THE HAND OF FRANKLIN
SCENE ONE
SUPER ‘Ah for Just one time I would take the Northwest Passage to find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea’ - Stan Rogers CU Rowing seat sliding back and forth over railing.
WS High view of Northwest Passage with blade of grass in foreground.
NARRATOR (V/O)
The Northwest Passage. Locked in ice for centuries it has eluded man's historic attempts to forge a trade route through its waters.
Archival paintings of boats wooden ships trapped in ice. CU Archival painting of Sir John Franklin.
NARRATOR (V/O)
Most famously Sir John Franklin and all 128 of his men perished during an expedition that launched in 1845 never to be heard from again. No sign of that expedition was found until one of the ships, the Erebus was finallydiscovered in 2014.
Underwater shot of diver by wreck of Erebus.
WS Sun over Ocean.
WS waves lapping on sandy shore.
NARRATOR (V/O)
Since Franklin's time the earth has warmed and conditions in the passage have changed. Ice that once remained year round has exponentially disappeared withglobal consequences.
Map of Canada, zooming in on Northwest Passage showing proposed rowing route.
NARRATOR (V/O)
In 2013 four men set outrow the legendary routein a single season beginning in Inuvik, they plan to navigate 3,000 kilometers through the waterway stopping en route in various Inuvialuit and Inuit communities in order to learn about the region until their final destination of Pond Inlet. Through their experience the team hopes to paint a picture of the reality of the current day passage and what it says about the future of our planet.
SCENE TWO
EXT. RESIDENTIAL STREET IN NORTH VANCOUVER
MS Street in North Vancouver with rowboat on trailer.
SUPER ‘North Vancouver’
CU Paul Gleeson packing inside back hatch of rowboat.
PAUL GLEESON
So basically I've drawn the short straw and I’ll be staying here the whole trip up. The lads have promised to give me food and water. I mean the big picture is we shouldn't be able to do this trip, so the fact that we can even attempt it screams to the fact that our world is changing our climate’s changing and it's got pretty serious ramifications for all of us.
MS Denis arnett tying oars on roof of Truck
MS Denis Barnett at back of rowboat, looking into camera.
FRANK WOLF (off camera)
Why do you want to do this trip? For personal reasons?
DENIS BARNETT
Oh it's the old cliche. I'm a newbie- so let's go find yourself. That's what I'm doing.
FRANK WOLF (off camera) Yeah you're going to find yourself up there?
DENIS BARNETT Yeah I hope I like what I find.
CU Frank Wolf leaning against side of parked rowboat.
MS Frank Wolf talking to camera
FRANK WOLF
The magic will come when we leave the city. Right now I'm still contained by the city. So it's not flowing yet.
MS Kevin Vallely walking along rowboat.
CU Kevin Vallely talking to camera
KEVIN VALLELY
This trip from a personal perspective is really important to me because it's one of these last firsts in a sense. I mean it's a great wilderness up there and no one's ever done this before. We're heading north. We're driving from Vancouver and it's a drive almost as far as Vancouver to Toronto, just due north on a five day journey and we begin.
MS rowboat on trailer being driven away, pulled by SUV
Shot from inside SUV as vehicle drives by line of trees on highway
SUPER ‘The Hand of Franklin’
MS Shadow of SUV and rowboat on trailer moving over grass along highway SUPER ‘A film by Frank Wolf’
MIX of split second shots of road trip to Inuvik
SCENE THREE
EXT. SHORELINE OF MACKENZIE RIVER IN INUVIK
WS SUV pulling rowboat into the town of Inuvik
SUPER ‘4000 km later...Town of Inuvik- End of the Road, Start of the Journey’
MS Rowboat being trailered into Mackenzie River. MS KEvin on rowboat, talks to camera.
KEVIN VALLELY We're going.We're in. We're heading.It starts.We're leaving Inuvik.
MS Denis pushing out boat.
FRANK WOLF (off camera) Excited Dennis?
DENIS BARNETT Very excited. Yeah you give it a good push and then jump on.
CU Floyd Roland at desk in office.
SUPER ‘Floyd Roland, mayor of Inuvik, Former Premiere of Northwest Territories’
FLOYD ROLAND
I shared the story with the past members of the legislative assembly as well, and in there I shared stories of what the elders used to say. And at a younger day I didn't understand what they were trying to say. So when the men would gather around the fire and have some tea and they started talking, they'd say the weather's changing and as a young boy I'd look up to the sky and say is it going to rain tomorrow? It's now that I realize that they were remarking on their history and how the weather has changed, because now I've been around long enough to see the weather has changed fairly significantly.
MIX of shots of team rowing the boat down the Mackenzie River, laid over Floyd Roland’s comments.
SCENE FOUR
EXT. SHORELINE OF BEAUFORT SEA BEFORE TUKTOYAKTUK
WS Stormy waters with crashing waves.
SUPER ‘The Beaufort Sea’
MS Team pushing rowboat through choppy waves and wind in shallows along shore. SUPER ‘Day 4, 170 km travelled’
CU Paul knee deep in water pushing boat through choppy seas. Talks to camera.
PAUL GLEESON
We’re hauling the boat in really soft sand, your feet sink into it. We're trying to get it, inch it bit by by bit towards Tuk. We're going to get it up here a couple of hundred meters where we’ll get a bit of shelter. It's just it's so shallow it's a lot of spit so it's hard to row, and obviously strong winds.
WS Team pushing boat through choppy seaas.
CU of Paul and Denis inside cabin of rowboat
SUPER ‘Irish Cam’ with camcorder playback framing
PAUL GLEESON
This is a little video diary. It's our fourth day today. We've had shite weather and we're now currently- actually it’s myself and Dennis here in the cabin.
DENIS BARNETT
Tough going- fucking hell. We’ve just worked it out. It's going to take us exactly until probably the middle of October and it's...fucking...this is no messing- this is going to be a long, long, stint. We're walking at the moment.
PAUL GLEESON
The lads are outside, hauling the boat, while myself and Denis are in here drinking tea, having the craic. This is going to be a long trip and hopefully, as Denis just said, in a few days we'll laugh at this, but right now we're not even at Tuk. We're hoping we might get there some time before Christmas and that's just the start (laughter).
MS Kevin at back of rowboat in waves, pushing.
FRANK WOLF (off camera)
Kevin Vallely what's going on now?!
KEVIN VALLELY
It's funny I was just saying on King William island, they found the remnants of Franklin's crew with a rowboat, two shotguns, mounds of chocolate and all these skeletons around the rowboat,
KEN BURNS archival painting of Franklin crew dying around rowboat
KEVIN VALLELY
...because they were pushing it and no one could fully understand why. I think actually we're gaining an insight into that story. Look at it. You can't row in this stuff. It's brutal. So we're pushing it into a shelter over here in the lee of this and we’ll wait it out.
TIMELAPSE waves crashing
MS Team pulling boat rhough waves
MS Paul and Denis rowing in big waves, seen from stern of boat.
SCENE FIVE
EXT. TOWN OF TUKTOYAKTUK
MAP with line showing route from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk.
ECU torn trp flapping in wind.
Post office sign with ‘Tuktoyaktuk’ logo.
WS Tuktoyaktuk, someone whistles and distant sled dogs stand at attention.
CU Peter Clarkson talks to camera with water in background.
SUPER ‘Peter Clarkson, Bear Biologist, former Mayor of Inuvik.
PETER CLARKSON
They've had more violent summer storms so when you get to Tuk you'll see that a lot of the housing has been moved off the end of the little peninsula, because most of that has been eroded away. And they've put lots of riff raff along the coastal side to keep from the whole peninsula from eroding away. So you see more severe storms in the summertime and in the spring, and in the fall which might be associated with more open water as opposed to less open water. And so you get more of a wind built up and stuff.
WS Rocks along edge of shore with houses behind.
WS waves crashing with Tuktoyaktuk in distance.
CU Darrel Nasogaluak sitting at desk in office.
SUPER ‘Darrel Nasogaluak, Mayor of Tuktotaktuk’
DARREL NASOGALUAK
We have a lot of erosion here with the warmer temperatures we're seeing it accelerate because of permafrost under the ground. A lot of it is melting and you're having a lot of areas that are collapsing even within the community and you know we're dealing with it.
MS Cariboo antlers stacked on roof of house.
CU Fred Wolki walks up to camera
FRANK WOLF (off camera)
Is this a lake?
FRED WOLKI Yep.
FRANK WOLF (off camera) That's a lake?
FRED WOLKI Yeah, yeah...No, no, no. This is part of the harbor.
CU Fred Wolki sitting against wall of house.
SUPER ‘Fred Wolki, Inuvialuit Elder’
FRED WOLKI
I worked in, I was travelling with my family for a while when I was a kid until they sent me to school in 1944 or something.
FRANK WOLF (off camera)
And at that time in August would there still be ice on the water?
FRED WOLKI Yeah, there were big icebergs- big high ones-grounded sometimes...
KB archival b/w photo of Inuvialuit hunting on ice.
FRED WOLKI
...just like a big island. And now you can't see them anymore. It's all gone, the multiyear ice.
FRANK WOLF (off camera)
And when's the last time you saw an iceberg in this bay? Like how many years ago do you think?
Well they started to fade away slowly. In the 1960's they slowly started to get less and less. And in the 1970's it pretty well started to get warm already...
CU Fred Wolki stands and points into the distance
FRED WOLKI
...and that island you see there used to be about three times wider in 1940's. In 100 years it's going to be gone.
WS of island in bay
FRED WOLKI
It started to get warmer too and all the permafrost started melting.
And you know Tuktoyaktuk, most of it is made out of permafrost, the land. And the water started eating away and it just slides and the same thing all along that way, it eats away 100 feet at a time every summer.
WS of eroded banks collapsing into ocean.
FRED WOLKI You know, global warming is starting to take its toll I guess.
MAP Satellite photo of ice coverage in Arctic in 1980.
MAP Satellite photo of ice coverage in Arctic in 2012.
NARRATOR (V/O)
Since satellite data began being collected in the late 1970's multiyear ice in the Arctic has disappeared dramatically. In 2007 for the first time in human memory the Northwest Passage opened and then did so again in 2012. This clearing trend was the key factor that led to the teams rowing attempt in 2013.
MS Denis rowing as seen from cabin through window.
CU rudder of rowboat with Tuktoyaktuk fading in distance WS rowboat being rowed by Denis and Paul through waves.
CU Denis and Paul rowing as seen from stern.
CU Darrel Nasogaluak in office sitting down, talks to camera.
DARREL NASOGALUAK
If you're going between here and down this peninsula here, if the wind picks up you're going to have to be really careful where you're approaching the shore, because a lot of the area here and say 100 miles north of here probably 100 yards from shore you'll be able to get out and walk in rubber boots.
SCENE SIX
EXT. NICHOLSON ISLAND
LAS boat stuck in tide flat, team trying to free it.
CU Frank talking to camera, stuck rowboat in background.
FRANK WOLF
It's no good. Stuck here with the tide. Just when the weather and the wind gets good.
KEVIN VALLELY
We beached the boat and we don’t want to wait six hours so we’re trying to pulley it out of the water.
FRANK WOLF (off camera) How come the boat got beached?
KEVIN VALLELY
Tide went out. We went on land. It was pretty deep but it went out quick and now we don't want to wait six hours because there’s a storm or a big wind is coming in that will keep us here for potentially days. We've got to get it out.
MS sped up film of team trying to dislodge boat (circus music playing)
CU Dennis with stuck boat in background
DENIS BARNETT
It's very shallow here. It's very deceptive. Thie tide runs away so quick and 20 minutes earlier we had lots of water, so you know- small mistake, it’s Paul’s fault, he’ll learn from it.
CU Paul with stuck boat in background
PAUL GLEESON
I dont know how many times I’ve been telling Denis, you know Denis like jeez we shouldn't be beaching it this close. And he just gets in a huff and I give in, you know... Actually it's not, it's all Kevin's fault really.
KEVIN VALLELY
I'll take the blame it's my fault. I'll take the blame- I wanted to come ashore.
CU Otto Binder sitting at his dining room table.
SUPER Otto Binder, 81-year old Inuvialuit elder
FRANK WOLF (off camera) And you had mosquitoes and black flies?
OTTO BINDER Yeah everything yeah.
FRANK WOLF (off camera) And what's worse?
OTTO BINDER The mosquitoes are bad. If you’re going East you’ll hit them too I guess.
MS Paul, Kevin and Denis looking at beached boat in distance as they are swarmed by mosquitoes.
FRANK WOLF (off camera)
What do you think guys? How is it without the wind here?
PAUL GLEESON It's great, lovely.
FRANK WOLF (off camera) Good rowing eh?
DENIS BARNETT It's perfect, we're on land being devoured by mosquitoes.
KEVIN VALLELY When we should be rowing
PAUL GLEESON That's such a tease- look at that- it’s perfect.
CU Paul standing beside rowboat along the water
We're stuck here for probably at least five or six hours I'm guessing, four or five hours maybe until the tide comes in. Maybe it's an idea to go for a swim.
LAS of Paul, Denis and Frank running naked through frame and diving into water, hooting and hollering.
WS of rowboat moving away, freed from the tide.
SCENE SIX
INT. ROWBOAT CABIN
ECU Denis’ face as he rows
MS Denis and Paul rowing, ice floes around.
WS ice floes on water.
MS Kevin inside cabin of boat with computer on his lap.
KEVIN VALLELY
What we have here is a radar Sat image sent from the Canadian Ice Service. Cape Bathurst here is kind of a crux point because you come around that into Franklin Bay, you can see that Franklin Bay is completely covered in ice and we'd have to go right down to the bottomwhich isn’t ideal. We'd like to cut across at some point, but that's the reality of it. It's locked up on the next cape as well and then right over here from the mainland to Banks Island it’s just a solid lock of ice.
SCENE SEVEN
EXT. EAST SHORE OF FRANKLIN BAY
ECU of oarlocks moving
MS of rowboat moving through ice pans.
DARREL NASOGALUAK
I was in Banks Island about a week ago and was pretty surprised to see ice from probably 50 miles out from here all the way to Banks Island is ice choked. Almost solid- like there's pans moving around the ice moving around, but I don't think you can get a boat of any size without an icebreaker between here and there right now.
PS of ice berg up agaonst the boat.
CU Frank talking to camera while Kevin and Paul try to free boat.
FRANK WOLF
We were anchored here and then wind brought in this ice and it's propped up against us.
CU Paul and kevin struggling with anchor line, trying to free it from under iceberg. MS Paul standing in bow as boat drifts away from ice berg.
FRANK WOLF (off camera)
What happened there Paul just now.
PAUL GLEESON
So we had the anchor out and this huge chunk of ice came down towards us and we were stuck at anchor and it trapped the anchor underneath the boat. So it was pulling the boat underneath so we were trying to pull and get the anchor up, we couldn't so we had to cut the anchor free so we're now minus an anchor. It’s not ideal but it was starting to to pull the boat under so...just another day up here in the Arctic.
MS paul and dennis rowing into wind.
WS Boat in ditance moving through ice-choked waters. CU Frank standing in boat, talking to camera.
FRANK WOLF
Trying to work our way through this little labyrinth of ice- a bit of lee from this wind- it's supposed to be a cyclone apparently today and we're caught in the middle of it, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Just trying to get into safe spot, where there seem to be a to be very few of...
FZ A frozen arm and hand appear to be jutting from one of the ice bergs the boat passes by. CU Frank points at the ‘hand’, shouts out
FRANK WOLF The Hand of Franklin
WS boat being steered through ice out of frame. MS Musk Ox shaking itself on ridge.
CU Paul and Denis working in boat along shore.
WS Sheltered beach with boat resting safely by shore in bay ringed with ice. CU Frank talks to camera.
FRANK WOLF
All right we've found our place of respite finally. This little bay, there's alittle bit of ice protecting us and a slight lee to hide out this wind storm.
SCENE EIGHT
EXT. ROWBOAT DECK
CU Rudder of boat cutting through water, low sun in background.
UWS oars moving
CU of long narrow electronic device being prepared by Kevin and then lowered into water.
KEVIN VALLELY
What we're doing here is actually a CTD cast and CTD stands for it's a device that's it measures conductivity temperature and depth in the ocean as well as a whole host of other things. And the idea is to lower it down to the bottom and bring it back up and it takes all of these measurements and evidently it's extremely hard to get this information up here in the Northwest Passage because you know it's a very remote place, it's very expensive to do it, and we have a very unique opportunity of being able to do it. We do maybe one, maybe two casts a day and we're- all this information is sent back to DFO and hopefully will give us an insight to what's happening up here- the various changes that are happening with climate change and the Arctic.
CU Kevin inputting data on computer in boat’s cabin.
KB map with route of rowboat rounding Cape Parry.
MS boat being rowed with rainbow in background. ZOOM smoking hills
ECU rudder cutting through water
SCENE NINE
INT. ROWBOAT CABIN
CU Denis and Paul in boat’s cabin.
SUPER ‘Irish Cam’ with camcorder playback framing.
DENIS BARNETT
Very excited. Good news. Fucken eh! Damn, we’re not meant to be swearing!
PAUL GLEESON Fuck, do it again
CU Camera clicks off, then on again to Denis and Paul in Cabin.
PAUL GLEESON
Okay we're doing another video diary and we're going to do our best not to swear in this one because half these video diaries are probably never going to be seen or used by Frank.
DENIS BARNETT
Here's the deal. We’ve had a reality check. So right, we had a very rough start. We had serious delays before we really got going which put us way behind the 8 ball. So we did some sums there to see, you know is it still a runner to think that we can do what we're trying to do based on the distances and we think it is. I thought it was gone. But Pond Inlet is still possible. We're talking about just after the middle of September. We've got to keep a very good average and we can't lose a week anywhere with weather or whatever, but it basically means from here if we keep the momentum going. We can go get more supplies, we can make it to Cambridge Bay and from Cambridge Bay we can make a decision to go to Gjoa Haven or Pond Inlet. Pond Inlet's the obvious end destination and that's what we're aiming for and that's what we're still gunning for and I thought it was slipping away to be honest but based on this and some of the mileage we’ve had in the last few days- game on.
PAUL GLEESON There’s a chance, a chance indeed.
WSHumpback whale tail dropping below surface surrounded by ice WS rowboat moving through ice
SCENE TEN
EXT. REFUGE ISLAND
CU Fred Wolki talking
FRED WOLKI
We always try to look for better weather to travel in, but then again when you're traveling there's always a little bit of wind catch here and there so sometimes you travel in a little bit of blowing weather when you have to, just to make it to shore or something.
CU shot through side porthole of oars moving through stormy seas.
CU Kevin and Frank inside rowboat cabin
KEVIN VALLELY
Yeah there are definitely a lot of drawbacks with this beast of a boat in this environment- you really kind of sit out there exposed and you can't really escape stuff very easily.
FRANK WOLF
Yes, we have an Atlantic rowboat on the Arctic Coast which is too heavy to land, it’s 1 tonne. And too heavy and beamy and it has too much windage to paddle in wind- which is what you have up here. You have land and you have wind, so we're going against the grain, and the grain is winning.
WS ice being bashed around in a stormy bay
SUPER ‘Day 24, 824 km travelled’
FZ Denis struggling in waves at back of beached rowboat
KEVIN VALLELY
We're at Cape Parry and there's these weird currents and we just got spun in the fog and we couldn't do anything and we couldn't go where we wanted to go- we were basically driven out to sea and we know there’s sea ice out here and the only thing we could get to is this island. We didn't even know what it would be like. As it happens it’s just a tiny little beach and the rest is just a big rock cliff. So we're trying to wedge the boat up onto this little makeshift beach and weather this storm again. There’s a bloody storm every single day, it's ridiculous. I mean, look at it out there- it's just howling.
MS Kevin and Denis struggling with boat in water. WS stormy waters
LAS Frank picking somwthing out of the grass
ECU wooden piece from old sailing rig
CU Frank holding up piece of sailing rig
FRANK WOLF
So I was just wandering around Refuge Island here across from Cape Parry and found this, which is what looks like an old, a part of an old, old sailing rig like from a wooden, a wooden boat. So very likely could've been from one of the old British expeditions from back in the day so it's some sort of European sailing rig part washed ashore and it's way, way up in the middle of the island here, probably kicked up here by a huge storm at one point and then has been there ever since. Stuff up here does not decay so this could easily be a couple of hundred years old.
FZ tent tucked behind gravel beach
PS team snoozing inside tent
ECU tent vent flapping in wind in dark
MS Ice being driven by dtorm into Bay WS Ice being pushed by storm into rowboat.
CU Frank talks to camera
FRANK WOLF
All right so you can see how quickly things change again. This is 7 hours later and we just woke up. All the pack ice that was here last night is gone, but the bay is completely choked with ice being pushed in by this big now northwest storm. The wind shifted and all that pack ice is gone and we've got this little ring of ice in our bay that's actually protecting us from this big massive north, northwest storm that's pumping in on this little island.
ECU ice pushing in, filling frame
MS KEvin and Denis working on pulling boat higher up on beach
CU hands working on rope
WS Boat in bay full of ice
CU Kevin working on ropes, talking to camera
KEVIN VALLELY
There's more ice coming in and, but it's eroding and the wind is changed- so if we don’t pull the boat up higher now we're probably going to get whomped. We're trying to setup an additional anchor here to add to the other one which wasn't quite adequate to pull the boat up. It started to move all the rocks. So we're trying to add another one here. I never thought all my climbing background would come into such use in such a scenario.
WS calm seas with low sun in distance
Boat clear of water, seas calm CU Frank talks to camera along shore.
FRANK WOLF
We woke up at 2 a.m. to check weather and waves etcetera and all the ice is gone and it's calmed right out so we're good to go. Things change hour to hour, day to day.
MS Paul and Denis rowing, Refuge Island in background.
FRANK WOLF (off camera) How's it feel to departing the island?
DENIS BARNETT Pretty happy to get out of that place.
SCENE ELEVEN
INT/EXT. BROWNS CAMP along shore in Darnley Bay
CU Whale blubber floating in shallows along shore
SUPER ‘Brown’s Camp’
CU Floyd Roland talking
FLOYD ROLAND
Where we go to do our harvesting for whaling, we've gone out for generations as families to do that. There's less people going out now than it used to be but the impact is still there. Is it a positive one? We see as a positive one because we're a part of the land.
FZ Steve Illisiak sitting on chair talking to Paul inside cabin
SUPER ‘Steve Illisiak, Hunting Guide’
CU legbone lying in grass and rock
STEVE ILLISIAK (off camera)
It's from the hind quarter of a polar bear, a 10 1/2 foot polar bear, very large polar bear. Back in the day I used to skin 10 footers on my own. MS Steve Ilisiak along shore talking to camera
STEVE ILLISIAK
This one was so fat it was like 4 inches of fat. It all gets used up. We don't throw hardly anything away. Shot up parts and damaged parts and even still- even that you bring that part back to your dogs. When I used to run a dog team I’d even bring the bloody lungs back for them eh.
FRANK WOLF (off camera) ‘Cause they'll eat it all.
STEVE ILLISIAK Oh yeah.
FRANK WOLF (off camera)
And then you don't have to buy dog food.
STEVE ILLISIAK
Yeah. Yeah exactly yeah. An average guy wouldn't make it without the native foods, never make it. It's just too expensive. It's a fly-in community to begin with eh.
FRANK WOLF (off camera) It's about survival.
STEVE ILLISIAK Yeah. It's about survival, exactly.
FRANK WOLF (off camera) And what's your favorite cut of beluga, or is it all good?
STEVE ILLISIAK
I'll show you, come with me here.
FS Steve Illisiak stands up and walks over to beluga parts drying on rocks.
CU beluga tail flipper cut off and lying on driftwood, Steve’s hand points at flipper.
STEVE ILLISIAK
You cut that off, right there and there. You let the blood drain, you hang it up, let the blood drain.
FRANK WOLF (off camera) So this is just like the tail, the middle of the tail.
STEVE ILLISIAK
That's the flipper right there. That's a tail right here yep. So you just cup it up like in strips like this.
ECU chopped-up beluga parts drying on rocks along shore.
CU beluga meat being sliced on a plate inside cabin.
CU Denis in cabin with piece of beluga meat in his hand. Eats meat.
DENIS BARNETT Baby beluga is not so big anymore.
FRANK WOLF (off camera) Sounds crunchy.
DENIS BARNETT Very salty...it's quite chewy all right.
CU Kevin Vallely chewing on beluga meat.
KEVIN VALLELY Chewy.
CU Paul Gleeson chewing on beluga meat.
PAUL GLEESON
It's quite fresh.And it's quite chewy. I'm going to be chewing this for a while.
WS Arctic fox trotting over tundra.
MS Steve Illisiak talking to camera.
STEVE ILLISIAK
When the trapping industry died in the late 70's, early 80's tons of foxes anywhere you go foxes all over the place. Today you could hardly see them anymore because man has quit using the land too- and we’re a big part of the ecosystem too. We keep things in check like any other predatory animal.
SCENE TWELVE
EXT/INT HAMLET OF PAULATUK
WS Hamlet of Paulatuk
SUPER ‘Paulatuk’
POV rowing to shore
LAS team walks into town along dirt road
NARRATOR (V/O)
Behind time and low on supplies the team takes a detour to the Inuvialuit hamlet of Paulatuk to stock up on food and replace their lost anchor.
MS Hank Wolki cutting up beluga on his kitchen floor.
CU Kniofe cutting beluga meat.
PS Kevin, Paul, Denis, Marlene Wolki, Hank Wolki sitting in living room. CU Hank Wolki sitting at kitchen table, talking to camera.
HANK WOLKI
Well last year like years before you had to go out in the ocean to hunt seals. There'd be nothing in the bays here. In the inlet we have in Paulatuk you'd have to look for the seals out in the ocean and today we're hearing about orcas coming into the country...
CU Newspaper title that states KIller Whales spotted by Sachs Harbour residents
HANK WOLKI
...and we find so big difference in our seal populations and in our beluga hunting. Like our seals are piling up into the bay here which we haven't seen before. When the ice forms in the bay here you'd see seals all over the bay on top of the ice...
MS seal swimming in bay
HANK WOLKI
...it never used to be that way and if you wanted to find a seal hole you have to go way out in the ice just to find the seal. But today now we have orcas, we have bowheads, we have humpbacks, we have so many different types of whales coming in now that it seems that it's scaring the smaller mammals into our bay and like moving to another country.
LAS rowboat being loaded with sun behind, water lapping on shore.
SCENE 13
EXT. BOAT AT ANCHOR IN WIND STORM
MAP showing route toward Dolphin and Union Strait MS snowy owl on log
ECU Denis rowing with boat wreck on shore behind.
PS boat wreck on shore
MS Otto Binder sitting in living room.
OTTO BINDER And then you watch the weather that's a big thing.
FRANK WOLF (off camera) I guess when it comes, it comes in quick.
OTTO BINDER Yeah. It always comes fast when you don't expect it sometimes.
CU irish and Canadian flags on top of boat flapping in wind.
MS Kevin and Denis in bow of boat in heavy wind.
SUPER ‘Day 36, 1,127 km travelled’
FRANK WOLF (off camera)
Describe what's happening here Paul.
PAUL GLEESON
So we’ve got two anchors in. The problem at the moment is the wind is so strong we’re getting pushed out into deeper water where the line on the anchor won’t be long enough so the danger there is us losing the anchors and accelerating way way out, so we just deployed a sea anchor which is basically like a big huge drogue, like a big parachute line. It's gone down in so basically we've got three anchors out now to try and stop us from getting forced out. So we just need to keep an eye on our speed inside and we can hopefully see in the next minute or so if the sea anchor is taking affect and actually slowing it down.
CU chart of route inside cabin. CU Denis looking at chart.
FRANK WOLF (off camera)
Can you describe what that little map is showing...the line there?
CU Denis’ finger pointing to chart path
DENIS BARNETT
So here's our struggle today into the wind. We're not going any further so we deployed our anchors here and because the wind is too strong and the wind has just kicked up and even with two anchors deployed we’re just slowly being blown out. And as you can see there's nothing out there. So this is the direction we're being blown in way up here. So now we put the drogue back too and we'll see if we can start to hold our position.
PS of inside cabin with Denis, Paul and Kevin looking pensive.
CU Denis looking at chart
DENIS BARNETT
It's just not comfortable when you’re not in control of where you are and being able to hold your position. It's these things little things that seem to escalate pretty quick so we always try to stay in control of where we are. When it's taken out of your hands by the wind you don't know if it's going to stop or if it's going to get worse.
Mix of shots of Denis and Paul rowing hard for shore.
FRANK WOLF (off camera)
Denis Barnet what's happening right now with operation ‘being blown out to sea’?
DENIS BARNETT
We're fighting back, taking a chunk back. We're going to go hide on the beach now. You can't get blown out to sea when you're on the beach.
POV anchor being thrown on shore, boat landing on beach CU Paul, Denis and Ken holding boat on shore. MS Denis on boat deck unloading.
FRANK WOLF (off camera)
So Denis, how was that incoming pump?
DENIS BARNETT
Oh yeah, good exercise at one in the morning. Has to be done, it’s weird up here- there's no safety net so when you have to go, you have to go, it has to happen. It’s good- we got in, everyone did their job. Good teamwork and now we're relatively safe until the next adventure arrives.
FRANK WOLF (off camera) Adventure boat!
DENIS BARNETT Good times.
FZ Kevin battling tent in wind on beach
CU broken tent pole
CU Kevin with broken tent in wind.
KEVIN VALLELY Wind’s too strong for the tent, it just snapped it in half.
TL wind over grass and water
WS herd of Musk ox running away over tundra.
SM Frank and Kevin rowing in low sun.
CU Hank Wolki speaking in kitchen
HANK WOLKI
From today and 20 years ago, I can remember traveling in the ice. And 20 years ago you couldn't even find an open lee. You couldn't find open water. The ice opens every different week, ever different month now. There’s open water out there and it doesn't get thick anymore and makes it unstable for travellers.
SCENE 14
EXT. ON DECK OF BOAT AT ANCHOR
CU Flags flapping in wind
CU sun reflecting off hatch of boat.
MS Frank lying on deck reading shirtless.
MS Paul shirtless on boat deck, making tea.
PAUL GLEESON
It's very important, Frank, with the tea. We let it stir for a while. It's very important to get the strength into the tea.
FRANK WOLF (off camera)
So Paul- what do you think of these bitter Arctic temperatures right now?
PAUL GLEESON
It's just, it's piercing cold. It's shockingly cold up here. I don’t know how we're surviving quite frankly.
MAP of globe spinning, showing wave patterns appearing on the surface.
NARRATOR (V/O)
For millennia cold Arctic air has kept the Jetstream in the Earth's mid latitude stable. Now as the Arctic warms at two times the rate of the rest of the planet, the temperature difference has lessened, weakening the jet stream and causing its wave patterns to shift dramatically. As a result of this shift the globe has increasingly experienced extreme weather events such as flooding..
KB still image of flooded downtown Calgary
SUPER ‘Calgary 2013’
NARRATOR (V/O) ...uncharacteristic cold
KB still image of snowy Georgia highway
SUPER ‘Georgia 2014’
NARRATOR (V/O) ...and drought
KB still image of parched, cracked earth
SUPER ‘California 2014’
NARRATOR (V/O) ....which will only be amplified as the Arctic continues to heat up.
SCENE 15
INT. ROWBOAT CABIN
CU of porthole inside cabin, wind blowing outside.
ECU cards being laid down, hands picking them up
MS Denis, Kevin and Paul in Cabin playing cards
FRANK WOLF (off camera) What do you say Paul,what's going on today?
PAUL GLEESON
Formally enough we're playing cards yet again for the millionth day in a row. We are on sea anchor. We've got a very strong wind right in our face, probably 25-30 knots so we're not going anywhere. So we're drinking coffee, playing some hearts. We're going to have the dinner after this and hopefully later on tonight we get to actually row.
FRANK WOLF (off camera) Thoughts Denis?
DENIS BARNETT I could be doing this at home. Yeah.
PAUL GLEESON (off camera)
That's not all you could be doing at home.
FRANK WOLF (off camera) Kevin?
KEVIN VALLELY Patience. Qinituk. I keep saying that. Deep patience.
FRANK WOLF (off camera)
What day is it today of the trip?
KEVIN VALLELY Thirty-five.
FRANK WOLF (off camera)
And how many days have we actually sat do you think, in total? Guesses?
PAUL GLEESON Ten, Fifteen?
POV rowboat rowing through channel
POV Frank plunging into water from rowboat
CU Floyd Roland, talking
FLOYD ROLAND
Something I've always said with challenges comes opportunities. But you have to be ready to take up that challenge and find the opportunity. And yes we have thinning of ice and the opening of Northwest Passage, which will extend the season for large ships.
KB oil tanker in ice
CU Jeannie Eaholoak in her office
SUPER ‘Jeannie Eahaloak, Mayor of Cambridge Bay’
JEANNIE EAHOLOAK
I know that there are projects in the pipeline that are coming to our region who want to use the Northwest Passage year round. I mean they're talking about shipping ore all year round. I mean it's going to affect the animals. It's going to affect the wildlife and it's definitely going to affect the people.
KB Oil tanker in ice
WS Deepwater Horizon burning
FRANK WOLF (off camera)
How difficult would it be to respond to a Gulf-style spill in the north if you develop it and, say, a well head blows or whatever like that?
FLOYD ROLAND
Well in today's environment where the resources are, I mean I guess I go back. How many coast guard ships are in the area? Can we name one? Those are the cold, hard facts. If that development is going to occur- and we've had off-shore exploration- but we've never had a production well put in place. For that to happen there needs to be a lot of changes.
KB Oil rig in arctic
KB Deepwater Horizon burning
FLOYD ROLAND
When for example when the Gulf situation that happened in the U.S., the Inuvialuit said that there will be no drilling in the Beaufort sea area, the government of the Northwest Territories- I was a part of the government- said we will support that because we want to ensure that the federal government has the resources and the capacity to deal with potential situations that can occur.
KB workers cleaning oil off of beach
JEANNIE EAHOLOAK
Worst case scenario would probably be an oil spill. If there was ever an oil spill up here in the north it will just, it will affect the whole ecosystem in our region. Because our environment can be so harsh and our seasons are so short in the summertime- our boating season is so short- so trying to clean up an oil spill like you've only got so many, so many weeks in the water and then that's it, it's winter...
KB dead oil-soaked birds on beach
KB pile of dead, oil soaked ducks by water
JEANNIE EAHOLOAK
If there was an oil spill here you'd have to wait until next year, but at the same time all that oil is sitting in the water under the ice and affecting all the marine animals in the water. I'm sure it will have a huge effect on everything else.
WS caribou running over land
ECU oar locks moving
CU rowing seats sliding
AS Paul and Denis rowing
SCENE 16
EXT. SIDE OF ROWBOAT AT ANCHOR
CU Paul and Denis in boat cabin
SUPER ‘Irish cam’ with camcarder playback insignia
DENIS BARNETT
Hygiene isn't great here. No one’s had a shower. Between us we haven't had a shower in 2 months. So it's been about 2 weeks since we've all had a shower each. And I just had to watch Paul relieve himself off the back of the boat.
MS Toilet roll being passed out the side porthole from one hand to another.
PAUL GLEESON (off camera) Just to clarify, relieve is going to the toilet.
FRANK WOLF (off camera)
Can you describe the facilities to the audience here?
MS Paul crouched on outside of rowboat
PAUL GLEESON
Yeah the facilities are, they're very airy, you know plenty of room where you're not confined for space or anything. Quite comfortable. Plenty of handles. Nice little railing to stand on. So you can talk with your friends as well, which is great you know? So it's good facilities.
FRANK WOLF (off camera) How’s the view?
PAUL GLEESON
For me the view is great. For my teammates I'm not sure how they would view it.
CUTL Seawead with water and clouds moving WS Rowboat moving through water in distance CU Frank reading book in cabin in red robe.
WS rowboat moving through rocky channel in distance.
ECU Oarloacks moving
CU waves lapping gently over stones
SCENE 17
EXT. ROCKY CHANNEL
CU Joe Ohokannoak on his front porch in Cambridge Bay
SUPER ‘Joe Ohokannoak, Nunavut Impact Review Board member (NIRB)’
JOE OHOKANNOAK
Well, back when I was growing up we never did see any ravens until about 15 years ago when they started showing up. I think it's all part of the change.
CU raven hopping in snow
WS Grizzly on shore standing up
PETER CLARKSON
It seems like the grizzly bears are moving north as opposed to the polar bears coming south. I mean that's the sightings we're getting and where they're taking the bears that are mixed, you know, it’s up on theArctic Islands so it's not on the mainland here.
FRANK WOLF (off camera) So they're mixing on the islands?
PETER CLARKSON Yeah or you know maybe they're breeding on the sea ice.
JOE OHOKANNOAK More recently with grizzly bears.
FRANK WOLF (off camera)
How long have you been seeing grizzly bears on Victoria Island?
JOE OHOKANNOAK Barrenland grizzlies? I'd say 8 years ago.
FZ Grizzly clambering on rocks
CU Frank Wolf talking to camera on rowbaot deck along rocky shore
FRANK WOLF
Grizzlies never used to be this far north, you can see now they've moved even up into the island region of the Arctic so just another example of climate change and species movement due to it.
FZ pushing through grasses, musk ox revealed in distance PF cotton grass fading to distant moon
MS two men rowing at night with headlamps.
SCENE 18
INT. ROWBOAT CABIN AT NIGHT
CU Kevin inside boat cabin at night.
KEVIN VALLELY
It's like 2:00...and to be honest with you this is the behavior of people that are coming to the end of a trip. I mean, rowing in the middle of the night when you can't see where you're going, is frankly kind of stupid.
FRANK WOLF
What's our shift? What’s our time-from when to when?
KEVIN VALLELY
Two-fifteen to 5:15 in the middle of the night going one kilometer per hour, but we're really close so fair enough.
MS Two men rowing at night with headlams on CU Paul and Denis in boat cabin waking up.
PAUL GLEESON
This is a video diary on day...I don't know... 53 I think. It's 5 in the morning. We're just getting up for our shift in about 5 minutes. This is tough going...Dennis what do you think?
DENIS BARNETT
It's not tough...it’s handy! (laughs) Two hours sleep. Two hours sleep on day 50...kind of nearly ready to be finished now. Like, that's tough- it's freezing, freezing cold outside...gear is damp, feet are cold. It's hard to imagine why you’d volunteer for this. Like I was saying, there must be a positive, but we volunteered for it so maybe there’s not.
SMCU Kevin standing on deck in dark with headlamp on, tired
MS seen from side, Kevo and Frank rowing with moon in distance
CU Kevin in cabin of boat at night
KEVIN VALLELY
This is a note from our weather guy, ice guy actually. “Kevin just to give you a..” his first language isn’t English... “Kevin just to give you the danger of ice situation at the Eastern Arctic, Eef Williams of Toeluka, Netherlands pulled out of the game and returning to Greenland. Eef is one of the most experienced polar sailors with many years of safe sailing in Antarctica and Arctic waters. Just that may pull the plug on further Arctic adventures and predictions for next year- ice won't look that bright either.” So it's looking rather bleak up ahead. By the sounds of it the whole channel is blocked with ice and actually hasn't opened yet this year. Peel, Regent, Bellotte strait- it’s all locked down, so all the ships trying to come around from the eastern side, can't get through. Tough year.
FRANK WOLF(off camera) So what does that mean for our trip Kevin?
KEVIN VALLELY
It means we're actually not going that far. We're going...I mean we have multiple things obviously but the weather, the wind and everything else, we're going to stop at Cambridge Bay. It only makes sense. It's going to be beginning of September. It's already freezing. It's minus 2 outside right now. It's dark as you can see. Writing's on the wall and we don't want to be rescued so we're going to be, we're going to pull the plug here...not here- it's still another 100K- but it's been an amazing trip. Two very, very, very hard months with really crazy conditions and just crazy weather, things have been...it's just a different place up here.
SCENE 19
EXT. TOWN OF CAMBRIDGE BAY
MAP running line of route stopping in Cambridge Bay POV Frank pulling at oars WS rowboat moving aginst wind.
MS rowboat moving through frame, town of Cambridge Bay in background SUPER ‘Cambridge Bay- Day 55, 1,872 km travelled.
CU Margaret and Jimmy Okhina
SUPER ‘Margaret and Jimmy Okhina- Cambridge Bay Inuit Elders’
FRANK WOLF(off camera)
Do you remember the difference between like the temperatures in the winters, and the ice? Is there a difference between that sort of thing?
JIMMY OKHINA
Cold, cold- right now it’s warm eh? You know that bay over there, a few miles from here? Snow in the 1950's used to stay all year round. Now it melts all the time every spring.
WS Cambridge Bay in background with rowboat approaching from water.
POV Kevin and Frank rowing toward Cambridge Bay pier.
MS Denis tying up rowbaot to pier from top of pier. CU Paul on rowboat deck handling rope.
PAUL GLEESON
Weez in Cambridge Bay baby! We made it, yeah, just came in here now. Beautiful day. Two boys had to work a bit coming in- bit of a headwind but all good.
CU Kevin on rowboat deck by pier.
KEVIN VALLELY
Yeah it's a good feeling to be done. Relief. Happy. Tired. I want to eat. Take a shower.
TL MAP earth turning showing ice dissipation in the Arctic throughout 2013
NARRATOR (V/O)
Despite the team being stopped by ice in the northeastern section of the passage, according to NASA the overall sea ice extent in the Arctic in 2013 was still the sixth lowest on record. The summertime minimum extent is in line with the downward trend of about 12% per decade since the 1970's, a decline that has accelerated since 2007.
CU Floyd Roland
FLOYD ROLAND Things are happening, weather's changing...
MS Stormy icy seas
WS Sunny Arctic coast with cliffs
FLOYD ROLAND
....and I've learned that when somebody says, well, things are changing it's not the immediate change of the day- it's the gradual change over time.
ECU wave washes over screen
CREDITS ROLL