Canada confirms Arctic discovery of 200-year-old ship
OTTAWA: Canada’s parks department on Monday confirmed the discovery of a British exploration ship that vanished during a storied Arctic expedition in 1846.
The statement comes two weeks after scientists from the Arctic Research Foundation announced they had found the ship – part of a two-vessel expedition during which both disappeared – submerged but well-preserved beneath 24 meters of water in the Northwest Passage.
“Parks Canada’s underwater archaeology team is proud to confirm that the wreck located in Terror Bay on the south-west side of King William Island, Nunavut is that of HMS Terror,” the government agency said.
The ill-fated HMS Erebus and HMS Terror left Britain on May 19, 1845 under the command of Sir John Franklin on a mission to discover the Northwest Passage linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
The Erebus was located in 2014, while the Terror’s whereabouts remained unknown until now.
Silt and marine life cover the wreck’s upper deck, the underwater archeology team said.
But it was able to match a number of features typical or unique to 19th- century British polar exploration ships to historical records as well as design specifications common to the Erebus and Terror.
Scans of the wreck also showed the configuration of Terror’s bowsprit, the placement of the ship’s helm, the boarding port and deck scuppers – holes on the side of the ship to allow drainage.
The ship was discovered in a bay off King William Island, where an Inuit member of the Arctic Research Foundation spotted a mast piercing the water’s surface several years ago.
The fate of the Franklin Expedition didn’t become clear until 1859, when a vessel chartered by Franklin’s widow Lady Jane came across a somber message on King William Island. — AFP