Regarding what will happen to the shipwrecks, how and where their stories will be Of Canada) undertook negotiations with Great Britain and Nunavut. Were found, the Government of Nunavut claimed ownership.Īfter the shipwrecks were discovered, the Parks Canada agency (representing the Government By the terms of the Nunavut LandĬlaims Agreement Act, the Inuit were to have ownership of all archaeological sitesĪnd artifacts within the boundaries of Nunavut. In a territory established as Nunavut in April 1999. What about ownership claims by the Inuit? Franklin’s ships disappeared in the Arctic Though the two countries arranged an MOU, the agreement
Some artifacts of outstanding significance were to be transferred to Great Britain,Īnd gold was to be shared equally. Great Britain agreed to transfer ownership of the yet unfound shipwrecks to Canada. However, the situation was complicated by the fact that in 1997, Since the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror belonged to the Royal Navy, Great Britain claimed ownership of the two vessels before In 1992, the Government of Canada had designated the undiscovered remains of the twoĪccording to international maritime law, military shipwrecks are the property of theĬountry that launches an expedition. Of the Arctic waters surrounding the remains of the famous ships? Competing claimsįor jurisdiction soon emerged from the governments of Great Britain, Canada, and Nunavut. Who owns the wrecks of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, and the artifacts on them? Where should the artifacts be exhibited? What about control ( Erebus, more exposed to the elements at about half that depth, has fared less well.After the discovery of John Franklin’s lost ships in 20, an internationalĬontroversy developed over ownership. (Cut marks on bones discovered on King William Island may bear out native stories.) Some Inuit legends - dismissed by nonnative searchers - even pinpointed the spot where Terror eventually was found in remarkable condition in about 80 feet of water. Inuit legends include tales of men staggering over the ice, their faces blackened by scurvy, reduced to eating their fallen companions.
#Erebus shipwreck full
Within a year and a half, Sir John Franklin was dead and both ships were stuck fast.Īfter a two-year siege, it’s believed that both crews abandoned their ships - still full of nearly three years’ worth of canned goods that may or may not have prematurely spoiled - and set out to walk hundreds of miles across the Arctic to the Canadian mainland.
Two 100-foot military ships, reinforced with iron and crewed by men and officers experienced in the Arctic, set out to find the fabled northern sea route from Europe to Asia. But why? And by whom?įinding Franklin and Paul Watson’s Ice Ghosts: The Epic Hunt for the Lost Franklin Expedition (Norton, 2017) set out to shed light on a mystery that was the Amelia Earhart legend of its day. Some researchers now believe either or both ships were remanned and sailed south. “Franklin fever” drove the Royal British navy to keep looking for the ships for decades Canada’s national park service took up the search, along with Inuit and private partners, in 2008.Ĭall it the rare upside of climate change: Diminishing ice helped Canada’s efforts pay off in 2014, when Erebus was found, and again this past fall when Terror was located, in Queen Maud Gulf - 60 miles from the Victoria Strait, where scant historical records suggested the ships should be. Potter, author of Finding Franklin: The Untold Story of a 165-Year Search (McGill-Queens University Press, 2016). “I’ve come to think of it as almost a kind of virus,” says Russell A. For nearly 170 years, tales of Terror and Erebus - ships of the 1845 Franklin Expedition seeking the Northwest Passage - have fascinated seamen and history buffs. On November 28th 1979 an Air New Zealand sightseeing flight crashed into the side of Mt Erebus killing everyone on board. And more than 100 men who simply vanished.
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