Ship put Nunavut on map
Replica of bell from found Franklin ship unveiled at Royal Ontario Museum
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Published Monday, December 22, 2014
TORONTO
A printed 3-D replica of the bell from the HMS Erebus will ring across the nation via the Royal Ontario Museum and a network of historical museums.
Nunavut Premier Peter Taptuna, left, Think2Thing co-founder Ed Burtynski, Nunavut MP and minister responsible for Parks Canada Leona Aglukkaq, and Think2Thing co-founder David Didur show the 3-D replica bell from the HMS Erebus that is on display at the Royal Ontario Museum. - photo courtesy of Parks Canada |
The real artifact from the found ship of the Franklin Expedition of 1845 was resurrected from its watery grave thanks to technology after its discovery in Nunavut water, in the eastern portion of Queen Maud Gulf, on Sept. 7.
The Franklin Outreach Project, a partnership between the Government of Canada and the museum in Toronto was announced at the museum Dec. 18 by Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq, minister responsible for Parks Canada. Premier Peter Taptuna and other dignitaries attended.
"(The find) put Nunavut on the global map," Taptuna told Nunavut News/North later that day.
"It certainly has increased visibility throughout the world. We spend a lot of time trying to promote our territory and that was a real significant boost."
The Government of Nunavut was one of many partners in the search for the lost Franklin expedition, and was allowed pride of place with the first public announcement amid September's post-discovery silence due to a communication protocol established earlier in 2014.
The Government of Nunavut revealed in a press release dated Sept. 8 that its archeology team had recovered an artifact described as an "iron fitting certainly from one of the Franklin shipwrecks" the week before.
The real discovery was kept tightly under wraps and members of the search team flew to Ottawa for the announcement a ship had been found near the artifact.
The Franklin Outreach Project offers an opportunity for Canadians to experience the excitement. The exhibit includes the printed 3-D replica of the bell from the HMS Erebus – the original was unveiled in Ottawa Nov. 6 and is being carefully conserved – and a replicated sound of the bell.
The full exhibit will boast a variety of pop-up displays, first-hand accounts from Parks Canada staff who searched for and found the Erebus and elements of the Inuit traditional knowledge that helped find Franklin's lost ship.
That aspect of the find, Inuit oral history, is definitely part of the exhibit, said Taptuna.
"Minister Aglukkaq, the admiral (Rear-Admiral John Newton) and Janet Carding of the Royal Ontario Museum – they spoke about that. They mentioned the local person, Louie Kamookak, on several occasions."
Kamookak spent years collecting oral history in his home community of Gjoa Haven, cross referencing stories with traditional place names and conventional historical written accounts. The location of the find was not a surprise to him, nor was the eventual confirmation that it was indeed the HMS Erebus rather than the HMS Terror.
Taptuna continues to be awed by the detail and veracity of Inuit traditional knowledge.
"It certainly will bring to light the oral history that Inuit have," said Taptuna. "In 1772, Samuel Hearne, that was right in my neck of the woods … the oral history I used to hear as a child is spot on when you check the records and the log books of Samuel Hearne. I can't believe that after all these generations the oral history is second to none in accuracy."
A brush with this historical mystery which has mesmerized the world will become available to Canadians in the spring and will be further developed over the next three years as more discoveries are made during exploration of the sunken ship.
But there will be many for whom a museum exhibit just won't cut it. The outlook for tourism in the area of the find is looking good.
"When the discovery was announced, it was great news for Nunavummiut, especially Gjoa Haven. For Gjoa Haven, it will create opportunities for tourism, opportunities for the locals to actually benefit from that," said Taptuna.
"I feel quite optimistic that Gjoa Haven, in fact all the Kitikmeot and Nunavut, will certainly benefit from this."
Although Franklin's fate cannot be undone, he will live on as his tale unfolds for years to come.
