Rear Admiral John Newton to be on Franklin expedition expert panel

Haligonians know Rear Admiral John Newton as their local top brass in the Royal Canadian Navy, but part of him belongs to the Arctic.

The commander of the navy in the East Coast first visited the Far North as a 15-year-old boy.

A trained geologist and oceanographer, Newton has lived a double life — rising through ranks and serving overseas while writing about sea ice and Arctic pollution and gradually becoming the navy's expert on matters of the North.

He quietly celebrated when a long-lost ship of the Franklin expedition was found in September, after helping orchestrate the search, and is in Toronto today for the unveiling of relics from the ship.

"To me this is a whole lifelong venture that's paying off right at the end of my career," Newton said in an interview.

"I think of it as like a career gift."

'It's the most beautiful place'

As a teenager in 1973, Newton went on two navy voyages around the Arctic. He was sent aboard by his father, who also served. 

He saw huge tides rivalling the Bay of Fundy's, was terrified by muskox herds on Ellesmere Island and sailed into Pond Inlet during the annual narwhal hunt, with whale and seal carcasses pulled up on the beach. 

"It's the most beautiful place in the planet," he recalled. 

"It's giant white mountains with glaciers streaming down to the ocean … mountain peaks everywhere around."

As a student, before joining the navy, Newton researched geology in Yukon. Many years later, when he went to military school, Newton chose to write about sea ice. 

At a time when the Royal Canadian Navy was learning about the Far North, it began to rely on Newton's expertise. In 1991, he came home from serving in the Gulf and was asked to be the navigator on a northern deployment. First, he was asked to review legislation about pollution in the Arctic.

"I recommended cancelling the deployment," he said.

The ships intended for the deployment had single hulls and Newton reported to superiors that using them wouldn't show due diligence. 

Exhibit opens today

Ten years later, he helped send the navy's first ship back into Arctic waters and "we've never stopped since," he said.

He has tested satellite gear for Arctic use and investigated "unusual sightings" reported by Inuit. Newton also oversaw the file on Hans Island, the subject of a dispute between Canada and Denmark.

"It was a beautiful file," he said. "It worked out really well."

When Jim Balsillie, formerly of Blackberry Inc., bought a Newfoundland fishing boat and sent it to Cambridge Bay, outfitting it with sonar to search for HMS Erebus and Terror, he called Newton and asked if navy personnel could help crew it. It seemed nearly impossible, Newton said.

"How are we going to get them there? How are we going to look after them medically? And how do we get them out if they get injured?" he said.

"The answer could have been 'No' so easily. But it was one of those ones where you say, 'Yes, of course.' And we've been crewing the ship the two past years and we'll crew it again."

The Royal Ontario Museum opens an exhibit today with artifacts from HMS Erebus, including its bell.