![]() They located the wreck of the other ship, the H.M.S. Erebus, in the icy waters near King Williams Island in Nunavut, Canada’s northernmost territory. Then, in 2014, Canadian archaeologists discovered the remains of one of the vessels, the H.M.S. At some point during their treacherous quest, Franklin and his crew of 128 men mysteriously disappeared, never to be heard from again. Original article on Live Science.In May 1845, two ships under the command of Sir John Franklin set sail from England in search of the elusive Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The Canadian Museum of History exhibit of the artifacts lasted from May 14 to 18, but history buffs can visit the Parks Canada website to tour the virtual exhibit, including video from the dive and photographs of the artifacts recovered.įollow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter and Google+. "We don't exactly know yet what were the factors that caused the expedition to come apart," Harris said. Harris and his team hope the research will help illuminate the last days of Franklin and his men: Who were the final survivors? Did they return to the icebound ships before the ships sank? What were they trying to accomplish in their last days? Years of work lie ahead for the archaeologists studying the Erebus. "There's always the possibility of being able to link artifacts with a specific individual on board, which is quite gratifying," he said. Researchers are trying to determine what the tunic buttons are made of, Harris said, which will help clarify whether they belonged to an officer or a lower-ranking crewman. "They had to be prepared, even though it was generally acknowledged that they would be sailing under a flag of scientific neutrality," he said of the men on the ship.Ī few personal effects, like a patent medicine bottle and several tunic buttons, are a haunting reminder of the men who lost their lives on the expedition. The HMS Erebus was a Royal Navy ship, he said, which explains the weaponry. "It's just a beautiful piece," Harris said. The largest artifact recovered was a 680-pound (309 kilograms) cannon capable of launching 6-pound cannonballs. They also pulled up a few easily accessible artifacts, including three ceramic plates and several pieces of the ship's rigging. In April, the archaeology team began testing laser-scanning technologies to catalog the wreck site. In April, archaeologists pulled this 680-pound (309 kilograms) cannon from the HMS Erebus shipwreck. It also would have been pulled up to protect it from ice while overwintering in the Arctic.ĭuring the initial dive, the team also recovered the ship's bronze bell. The Erebus was a sailing ship with supplementary steam power, Harris said, so the propeller would have been pulled out of the water during travel on the open ocean. They saw the ice channels built along the port side of the ship that protected the ship from ice damage, iron plating meant to shore up the bow against sea ice, and a mechanism that allowed the ship's propeller to be hoisted up over the deck. In the initial dives in September 2014, the team cleared kelp and undersea vegetation from the ship, which towers some 16 feet (5 meters) above the seafloor. ![]() Since the discovery of the HMS Erebus in 2014, Harris and his colleagues have only scratched the surface of the wreck and the artifacts inside. Modern research on the remains that were found revealed cut marks, suggesting that Franklin's men resorted to cannibalism at the end. All they found were a few graves on King William Island and nearby Beechey Island, along with stories about the lost men by Inuit locals. Search parties began scouring the Arctic for signs of Franklin and his 128 men as early as 1848. According to a note later found on King William Island, Franklin died there on June 11, 1847. His two ships became entrapped in ice near King William Island in 1846 and were never heard from again. Franklin, in 1845, was working under far more constraints.įranklin, a British Royal Navy officer, left England in 1845 in search of a passage through the Arctic icepack. Harris and his team had the advantage of support from Canada's Department of National Defense, the Royal Canadian Navy and even the New York Air National Guard to move equipment up to an ice encampment at Queen Maud Gulf.
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