In 1845, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror set sail from England on a mission to sail near the summit of North America. The voyage, led by Captain John Franklin, ended in tragedy three years later when both ships sank in the frigid waters off the Canadian coast.
None of the 129 people on board survived. According to the Royal Museum of Greenwich in London, the so-called Franklin Expedition was recorded as the worst disaster in the history of British polar exploration.
Nearly 200 years after the ship sank, divers exploring the wreck of the HMS Erebus have discovered an array of “fascinating artifacts” including a pistol, coins and even an intact thermometer, officials announced this week.
Brett Seymour, Parks Canada
Underwater archaeologists conducted 68 dives over 12 days in September to continue examining and documenting the wreck of HMS Erebus, Parks Canada said in a news release. The team excavated a sailor's chest in the forward part of the ship below deck, where most of the crew lived, and discovered “numerous artifacts, including pistols, military supplies, shoes, vials and coins.”
Archaeologists discovered leather shoes, storage jars, and sealed medicine bottles in an area believed to be Captain Franklin's pantry. Inside another officer's cabin, researchers found “items related to navigation, science and leisure,” including a parallel ruler, a thermometer, a leather book cover and a fishing rod with a brass reel.
Parks Canada released video of the expedition showing divers recovering artifacts from the wreck and scientists examining them in a laboratory.
Archaeologists have also captured thousands of high-resolution photos of HMS Erebus. Parks Canada said the images will be used to create a 3D model to better assess how the wreck site, which is in relatively shallow water and vulnerable to storms, is changing over time.
After exploring HMS Erebus, the team returned to the wreck of HMS Terror two days later to conduct remote sensing of the ship.
“This included surveys to capture a snapshot of the condition of the wreck and expanded mapping of vessel access corridors into the largely uncharted bay,” the researchers wrote.
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The exact fate of the ship, which may have become trapped in the ice, is not yet known, and officials have so far relied on Inuit oral history to figure out what happened.
According to the Royal Museums Greenwich, “A total of 39 missions were sent to the North Pole, but it was not until the 1850s that evidence of what happened to those men began to emerge.” “The exact circumstances of their deaths remain a mystery to this day.”
Parks Canada has been working with the Nattilik Heritage Society and Inuit Heritage Trust to explore the shipwreck for several years.
Officials said the recently recovered artifacts will undergo conservation treatment before being put on display at the Nattilik Heritage Center in Gjoa Haven, an Inuit village in Nunavut above the Arctic Circle.
“The Franklin Expedition remains one of the most popular mysteries of the 19th century,” Stephen Guilbeau, Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, said in a statement. “But thanks to the important work of Parks Canada and our Inuit partners, pieces of this mysterious puzzle have been recovered, allowing us to better understand the fascinating events of this incredible expedition.”
Universal History Archive via Getty Images