North Pole Cruises

A historical and international epic

1596 : Willem Barentsz and his Dutch expedition are the first to reach the record latitude of 79° 49' N.
1895 : sailing aboard Fram, a ship designed with a revolutionary hull able to withstand the pressure of the ice, the Norwegian Nansen becomes the first to approach the North Pole on foot and reach a latitude of 86° N.
1908-1909 : Americans Peary, Henson and Cook each claim to have reached the North Pole, feats disputed due to a lack of concrete evidence.
1925-1926 : Amundsen, Ellsworth and Nobile become the first to reach the North Pole in an airship.
1937 : the Soviet Papanin lands at the North Pole by plane.
1958 : American submarine the USS Nautilus becomes the first vessel of its kind to reach the North Pole.
1968-1969 : the North Pole is reached for the first time by snowmobile by American Ralph Plaisted in 1968 the reached again the following year on foot and using dog sleds by Briton Wally Herbert.
1977 : Arktika becomes the first Soviet icebreaker to reach the North Pole, during the Arctic summer.
1978 : Japanese adventurer Uemura becomes the first to reach the North Pole solo, supported by regular parachuted plane drops of food supplies.
1986 : Frenchman Jean-Louis Etienne reaches the North Pole solo for the first time travelling by skis and dog sled. American Ann Bancroft becomes the first woman to reach the pole without support the same year.
2021 : with the arrival of the Le Commandant Charcot, the only passenger ship with a PC2 class hull, PONANT becomes the first luxury cruise line able to offer expeditions to the North Pole.