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Franklin Expedition Ship Found

Started by Malthus, September 09, 2014, 12:56:32 PM

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CountDeMoney

Quote from: Malthus on September 14, 2014, 03:26:57 PM
Here's an underwater video of the wreck. Looks in amazingly good shape.

Of course it does.  It's been frozen.  To stretch those shipwreck dollars.

Barrister

Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

Maladict


The Brain

Manga chick version or it didn't happen.
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Drakken

And now, HMS Terror has been found yesterday 24-meters deep in Terror Bay, Nunavut, perfectly preserved. :thumbsup:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/hms-terror-found-1.3758400

QuoteA video shared with CBC News and produced by the Arctic Research Foundation appears to show images of the submerged HMS Terror — one of British explorer Sir John Franklin's two ships lost in the doomed 1845 Franklin Expedition — in a Nunavut bay.

On Monday morning, British newspaper the Guardian reported that the ship, which was abandoned in sea ice in 1848 during a failed attempt to sail through the Northwest Passage, was found "in pristine condition" in Nunavut's Terror Bay, north of where the wreck of HMS Erebus — the expedition's flagship — was found in 2014.

The crew of the Arctic Research Foundation's Martin Bergmann research vessel found the shipwreck, with all three masts standing and almost all hatches closed, on Sept. 3.

"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 says in the video.

A statement issued Monday afternoon by Parks Canada said the organization "is excited about the reports of the discovery of the wreck of HMS Terror."

"The discovery of HMS Terror would be important for Canada, reflecting the ongoing and valuable role of Inuit traditional knowledge in the search and making a significant contribution to completing the Franklin story.

"Parks Canada is currently working with our partners to validate the details of the discovery."

John Geiger, the CEO of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, congratulated the crew of the Martin Bergmann in a statement Monday afternoon.

"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.

"After the discovery of HMS Erebus two years ago, the Terror remained the largest missing piece of the puzzle. Together, these discoveries have the potential to alter forever our understanding of the Franklin expedition's disastrous end."

As the story goes, HMS Terror was trapped in ice somewhere between King William Island and Victoria Island. According to the Guardian, the ship was found 92 kilometres south of there, a discovery that could have implications for historians' understanding of Franklin's expedition.

The doomed expedition, abandoned 168 years ago, resulted in the deaths of 129 men. The Erebus and the Terror lay locked in ice and undiscovered until a public-private group of searchers, led by Parks Canada, found the wreck of the Erebus two years ago.

Inuk crew member's story prompts find

The Guardian reported that the wreck was found after the Martin Bergmann's crew detoured to Terror Bay after hearing a story from an Inuk crew member, Gjoa Haven's Sammy Kogvik.

Kogvik told the crew that he noticed a large piece of wood sticking out of Terror Bay's sea ice which looked like a mast, while on a fishing trip about six years ago.

"I was on my way to the lake to go put nets out," Kogvik said in the Arctic Research Foundation's video. "And when we got in the bay ... as I was getting off the snowmobile, I looked up to my left, and there was something weird sticking out of the ocean on the ice.

"And I told my hunting buddy, 'what is that sticking out of the ice?' And he didn't know."

HMS Erebus was also located with the help of Inuit oral history. Historian Louis Kamookak helped researchers pinpoint the location of the wreck after passing down oral tradition saying that one of the ships was crushed in ice northwest of King William Island, while another — later confirmed to be the Erebus — drifted farther south, where it was ultimately found.

"Every time there's a finding, it's kind of a sad feeling," Kamookak said. "I think the mystery's more fun than the actual knowing."

The bell from the Erebus was one of the first items recovered after it was located, with a cannon, ceramic plates and personal effects among other items found.

Parks Canada had already agreed to seek permission from Nunavut's director of heritage before divers remove any HMS Terror artifacts.

One mystery still remains: the location of Franklin's grave. Kamookak said according to Inuit oral tradition, Franklin was buried in a vault somewhere on the north part of King William Island.

Drakken


celedhring

Those are two really lively ship names for such a dangerous expedition. Asking for it, imho.

mongers

Quote from: celedhring on September 13, 2016, 11:29:39 AM
Those are two really lively ship names for such a dangerous expedition. Asking for it, imho.

Iirc both names have been reused, I think for monitors, if not for additional ships.  :bowler:
"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"

Barrister

What I want to know is this - they found the ship in Terror Bay - named after the ship.

So why didn't they start looking there years ago?!?
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

The Brain

Actually it's named after the director.
Women want me. Men want to be with me.

grumbler

Quote from: Barrister on September 13, 2016, 03:26:58 PM
What I want to know is this - they found the ship in Terror Bay - named after the ship.

So why didn't they start looking there years ago?!?
I think they figured it would be too much of a coincidence for it to actually be there.
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dps

Quote from: mongers on September 13, 2016, 03:04:35 PM
Quote from: celedhring on September 13, 2016, 11:29:39 AM
Those are two really lively ship names for such a dangerous expedition. Asking for it, imho.

Iirc both names have been reused, I think for monitors, if not for additional ships.  :bowler:

AFAIK, the two monitors were the last RN ships the names were used for.  Served in both World Wars.

Drakken

Quote from: Barrister on September 13, 2016, 03:26:58 PM
What I want to know is this - they found the ship in Terror Bay - named after the ship.

So why didn't they start looking there years ago?!?

I think they already knew back then that HMS Terror would be somewhere in that sea area, not too far from HMS Erebus. Hence the name.

I mean, Hudson Bay is named as such, even though Henry Hudson was left there in a canoe and never seen again.

Barrister

Quote from: Drakken on September 13, 2016, 08:45:35 PM
Quote from: Barrister on September 13, 2016, 03:26:58 PM
What I want to know is this - they found the ship in Terror Bay - named after the ship.

So why didn't they start looking there years ago?!?

I think they already knew back then that HMS Terror would be somewhere in that sea area, not too far from HMS Erebus. Hence the name.

I mean, Hudson Bay is named as such, even though Henry Hudson was left there in a canoe and never seen again.

Erebus was only found two years ago.  I think they named the bay long before that.

I mean yes, they knew the two ships were somewhere in the very general vicinity (couple hundred miles or so), but I looked it up on a map - Terror Bay is fairly small...
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

Razgovory

Probably because they found dead bodies on the island.  They knew the ships were close, and the Franklin expedition gave some indication where they were before they were lost.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

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