Climate change has opened up a direct route from the Pacific to the Atlantic

Sorry, Panama Canal. You are no longer the only waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

For hundreds of years, European explorers sought to find the mythical Northwest Passage, a waterway linking the north of Canada to the north of America. (Henry Hudson, after which Hudson Bay takes its name, was so determined to find this passageway that he was literally mutinied by his crew). In 1903, Roald Amundsen was finally able to complete the Arctic passage, but it took him three years and he kept getting stuck in the ice.

Now that the earth is shattering heat records, traveling the Northwest Passage is no longer a feat of epic proportions but rather a jaunty little cruise. With the waterways no longer frozen solid or clogged by icebergs, the Crystal Serenity, which set sail on Aug. 16, is expected to complete the passage in only eight days, Slate reports.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

Crystal Serenity isn't the only modern boat to take the Arctic journey, but it is the one facing the fewest obstacles as the ice has melted more and more each year. Climate scientists actually say by 2040, there won't even be ice in the Arctic during the summer.

Hudson might be vindicated at long last, but this is definitely terrifying.