Some modern historians wonder whether the explorers of the New World really believed an all-water route to Asia was possible. One thing is certain, however, the spices and silks of the Orient guaranteed more lucrative returns than anything the New World could provide, including its fledgling fur trade. If the explorers did not use the Northwest Passage and its lure of profits as an incentive for exploring the North American interior, then financial backing for expeditions into Canada's terra incognita would have been almost impossible to obtain.

By incorporating the inland waters of the Northwest Passage onto their maps, the French were also hedging their bets. If an Ocean Glacial should be discovered at some future date by another European nation, France could still make some claim to the passage by virtue of the fact that French cartographers had already mapped the feature.

Given these realities, it is not surprising that the great explorer and statesman Samuel de Champlain tried to make the most of any natural feature that hinted of a marine passage through the continent. As early as 1601, for example, he was promising his benefactors in France that the St. Lawrence River offered great possibilities."By this [route]," he predicted, "we will be able to go to Cathay. ... We will be able to make the voyage in one month or six weeks without any difficulty." When this route proved overly optimistic, Champlain simply moved the Northwest Passage further west, beyond the horizon, to another waterway.