As more ships criss-cross the Arctic, fears of disaster rise

New York

WHEN the Crystal Serenity, a 1,000-passenger luxury liner, sails in August on a month-long Arctic cruise through the Northwest Passage, it will have a far more utilitarian escort: a British supply ship.

The Ernest Shackleton, which normally resupplies scientific bases in Antarctica, will help with the logistics of shore excursions along the route from Alaska to New York, via Canada's Arctic Archipelago.