Marine archeologist shares his awe, images of life aboard Franklin’s ship
It remains, despite nearly two centuries beneath the Arctic seas, amazingly shipshape.It remains, despite nearly two centuries beneath the Arctic seas, amazingly shipshape.
First pictures from inside the HMS Terror, part of the doomed Franklin Expedition, show tidy rows of crockery, neatly stowed storage lockers — even a propeller sitting solidly in place as if ready for a head of steam.
“Overturned armchairs, thermometers on the wall, stacked plates, chamber pots, wash basins — often in their correct position,” said Ryan Harris, one of a team of Parks Canada underwater archeologists probing the secrets of the British warship lost around 1848 while searching for the Northwest Passage.
“We were able to see an incredible array of artifacts.”
The Terror and the Erebus, now lying in shallower water just to the south of its sister ship’s watery berth off Nunavut’s King William Island, set out from England in 1845. Commander Sir John Franklin and his 129 men never returned.
More than 30 expeditions tried to find them. A few artifacts, graves and horrible tales of cannibalism is all they uncovered.
But with a blend of Inuit oral history and systematic, high-tech surveys, the Erebus was found in 2014 and the Terror two years later, to headlines around the world. Since then, Parks Canada has been working to understand what is down there and what light it could shed on a story that has become part of Canadian lore.
After numerous dives scouting the exterior, Harris piloted a remote camera through an open hatch and into the ship.
“You have the lights of the ROV penetrating the darkness,” he said. “Looking forward in the corridor, you see the list of the ship to starboard.
It was, he said, awe-inspiring.
“You can imagine the bustle of activity that once filled these corridors and cabins and messrooms with clamour,” Harris said. “You carefully manoeuvre the ROV into the cabins, you feel like you’re in a way violating their privacy. It’s exhilarating, but it’s quite a solemn space.”
The ship remains so intact the camera was able to visit 90 per cent of it. Some skylights even retain their glass. The only door they found closed was, tantalizingly, the one opening on the cabin of captain Francis Crozier.
Even more tantalizing are all those cabinets and drawers, probably full of journals and maps, Harris said. Those papers, preserved by cold water and a protective layer of sediment, are likely to be legible.
“Each drawer potentially has materials that could shed light on the fate of the expedition,” he said.
The Terror’s tidy condition only poses another mystery.
“It looks like the ship, in many ways, was fully operational and then suddenly deserted. All the cabin doors were opened, almost as if there was a rush to see if anyone was on board as it sank. We don’t know.”
No Terror artifacts have been recovered.
The team has first to map the entire site and analyze hundreds of hours of video.