One of the traditions of US icebreakers operating in the Arctic is “ice liberty.” When an icebreaker encounters a thick ice floe, the crew is allowed liberty to get off the vessel to walk about or play games from touch football to hockey. 

This year as the icebreaker USCGC Healy transited the Northwest Passage for the first time since 2005, ice liberty was canceled. In the melting Arctic, no ice floe was thick enough to be suitable.

“A lot of the floes had melt ponds with holes in them like Swiss cheese,” said Capt. Kenneth Boda, commander of the Seattle-based icebreaker told the Seattle Times. “We couldn’t get the right floe.”

“We were surprised at the condition of the ice,” Boda said. “All the heavy stuff, we were able to maneuver around.”

Boda spoke via telephone during a port call in Boston. The vessel is deep into a marathon voyage that began July 10 as the 420-foot ship pulled away from its berth at the Coast Guard base in downtown Seattle and traveled into Arctic waters off Alaska. 

This has been, in part, a training mission for the 85 crew members, a task that has added importance as the Coast Guard prepares to increase the U.S. Arctic presence with three new icebreakers that later in this decade are planned to be homeported in Seattle.

The Healy is a medium icebreaker that is able to break ice up to 10-feet thick. The Healy and the Seattle-based Polar Star are the Coast Guard’s only two functioning seagoing icebreakers. Both are aging, and have suffered maintenance and other mishaps.

After leaving Boston, the Healy returned to sea, headed for Baltimore en route to a Panama Canal passage and a final jog north up the West Coast to Seattle. The goal is to make it back by Nov. 20, shortly before Thanksgiving.

Thanks to Doug Bostrom for contributing to this post.