14 DAY TRIAL // This past Tuesday, the Canadian government announced that a long-sought explorer ship that went missing back in the 1840s during an expedition led by British explorer Sir John Franklin was discovered in the Arctic.
The ship was found with the help of sonar technology, which enabled researchers to identify its nearly intact remains at a depth of about 11 meters (36 feet), not far from Nunavut's King William Island in the Canadian Arctic, The Guardian informs.
A history lesson
As already mentioned, the expedition during which this ship and crew aboard it vanished without a trace was led by British explorer Sir John Franklin. Together with other daredevils, this explorer left for the Arctic in 1845.
Sir John Franklin and fellow explorers embarked on this journey looking to navigate and map the Northwest Passage. Unfortunately, they disappeared not long after setting sail, in 1846.
Several search parties were sent to the region over the following years, but all these would-be rescuers came away pretty much empty-handed. Thus, they only managed to find the graves of a few members of the crew.
Eventually, it was agreed that Sir John Franklin and the other explorers accompanying him died after becoming entrapped in ice, and until 2008, when Canadian archaeologists and divers became interested in the story of this expedition, no further efforts to find them were made.
Mind you, the vessel discovered close to King William Island with the help of sonar technology was not the only one that was lost during this expedition. On the contrary, Sir John Franklin and his 128 sailors left for the Arctic aboard two ships, the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror.
Both these vessels vanished in 1846. For the time being, it is still unclear which of the two ships was found by Canadian researchers close to Nunavut's King William Island. Once the vessel's remains are analyzed in further detail, historians will have the answer this question.
Why Canada wanted to find this ship
By the looks of it, Canada didn't send archaeologists and divers in search of this vessel simply because it had some extra cash lying around and decided to spend it on Arctic exploration. In a nutshell, this latest search mission was organized as part of the country's attempt to assert its sovereignty over the Northwest Passage.
“Franklin's ships are an important part of Canadian history given that his expeditions, which took place nearly 200 years ago, laid the foundations of Canada's Arctic sovereignty,” Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the press in an interview.
“This is truly a historic moment for Canada. 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.
