The ship "Terror", which sank 170 years ago, has been preserved in perfect condition. This may help uncover the mystery of his death.
In 2016, a ship called the Terror was discovered in the icy waters off King William Island in the far north of Canada, shipwrecked in the mid-19th century. The circumstances and location of the shipwreck have not yet been thoroughly studied. Taking advantage of the unusually calm sea and good underwater visibility, the team from Parks Canada made a series of seven dives to the vessel in early August.
“The ship is surprisingly intact. You look at it and you can't believe you are seeing a 170 year old shipwreck. You don't see this kind of thing very often,”said Ryan Harris, lead archaeologist of the project.
On the ocean floor, not only the cabins and decks were perfectly preserved: the plates, glasses, beds, tables and scientific instruments were intact. Scientists suggest that surviving magazines or photographs can be found under the drifts of the remnant.
“These layers of sediment, along with cold water and darkness, have created a near-ideal anaerobic environment that is great for preserving delicate organics like textiles or paper. There is a very high probability of finding clothes or documents on which you can still make out the text. For example, the curled or folded diagrams in the captain's safe might well have survived,”said Harris.
All other doors on the ship were open.
The mystery of the death of John Franklin's expedition still haunts the minds of scientists. In 1845, an experienced Royal Navy captain embarked on an expedition to explore an unknown part of the Northwest Passage and complete its discovery. However, the expedition on two ships with 129 crew members, including Franklin himself, disappeared.
Only in 1850 were the first traces of the expedition found - the graves of three members of its crew. In 1859, a search team discovered a note left on King William Island with detailed information about the fate of the missing until the spring of 1848. Subsequent research has restored part of the history of the expedition.
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Franklin's team overwintered in 1845-1846 on Beachy Island, where three of its members died and were buried. The expedition ships were ice-covered off King William Island in September 1846 and never set sail again. According to a note dated April 25, 1848, Franklin died on June 11, 1847.
The surviving crew members attempted to make their way overland to a distant fur trading outpost hundreds of kilometers from mainland Canada, but none of them made it to the nearest stronghold of civilization.
In 2014, the first ship of the expedition, the Erebus, was discovered in the waters off King William Island, and two years later, the Terror, found tens of kilometers from the Erebus.
Why the ships ended up so far apart, which one went to the bottom first, and why and how the ships sank are questions that archaeologists hope to answer.
“Terror has no obvious reasons for sinking. It was not crushed by ice and there are no holes in the hull. And yet he seems to have quickly and suddenly drowned and sank carefully to the bottom. Without a doubt, these cabins have many more answers that lie under the draft. Either way, I'm sure we'll get to the heart of the story,”said Harris.
