Stefan Nitoslawski documented the joint U.S./Canada 1994 Arctic Ocean Section expedition, conducted by the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent and the USCGC Polar Sea. He was contracted by Galafilm Inc. to be the official cinematographer aboard the Canadian vessel. During the months of July and August, the two ships successfully crossed the Arctic Ocean together, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, for the first time. They sailed through 3,700 kilometres of ice in the Arctic, from the Bering Strait to the North Pole, and then through the Fram Strait between Greenland and Svalbard.
The footage captured by Nitoslawski was turned into a 96-minute documentary, By Icebreaker to the North Pole, written and narrated by award-winning science writer Wayne Grady. The film showcases "the voyage of two icebreakers with [a combined] 150 scientists on board to study the ecology and underwater morphology of the high Arctic and the political and scientific challenges faced in the Arctic Seas." It serves as the "only [official and cohesive] visual record of the watershed journey." A 28-minute version was also produced with voice-over narration available in English, French and Inuktitut.
This collection of slides serves to document (from ship, ice and air) both of the North American icebreakers, as well as a Russian vessel (Yamal), as they carve a path through the ice. Other photos feature various crew members, officials, technicians, scientists, and artists at work and play. There are also a handful of portraits featuring Wayne Grady, the writer and narrator of the documentary.
Nitoslawski's images from this expedition were published in the following journals:
- Framework for Change, Naval Institute Proceedings, December 1994
- Arctic Rendez-vous, Naval Institute Proceedings, January 1995
- Lessons for the Loneliest Lab, Equinox, no. 79, February 1995
- To the Top of the World, ICSD Perspectives, vol. 7, no. 4, winter 1995
From the beginning, the goal of the expedition was to "substantially increase the observational base necessary for understanding the role of the Arctic in global change." The joint mission has the aim of assessing the impact of global warming and pollution on the Arctic. Scientists with expertise in a number of ocean, marine and arctic life disciplines were recruited throughout Canada and the United States for the voyage.
The expedition to the North Pole not only contributed to the knowledge of ocean climate and contaminant pathways in the Arctic, but it also presented a number of firsts for the two nations. These included the "first U.S. and Canadian surface ships to reach the North Pole, [the] first surface ship crossing of the Arctic Ocean via the North Pole, [the] first circumnavigation of North America and Greenland by surface ships, [and the] northernmost rendezvous of three surface ships from the largest Arctic nations-Russia (Yamal), the U.S. (Polar Sea), and Canada (Louis S. St-Laurent)-at 89°41'N, 011°24'E on August 23, 1994." After arriving at 2:30 a.m. on August 22, 1994, the ships spent a total of 28 hours at the North Pole collecting samples. These would be compared with those collected by a Swedish-German venture three years earlier.
The excursion also featured several passengers who were not scientists, such as Wayne Grady (author), Stefan Nitoslawski (photographer), Christopher Walker (artist) and Sylvester Drabitt (artist). They were invited on the journey for the purpose of "documentation" and dissemination, to distill scientific and technical information into formats that could be engaging and easily digested by the public, including By Icebreaker to the North Pole (film) and Through Artists' Eyes (travelling exhibition). This collection of slides acquired from Nitoslawski shows the other artists, a chance meeting of three nations at the North Pole, the process of tagging polar bears, the collection of ice core samples, etc.
