Northwest Passage, historical routes. Map of routes taken by explorers of the Canadian Arctic to find the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. English navigator Martin Frobisher (orange) led expeditions in 1576, 1577, and 1578 that reached Baffin Island and Frobisher Bay. English navigator Henry Hudson (blue) reached what is now Hudson Bay in 1610. British explorer Sir John Franklin's lost expedition (red) took place from 1845 to 1848, circling Cornwallis Island and ending trapped near King William Island. Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen (green) was the first to successfully navigate the Northwest Passage, doing so from 1903 to 1906.