[flangemanager]

I thought this was fascinating. It's great that they found it after all this time and in what appears to be pretty good condition -

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Canada finds one of two missing British explorer ships that became trapped in the Arctic ice more than 160 years ago - forcing the 129 men on board 'to turn to cannibalism before they perished'

- The HMS Erebus and HMS Terror were carrying British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin and 128 hand-picked officers when they vanished in the late 1840s - perhaps after they were abandoned when they became locked in ice

- On Sunday, Parks Canada used a remote underwater vehicle to find a wreckage in the Victoria Strait near King William Island, Nunavut - but officials do not yet know which ship it is

- Canada announced it would start searching for the wreckages in 2008 in a bid to assert its sovereignty over the Northwest Passage - the same passage the ships had been trying to find

One of two British explorer ships that vanished in the Arctic more 160 years ago has been found, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced on Tuesday.

The HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, which were led by British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin and were carrying 128 hand-picked officers, were last seen in the late 1840s as they searched for the fabled Northwest Passage.
In 2008, Canada announced it would search for the ships in a bid to assert its sovereignty over the passage, which was found during searches for the missing ships. The wreckage was confirmed by Parks Canada on Sunday using a remote underwater vehicle in the Victoria Strait near King William Island, Nunavut.







The failure of the expedition was a huge event in England in the mid-19th century; The Globe and Mail likened it to a moon landing gone wrong today.

Franklin's vessels are among the most sought-after prizes in marine archaeology, and Harper said the discovery would shed light on what happened to Franklin's crew. Tantalizing traces have been found over the years, including the bodies of three crewmen discovered in the 1980s.
The bodies of two English seamen - John Hartnell, 25, and Royal Marine William Braine, 33 - were exhumed in 1986. An expedition uncovered the perfectly preserved remains of a petty officer, John Torrington, 20, in an ice-filled coffin in 1984.

Franklin's disappearance prompted one of history's largest and longest rescue searches, from 1848 to 1859, which resulted in the passage's discovery. The original search for the ships helped open up parts of the Canadian Arctic for discovery back in the 1850s.

The route runs from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Arctic archipelago. European explorers sought the passage as a shorter route to Asia, but found it rendered inhospitable by ice and weather.
With the melting Arctic ice now unlocking the shipping route Franklin was after, Harper's government searched for the ship in order to stake a claim on the passage.

Sunday's discovery came shortly after a team of archaeologists found a tiny fragment from the Franklin expedition. Searchers discovered an iron fitting that once helped support a boat from one of the doomed expedition's ships in the King William Island search area. The search for an Arctic passage to Asia frustrated explorers for centuries, beginning with John Cabot's voyage in 1497. Eventually it became clear that a passage did exist, but was too far north for practical use.

Cabot, the Italian-British explorer, died in 1498 while trying to find it and the shortcut eluded other famous explorers including Henry Hudson and Francis Drake. No sea crossing was successful until Roald Amundsen of Norway completed his trip from 1903-1906.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Erebus_%281826%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Terror_%281813%29

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...st-Arctic.html

[kellyhound]

cool they finally found it.

[JackN]

Interesting post!

[Ironmonger]

Very cool

[Robert440]

I am surprised that they listened to the Inuit peoples and decided to look where it was....after all that time looking they decided to look at the last minute. Well were out of time and money lets look where they say it was!

[GregK]

Wow, that is awesome