Passage to Prudhoe (1969)

Duration: 26:23:00

Year Published: 1969

Sound: sound

Description: Produced by Ray Miller for KPRC News, this 1969 television documentary chronicles the historic voyage of the SS Manhattan through the Northwest Passage. On March 12, 1968, the Houston-based Humble Oil and Refining Company confirmed the presence of oil on Alaska’s North Slope. The company then began planning how to transport crude oil produced by the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field to the continental United States and beyond. Humble developed two strategies. The first, a joint venture with ARCO and British Petroleum, envisioned a pipeline route from Prudhoe Bay to the southern port city of Valdez for subsequent ocean shipment to markets along the US west coast. The second, proposed by Humble Vice President Stanley Haas, imagined an additional sea route through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago to the US east coast. The latter would require tanker ships to traverse the icy waters of the Northwest Passage. On August 26, the SS Manhattan—fresh from a six-month modification program to turn the ordinary tanker into an icebreaker—departed a shipyard in Chester, Pennsylvania, for Prudhoe Bay. Humble commissioned the $52-million expedition to test the operational and economic feasibility of the maritime route. Entering the Amundsen Gulf on September 14, the Manhattan became the first commercial vessel to successfully traverse the Northwest Passage. A KPRC news crew was aboard to document the ship’s historic journey through the frozen Arctic. The resulting television special, entitled Passage to Prudhoe, aired on Houston’s Channel 2 on November 8, 1969. Frank Q. Dobbs was named 1969 Newsfilm Cameraman of the Year for his photography. While the expedition received international attention, Humble suspended its icebreaking tanker project on October 21, 1970, to focus on the pipeline alternative. Construction on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System was completed in 1977.