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Where are Erebus and Terror? Parks Canada-led search team looking for missing ships once commanded by Sir John Franklin
Miranda Scotland
Northern News Services
Published Monday, August 26, 2013
NORTHWEST PASSAGE
The search for HMS Erebus and HMS Terror is back on for the fifth year.
Efforts to find the two Her Majesty's Ships began Aug. 10 and will continue for nearly six weeks, states a news release from Parks Canada.
"Having already covered more than 800 square kilometres, the team is narrowing their search on the world's most elusive shipwrecks, while systematically surveying Canada's vast and largely uncharted Arctic waters," said Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq.
"Weather permitting, this year's search will significantly build upon the important scientific and archaeological understanding in this fascinating part of Canada's history, and geography."
The HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, under the command of Sir John Franklin, had been sent to traverse the Northwest Passage. But in 1846 the ships became trapped in the ice.
Franklin and his crew died in the following years and the ships were lost to the sea.
Parks Canada first began looking for the vessels in 2008.
During last year's search researchers found artifacts such as buttons, nails, a toothbrush and some human remains.
The team had been looking in the region of the Victoria and Alexandra straits as well as the southern region near O'Reilly Island, west of the Adelaide Peninsula.
They are expected to continue looking in those areas again this year.
The underwater search will be conducted by a survey team aboard the Arctic Research Foundation's vessel Martin Bergmann.
The Canadian Coast Guard ship Sir Wilfrid Laurier will provide surveying support for a week.
"The team's traditional side-scan sonar surveying method will be boosted this year with the addition of a military-grade, side-scan sonar provided by Defence Research and Development Canada, and by a new autonomous underwater vehicle and remotely-operated vehicle, recently acquired by Parks Canada," stated Parks Canada.
The HMS Erebus and HMS Terror are the only designated national historic sites in Canada that remain undiscovered.
During his tour of the North last week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended the resources that have gone in to searching for the lost ships.
"The use of cutting-edge technology by the team to map the Arctic waters and locate the Franklin vessels is ... a tribute to Canadian expertise," Harper stated in a news release.
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