Ford F-150 expedition vehicle recovered after sinking in the Arctic Ocean

A specially modified Ford F-150 pick-up on an expedition between the North and South Poles has been recovered from the Arctic Ocean – after it slipped through ice melt earlier this year.

In March, the Ford F-150 built by polar vehicle specialists Arctic Trucks fell through rapidly shifting ice melt in the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Canada’s Tasmania Islands.

The vehicle – which has raised suspension and massive tyres to handle the harsh terrain – spent five months underwater before a recovery mission could be launched to remove the environmental hazard and return the vehicle to the surface.

The Ford F-150 ‘AT44’ – referencing its 44-inch tyres and modifications by Arctic Trucks – was on a trial run led by the Transglobal Car Expedition, which plans to make its way between the North and South Poles in 2024.

A pair of underwater divers floated the pick-up earlier this week using large air bags, bringing it up to the surface where it was then retrieved by a helicopter (see below) and air-lifted to a nearby town.

After completing the world’s first overland wheeled crossing from the continental shelf of Canada to the High Arctic, the pick-up fell through cracks in the ice, with the occupants escaping unharmed.

“I realised very quickly what was happening, I tried to give it gas to speed up but nothing happened,” the car’s driver, Torfi Birkir Johannsson, said in a media statement. 

“I suspected quickly that it was deep water under and we will be losing the car, my thinking went ‘what do we need most before we lose it’. 

“I evaluated if I should go back into the car to get a few clothes, my phone, my computers etc. but decided to jump on the roof rack and get the extra heavy clothing all four of us had stored on this car.

“I managed to free two straps and the four bags – my thinking was we would need this especially if the other car would also go down – and jumped off to bring these bags to safer ice.”

If the Arctic Trucks name sounds familiar, the company modified the Toyota HiLux used by Top Gear to reach the North Pole and an Icelandic volcano.

The Transglobal Car Expedition is due to begin in January 2024, encompassing 40,000km of travel up and down the Americas, Europe and Africa to complete the North-to-South Pole journey.