Biographical Data

Johansson, Sven Borge

Personal Image

Photo Credit: John M. MacFarlane

 
 
Title Captain (MM)
Official Number
 
Birth 29/08/1924 Death 17/10/2019
Place (nk) Place Victoria
Area Area BC
Country Sweden Country Canada
 
Titles
Honours CM.
Awards FRGS.
Qualifications
 
Biography
He was a Swedish mariner and Arctic explorer he was the first to take a yacht West to East through the Northwest Passage. The son of a boat-builder and wood carver he was born at Seffle on the North shore of Lake Vänern (the largest freshwater lake in Sweden.) In 1941 he entered the Swedish Army and left after three years ending with the rank of sargent. With the exception of a year working in a boatyard working with his father to fit out vessel interiors he spent most of the ten years in the wilderness. In Lapland he was involved in a freighting business running a small diesel-powered freighter on a northern freshwater lake. He emigrated to the Canadian Arctic in 1963 and received the Federal Government contract to reorganize the Reindeer industry. Arctic Mountain House was founded by him. There wasn't anything there when he resigned the reindeer operation. Sven Johansson had this area to the west of Fort Good Hope as a big game outfitting area and trapping area. Johansson had a little airplane in those days, living at Reindeer Station for five years. Johansson later moved to a site 180 miles south of Arctic Red River on the Red River (just to west of the Ramparts River.) That is 100 air miles west of Fort Good Hope. There wasn't anything there, in the beginning, except a teepee ring so Sven Johansson built a 20' x 24' cabin which he called Arctic Mountain House. In the summertime Johansson would fly down to Inuvik where he was fitting out The North Star of Herschel Island. Then he would work in the Beaufort Sea all summer and by the fall he was back living in the mountains. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1979 and lived on board the North Star of Herschel Island in Victoria harbour until about 1998 when he sold it and moved ashore. He was the Master of the Thermopylae Club in Victoria BC 1978-1979.
 
Military Service
 
 
Vessels Owned
Aircraft Flown
Named Features
 
Anecdotes
 
 
References
MacFarlane, J.M. (1992) Northwest Passage Challengers. In Resolution. Spring Issue. Maritime Museum of British Columbia
Last update
2019-11-16 00:00:00

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