On board the Orlova our experts taught us about the race to find the Northwest Passage in the mid-19th century. At Beechy Island we came across the grave sites of John Torrington and others from the Franklin expedition, and we explored the remains of Northumberland House - still strewn with the rusty, lead-contaminated food cans that killed the entire crew, including Sir John Franklin in 1847.

The grave site of John Torrington. A haunting reminder of trailblazers who have come before us.

When you visit the Arctic in the northern hemisphere summer you get to experience the midnight sun. It never gets dark! Each night at 1am or 2am I had to force myself to bed because all of the normal rhythms of day and night were gone.

Our ship Luybov Orlova at midnight in the Arctic.

On the day of the eclipse, I had all the passengers come out on deck for the event. For many it was their first eclipse ever.

Carl Anderson observes the partial eclipse from Eclipse Sound at the extreme north of Baffin Island.

This frame-grab from video shows the partial eclipse at its maximum from our location. I wasn’t very organized in my photography for this eclipse, and this image was taken with a piece of welder’s glass held up against the lens of a Video8 camcorder! Hey - it’s better than nothing.

The partial solar eclipse of 31 July 2000.

Wanna come on an eclipse chase? Find out where we are going next.