The Polar Sea begins in Reykjavik, Iceland. We meet the unlikely chronicler of our journey, Richard Tegnér, an ordinary Swedish man embarking on an extraordinary expedition. The search for the Northwest Passage was the greatest challenge for the world’s great navies from the 15th century into the 20th. Today, suddenly, it has come to be seen as a jaunt for serious amateurs, akin to climbing Mount Everest. But the world-altering reality behind the great melt has also suddenly focused the attention of scientists, who are now racing north. We sail with Richard and his friends to Greenland, where the melting glacier is changing the nation’s fortunes in unforeseen ways.
