Archeologist describes ‘haunting experience’ of peering into wreckage of HMS Erebus
OTTAWA — Diving beside the wreck of Sir John Franklin’s ship, Ryan Harris said he felt eerily close to the sailors of HMS Erebus who died more than 160 years ago.
“Without being excessively maudlin you can almost hear the echoes of the sailors in the space where they would have passed their time in long winters hunkered down below decks,” said Harris, an underwater archeologist with Parks Canada.
“This is where they would have taken their meals, perhaps with shortened rations in the later years. Where they would have sung sea shanties to lift their sagging spirits. Where they would no doubt have groused about the difficult conditions ... and no doubt shared their longings for home.
“It’s a dramatic personal story.”
He called it “a haunting experience.”
The team didn’t enter the hull but did lower a camera down through an opening in the deck.
“We were able to pan around inside the space where the crew would have lived and taken their meals ... and slung their hammocks,” Harris said Thursday.
“We were able to see (inside) the ship’s galley which I think is extraordinary.
“I could see the skylight over the wardroom where the senior officers would have messed.”
And he saw technology he has never seen before: a mechanism for lifting the ship’s propeller out of the water to avoid ice damage. It slid up a bronze track designed for this expedition.
But Harris really wants to get inside the stern. Franklin’s cabin is there. So is the log room where his documents should be.
The rag paper used at that time was “surprisingly durable” and the extreme cold and darkness may well have preserved Franklin’s own written words even if the ink has faded badly.
“These (documents) may shed light on the terminal stages of the ill-fated expedition.”
They also hope to find food, if any is left in the galley. Experts believe the men died of a combination of starvation, cold and disease — and one factor is the lead that tainted their canned food. Finding canned food intact would be a huge bonus.
Franklin left England in 1845 with 133 officers and men. He dropped off a few before reaching Canada, leaving 129 when he reached the High Arctic. Franklin himself died in 1847, with his ships hopelessly jammed in ice. In 1848 the 104 survivors tried to walk south to safety but all died on the way.