Singaporean tycoon Anil Thadani takes his yacht through the icy, perilous Northwest Passage

Amid the spectacular scenery of the far north, Singaporean tycoon Anil Thadani plies his yacht through ice jams and avoids hungry polar bears in his quest to follow the perilous 19th-century Arctic exploration route

largely unsurveyed waterway through the Canadian Arctic, the Northwest Passage has fascinated traders and adventurers alike for hundreds of years. The waterway held the promise of a shortcut from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and it winds through some 1,600km of breathtakingly beautiful landscapes that are home to a variety of wildlife.

From the 15th century to the first decade of the 20th, European sailors tried to find a navigable commercial route through this enticing passage. Many of them lost their lives in the attempt, the most well known being those from the John Franklin expedition that set sail from England in 1845. The voyage ended with the disappearance of both ships, the HMS Terror and the HMS Erebus, and all 129 crew members. (Last year, the wreckage of the Erebus was finally discovered.)

ice ice baby Anil Thadani’s yacht Latitude tows support boat Khisko along a narrow strip of ice-free water in the Bellot Strait