Franklin Expedition ship found is HMS Erebus

spaminator

spaminator

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Franklin Expedition ship found is HMS Erebus
Giuseppe Valiante, QMI AGENCY
First posted: Wednesday, October 01, 2014 04:05 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, October 01, 2014 05:07 PM EDT
OTTAWA - Archeologists identified the Franklin Expedition ship found last month in Canada's Arctic as HMS Erebus, Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed Wednesday.
A Parks Canada-led flotilla found the wreck 11 metres under the icy waters off Nunavut in early September. The news that Canada found one of the two famed ships from the 1845 Franklin Expedition made headlines around the world.
Franklin and his crew of more than 120 men perished in Canada's Arctic in the mid-1850s and the search for the remains of the crew and his two ships - HMS Terror and Erebus - became part of Canadian lore.
Searchers found the wreck around the Queen Maud Gulf, but the exact location is being kept secret to deter adventurers flocking to the site.
Archeologists have begun diving the wreck to catalogue its contents.
Canada's search flotilla included the Royal Canadian Geographic Society, the Royal Canadian Navy and Shell Canada.
The search continues for HMS Terror.
This image provided September 10, 2014 by Parks Canada, shows a sonar view of one of two ill-fated ships lost more than 160-years-ago: Sir John Franklin. (AFP PHOTO / HANDOUT / Parks Canada)

Franklin Expedition ship found is HMS Erebus | Canada | News | Toronto Sun
 
EagleSmack

EagleSmack

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Way to go Canada!

Great find.

I've always had an interest in this Briddish Expedition.
 
T

tay

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The hunt for HMS Erebus and HMS Terror was tough enough.

Now Parks Canada underwater archeologists are sorting out just how they will try to unlock the clues to the Franklin Expedition mystery that may be hidden in the wrecks of the reinforced British warships that lie in the icy waters of Nunavut.

"We are ready to get into what we consider is going to be one of the most complex and challenging underwater archeological excavations in Canada," Marc-André Bernier, manager of underwater archeology for Parks Canada, said of what comes next for exploring the Erebus site in Wilmot and Crampton Bay.

For one week at the end of August, a six-person team of underwater archeologists is planning to be at the site, diving from inflatable boats and working from a base camp on a nearby island.

Parks Canada said Friday the work will include preparations for the next phase of exploration of the Erebus, which is expected to continue for several years.

But with Erebus and Terror, it seems, little comes simply. There are ongoing questions over future ownership and security of the site.

And even this year's exploration has had its hiccups. The planned program isn't what Parks Canada initially had in mind, when it first proposed an archeological investigation of up to four weeks, with 14 people on site.

Things changed when the agency realized its hopes to have a newly refitted research vessel on base this summer weren't going to work out.

The RV David Thompson, a 228-tonne former coast guard vessel transferred to the agency, is still in a shipyard in Nanaimo, B.C

Bernier said there were a number of factors at play, including unforeseen work required on a vessel at midlife, and more stringent requirements than were anticipated for its recommissioning.

"Preparation is key for this vessel so we want to make sure that before we bring it up to the Arctic, everything is in top condition."

"Terror seems to be almost lying on the bottom as it would have been floating 160 years ago, the masts and the rigging being damaged but the rest is in an astonishing state of preservation," said Bernier.

"HMS Erebus is located in shallower waters and is therefore more susceptible to storm and ice damage. HMS Terror is in deeper water and less susceptible to damage from the freeze-and-thaw pattern, which explains why it appears to be in better shape than HMS Erebus."

more with pics

'Extremely complex': How the hunt for clues in the Franklin shipwreck mystery is changing gears - North - CBC News
 
Blackleaf

Blackleaf

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HMS Terror: The Royal Navy has always had a great knack at naming its ships.
 
Danbones

Danbones

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lol
the natives were telling the tale of where the ship was for years but no one paid any attention to them
now its discovered
 
C

Curious Cdn

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I suppose that the British could claim that they are Royal Navy war graves and therefore should be left alone. Technically, they still own those ships.
 
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