Parks Canada officials say the search will resume this week for the ships of the 1845 Franklin expedition to the Arctic. The 59-year-old Sir John Franklin had made three previous expeditions to the the far northern Canadian archipeligo searching for the fabled “Northwest passage” to the Orient.
The two ships specially fitted out for Arctic weather and sea conditions, HMS Erebus, and Terror, became trapped in ice near King William Island and Sir John Franklin and the entire compliment of 128 men perished.
This will be the fifth season Canadian researchers will have been searching the vast ocean area for traces of the ships.
This season the search will include enhanced sonar capability and new underwater vehicles. They note that in addition to searching for Franklins ships, the work will add vast mapping knowledge of the sea floor in this previously little known area.
As a sidenote, it was on August 13 1980, that searchers located the HMS Breadalbane, a three-masted barque that sunk in ice in 1853 near Beechey Island. It was one of several ships and expeditions sent to find Franklin.
The Breadalbane is currently the northernmost shipwreck known and was reportedly in very good state of preservation,with some sails and rigging still intact. In 1983, the ship was officially declared an historic site of Canada for its role in attempting to find Franklin.
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.