“This discovery changes history,” he told the Guardian. The Arctic Research Foundation was set up by Jim Balsillie, a Canadian tech tycoon and philanthropist, who co-founded Research in Motion, creator of the Blackberry.īalsillie, who also played a key role in planning the expedition, proposed a theory to explain why it seems both Terror and Erebus sank far south of where they were first abandoned. Adrian Schimnowski, Arctic Research Foundation If you could lift this boat out of the water, and pump the water out, it would probably float.” If you could lift this boat and pump the water out, it would probably float. “This vessel looks like it was buttoned down tight for winter and it sank,” he said. The wreck is in such good condition that glass panes are still in three of four tall windows in the stern cabin where the ship’s commander, Captain Francis Crozier, slept and worked, Schimnowski added. Photograph: Arctic Research FoundationĪnd the majestic bowsprit, six metres (20ft) long, still points straight out from the bow as it did when the crew tried to navigate through treacherous ice that eventually trapped Erebus and Terror on 12 September 1846. But on the third dive with a remotely operated vehicle, “we noticed the wreck is sitting level on the sea bed floor not at a list - which means the boat sank gently to the bottom,” Schimnowski said Monday.Ībout 24 metres (80ft) down, the wreck is in perfect condition, with metal sheeting that reinforced the hull against sea ice clearly visible amid swaying kelp.Ī long, heavy rope line running through a hole in the ship’s deck suggests an anchor line may have been deployed before the Terror went down.Īn image from the deck of the wreck of HMS Terror as it lies on the seabed. Since, then, the discovery team has spent more than a week quietly gathering images of the vessel and comparing them with the Terror’s 19th century builders’ plans, which match key elements of the sunken vessel.Īt first, the Terror seemed to be listing at about 45 degrees to starboard on the seabed. “Everyone was up in the wheelhouse by that point in awe, really,” said Daniel McIsaac, 23, who was at the helm when the research vessel steamed straight over the sunken wreck. Photograph: Arctic Research FoundationĪfter finding nothing in an early morning search, the research vessel was leaving the bay when a grainy digital silhouette emerged from the depths on the sounder display on the bridge of the Bergmann. The bell of HMS Terror on the deck of the sunken vessel. Found a desk with open drawers with something in the back corner of the drawer.” “We spotted two wine bottles, tables and empty shelving. “We have successfully entered the mess hall, worked our way into a few cabins and found the food storage room with plates and one can on the shelves,” Adrian Schimnowski, the foundation’s operations director, told the Guardian by email from the research vessel Martin Bergmann. We found the food storage room with plates and one can on the shelves. On Sunday, a team from the charitable Arctic Research Foundation manoeuvred a small, remotely operated vehicle through an open hatch and into the ship to capture stunning images that give insight into life aboard the vessel close to 170 years ago. Now that mystery seems to have been solved by a combination of intrepid exploration – and an improbable tip from an Inuk crewmember. Search parties continued to look for the ships for 11 years after they disappeared, but found no trace, and the fate of the missing men remained an enigma that tantalised generations of historians, archaeologists and adventurers. All 129 men on the Franklin expedition died, in the worst disaster to hit Britain’s Royal Navy in its long history of polar exploration.
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