Search crew finds first artifact in decades from doomed Franklin expedition 167 years after the doomed Franklin Arctic expedition, a new expedition to find the lost Royal Navy ships has found the first known artifact Share on Facebook Reddit this! HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, shown in this illustration, were lost on the ill-fated Franklin expedition in search of the Northwest Passage in 1845. BETTMAN/CORBIS HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, shown in this illustration, were lost on the ill-fated Franklin expedition in search of the Northwest Passage in 1845. By: San Grewal Urban Affairs Reporter, Published on Mon Sep 08 2014 One-hundred-and-sixty-seven years after the Franklin expedition met its demise in the Arctic ice, a historic discovery has been made: the first artifact in decades from one of the two lost Royal Navy Ships has been found. After decades of mystery surrounding the loss of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, the ongoing Victoria Strait Expedition, the largest search effort ever for the two ships that were last heard from in 1848, has made this historic find. On Sept. 1 an iron fitting from a Royal Navy ship bearing two broad arrows was found on an island somewhere around the northern area of the Victoria Strait, east of Victoria Island, which lies off the northern coast of Nunavut. On the Franklin Expeditions trail . .. The current search expedition, a joint effort between the governments of Nunavut and Ottawa and the private sector, released a statement Monday. “The iron fitting is certainly from one of the Franklin shipwrecks,” the statement read. “On behalf of our Government, I congratulate the Government of Nunavut on this remarkable archeological discovery that will contribute to the search for the most sought after shipwrecks in Canadian history, if not the world,” said Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of the Environment and Parks Canada. Sir John Franklin and 128 crewmen were lost in the original expedition. Skulls believed to be of the members of the expedition were found and buried on King William Island in 1945. But for 167 years it has remained a mystery as to why Franklin and his men were never heard from soon after the Royal Navy had mounted one of the best equipped Arctic explorations in its history to find a possible trade route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. With this historic find, that mystery may begin to unravel. Paul Watson and the search for Franklin remains . Photos The science of ice forensics in the Arctic Franklin search The science of ice forensics in the Arctic Franklin search comments . Photos Search for Franklin’s ships just part of High Arctic juggling act . MAP: On the Franklin Expeditions trail MAP: On the Franklin Expeditions trail . Fickle ice may explain Franklin ghost ship mystery
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 17:44:14 +0000
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