Belief the journey – that’s the mantra that’s guided Ken Burton his total life.
By a lot of pursuits and occupations, he’s travelled half the globe.
“(I’m) humbled to have the ability to meet these individuals and go locations I’ve been capable of go and tick off issues on my bucket checklist,” stated Burton.
However the excessive Arctic has all the time been his calling. In 2000, whereas with the RCMP, Burton was captain of the St. Roch II, retracing the voyage of the primary ship to circumnavigate North America.
“They thought it was going to take them 90 days,” stated Burton of the unique voyage.
“It took them two-and-a-half years. They spent two years locked in Arctic ice.”
Get breaking Nationwide information
For information impacting Canada and all over the world, join breaking information alerts delivered on to you once they occur.
Burton’s personal journey wasn’t fairly as arduous.
“Fifty ports of name in seven nations. We did it in 169 days,” he stated. “We informed the story of the unique St. Roch worldwide to an viewers of about 17 million individuals.”
A separate journey to the Arctic had him on the hunt for the long-lost Franklin expedition ships. Working with Sonar alongside an affiliate they got here fairly shut, 14 years earlier than the Erebus was lastly found.
“We had been 60 nautical miles, which within the Arctic is that this like that a lot,” he stated, pinching his fingers collectively. “Simply over the horizon.”
Through the years Burton has been a captain, a diver, a photographer and an expedition chief, making connections all over the place alongside the way in which.
“I don’t go into any Arctic neighborhood until I’m returning one thing to the neighborhood,” stated Burton. “Typically that’s chilly onerous money for financial help. Typically it’s donations.”
Burton, who was the chief director of the Vancouver Maritime Museum — the place the unique St. Roche now rests — has additionally frolicked with non-profits just like the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue and several other societies.
He’s shared experiences on each side of the ocean’s floor, from one pole to the opposite, with many stops in between.
“I trusted the journey. I took benefit of the alternatives that had been introduced,” he stated.
“Don’t be afraid to step by way of the door.”
© 2025 World Information, a division of Corus Leisure Inc.
Source link