land at all. Thirty years ago, there was no bridge here to the island.

The reason: King William Island is still rising. Isostatic rebound has been lifting it out of the sea ever since the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated roughly 8,800 years ago, leaving raised beach ridges, marine sediments, and isthmuses like this one behind. The land is quite literally still forming.

This isthmus is also giving us excellent shelter from a relentless east wind, so we’re camped here for three days.

My younger self would’ve hated this. Always needing to move to prove progress. But this trip is different. We’re here to sit inside the Franklin story, in a landscape that showed his crew zero mercy while it has sustained the people who’ve lived here all along.

The faster you move, the less you see. We may not circle the whole island if these winds hold and we’re completely at peace with that. We’ve got a month out here. Who knows what we’ll find!