The main goal for this expedition is to create a comprehensive baseline recording or map of the wreck site before continuing on with possible salvage work.Ĭurrent dive site plans call for 14-hour dive days from 8 AM- 10 PM over a 10 day period. These clear conditions will be most beneficial for the operation of the new 3D laser scanning apparatus archeologists will utilize to produce incredibly detailed images of the Erebus lying 11 meters below the surface. Clear visibility will enhance the efficiency of the divers time in the -2 C icy water. The benefit here will be that the thick six foot layer of ice will eliminate surface waves and almost all water movement around the wreck therefore keeping any sediment and particulate from clouding the water. The same ice was responsible for crushing the wooden ship and sending it to the ocean floor a century and a half ago.
The irony of this continued expedition and salvage project is that the divers will be descending through two meters of ice to reach the bottom of the gulf. HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, shown in the Illustrated London News published on May 24, 1845, left England that year under the command of Sir John Franklin and in the search of the Northwest Passage. Permission from Nunavut’s director of heritage must now be consulted before retrieving any artifacts from the site. Parks Canada finally relented to the Nunavut request after realizing their divers could face arrest by the RCMP. The other lost ship, HMS Terror has yet to be found. The Erebus is thought to be the ship on which Franklin perished during the ill fated expedition. Nunavut is refusing to issue Parks Canada dive permits unless Parks Canada relinquishes rights to artifacts found and retrieved from the seabed at the wreck sight of the Erebus in the waters of Victoria Strait, just off the coast of King William Island where it was discovered in September 2014. Nunuvut’s government is staking claim to artifacts from the HMS Erebus – one of two ships from the ill – fated Sir John Franklin expedition of 1845. Parks Canada Struggling with Erebus Artifacts Ownership The Terror and Erebus lay locked in ice and submerged in water undiscovered until a search team, led by Parks Canada, unveiled the Erebus two years ago. The doomed expedition of nearly 170 years ago, tragically culminated in 129 deaths of crewmen. “This is tremendously exciting news,” said Geiger. “The nature of the find, as reported, underscores also the vital role of the Inuit then and now in the Franklin saga. “Resting proud on 24 metres of water, we found HMS Terror - 203 years old, it is perfectly preserved in the frigid waters of the Northwest Passage,” Arctic Research Foundation spokesman Adrian Schimnowski stated. The wooden ship was discovered in “pristine condition” in a calm bay north of where the wreck of HMS Erebus was located in 2014.Īrctic Research Foundation’s Martin Bergmann research vessel located the shipwreck, with all three masts intact and standing while nearly all hatches closed.
The Terror, abandoned in thick sea ice three years after it set sail from England in 1845, failed in its attempt to sail through the Northwest Passage. The illusive second grande puzzle piece of the expedition mystery was found in about 70 feet of water. Just over a week ago the second piece of the 1845 ill – fated Franklin expedition was found in Terror Bay, Nunavut on the southern shore of King William Island. A scanned image of the HMS Terror submerged in Nunavut.
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