…on the seabed in Victoria Strait. But they don’t yet know whether it’s HMS Erebus or HMS Terror. Maily Dail takes up the story:

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.

Harper, speaking in Ottawa on Tuesday, said it remains unclear which of the two ships has been found, but images show there is enough information to confirm it’s one of the pair.

‘This is truly a historic moment for Canada,’ said Harper, who was beaming, uncharacteristically. ‘This has been a great Canadian story and mystery and the subject of scientists, historians, writers and singers so I think we really have an important day in mapping the history of our country.’
He added: ‘Finding the first vessel will no doubt provide the momentum – or wind in our sails – necessary to locate its sister ship and find out even more about what happened to the Franklin Expedition’s crew.’

Franklin and 128 hand-picked officers and men vanished on an expedition begun in 1845 to find the fabled Northwest Passage.

While no one knows for sure exactly what happened to the crew, experts believe the ships were lost in 1848 after they became locked in the ice near King William Island and that the crews abandoned them in a hopeless bid to reach safety.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2749408/Canada-finds-1-2-explorer-ships-lost-Arctic.html#ixzz3Crps2m8n

looks in mint condition too.

Pretty cool’ah

Cymek said:

Pretty cool’ah

yep.

Cymek said:

Pretty cool’ah

About 4 degrees Celsius would be my guess…

I don’t suppose they’d name a ship “Terror” these days.

They were well-fitted out for the voyage, by the standards of the time:

Ships, crew and provisions

Erebus at 378 tons (bm) and Terror at 331 tons (bm) were sturdily built and were outfitted with recent inventions. The steam engine of Erebus came from the London and Greenwich Railway and that of Terror was probably from the London and Birmingham Railway. They enabled the ships to make 7.4 km/h (4 kn) on their own power. Other advanced technology included bows reinforced with heavy beams and plates of iron, an internal steam heating device for the comfort of the crew, screw propellers and iron rudders that could be withdrawn into iron wells to protect them from damage, ships’ libraries of more than 1,000 books, and three years’ worth of conventionally preserved or tinned preserved food supplies. Unfortunately, the latter was supplied from a cut-rate provisioner, Stephen Goldner, who was awarded the contract on 1 April 1845, just seven weeks before Franklin set sail. Goldner worked in haste on the order of 8,000 tins, which were later found to have lead soldering that was “thick and sloppily done, and dripped like melted candle wax down the inside surface”.

Most of the crew were Englishmen, many of them from the North Country, with a small number of Irishmen and Scotsmen. Aside from Franklin and Crozier, the only other officers who were Arctic veterans were an assistant surgeon and the two ice-masters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin’s_lost_expedition#Ships.2C_crew_and_provisions

Bubblecar said:

I don’t suppose they’d name a ship “Terror” these days.

“Erebus” as a ship name was probably off the list after 1979 too.

Nice images. Both these ships also sailed to the Antarctic together and Mt Erebus was named after one of them.

The crew of this expedition were stuck in a hut somewhere for months and ended up eating their boiled-up leather shoes and lichen soup.

Speedy said:

Nice images. Both these ships also sailed to the Antarctic together and Mt Erebus was named after one of them.

The crew of this expedition were stuck in a hut somewhere for months and ended up eating their boiled-up leather shoes and lichen soup.

Yes, on the Ross expedition, 1840, which discovered the Ross Ice Shelf.

Bubblecar said:

Speedy said:

Nice images. Both these ships also sailed to the Antarctic together and Mt Erebus was named after one of them.

The crew of this expedition were stuck in a hut somewhere for months and ended up eating their boiled-up leather shoes and lichen soup.

Yes, on the Ross expedition, 1840, which discovered the Ross Ice Shelf.

We used to get food like that at boarding school.

Speedy said:

Nice images. Both these ships also sailed to the Antarctic together and Mt Erebus was named after one of them.

The crew of this expedition were stuck in a hut somewhere for months and ended up eating their boiled-up leather shoes and lichen soup.

Doesn’t sound like it would taste too nice, but someone lichened it to chicken.

Lord Franklin – Pentangle

Some nice pictures, as well as the music.

And 0 dislikes!!!!

The Rev Dodgson said:

Lord Franklin – Pentangle

Some nice pictures, as well as the music.

And 0 dislikes!!!!

Pleasant & on topic :)