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The voyage was not successful in opening the Northwest passage. One voyage was made from the East to Prudoe Bay where one barrel of symbolic oil was loaded for the return trip. A second voyage attempted, was not completed and the decision was made to scrap that plan, the results were the construction of the Alaskan Pipeline.

The SS MANHATTAN was stripped of some her ice reinforcing abilities and she was put on a general crude oil trade. About 1974 I had a chance to go alongside her for a lighting operation in San Francisco Bay. I was excited about the operation because she was a famous ship. Quite a let down. She was rusty and not well maintained. When it came time to hook up the hoses we found we had to send tools, bolts and gaskets over to her. The real kicker came when we had to send our bos’n over to show them how to hook up.

With the ice passage open, they may be able to rethink the plan of sending tankers through and maybe even open ANWR.