Searching for Franklin’s lost ships

Today, Arctic waters in the region where HMS Erebus and HMS Terror were lost are usually navigable in late August and early September. Search ships can only survey during this short window.

The rest of the year, Parks Canada investigators sift through many clues to determine how to best use the precious ice-free weeks. They decide where to search and what equipment to use. They coordinate the search and build partnerships. They talk with Inuit who live in the area and who have invaluable oral histories about Franklin’s journey.

The UAT collaborates with a number of organizations to search the largest possible area. Partners help with expert personnel, logistical support, and cutting-edge technologies.

After the search season ends, the UAT examines the data and plans the next year’s search.

In August 2008, the UAT and the Canadian Hydrographic Service set the stage for future search missions: they charted a 65-kilometre long corridor leading to what would become a main search area for HMS Erebus in Wilmot and Crampton Bay.

A planned second year of field work was ruled out when a shortage of available research ships made deployment impossible. The Canadian Coast Guard—an able and supportive member of the search effort—had committed ships to a number of research projects during the 2009 International Polar Year. Ice conditions were also uncooperative.

The UAT used the time to carry out work at other sites—and to plan for the 2010 field season.

The addition of new partners—the Arctic Research Foundation and the Canadian Space Agency—greatly extended the duration and the search coverage of the 2012 mission.

Over the course of four weeks, the search team combed the seafloor around O’Reilly Island and farther north in Victoria Strait and Alexandra Strait. They used side-scan sonar, single-beam bathymetry, and multi-beam bathymetry. Operations were staged from both the returning CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier and first-timer Martin Bergmann.

Researchers from the University of Victoria deployed an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) in a trial run during the 2012 Franklin search. The AUV was shipped up to the Arctic in pieces for assembly. It carried a side-scan sonar that gathered acoustic waves to map the seafloor.

Helicopters delivered terrestrial archaeologists to key islands, where they searched for clues to the resting places of Erebus and Terror.

The 2012 mission charted 419 kilometres of seafloor, helping to make the area safer for the navigation of modern ships. The mission also ruled out the surveyed zones as the location of Franklin’s missing ships.

The search intensified. For the first time, Parks Canada’s research and diving boat Investigator was sent north for the search, and was deployed from CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier.

The mission lasted almost six weeks and surveyed 486 kilometres of seafloor. The underwater team searched in two areas simultaneously: O’Reilly Island west of Adelaide Peninsula, and in Victoria Strait and Alexandra Strait. The Government of Nunavut’s land-based archaeological team concentrated their search along the shoreline of Erebus Bay.

Each year the team covered more ground. Every mission brought them closer to their goal.

Years of searching, planning, and staring at sonar screens all paid off. On September 1, a helicopter party from Sir Wilfrid Laurier led by Doug Stenton found a piece of rusted metal on an island in Wilmot and Crampton Bay. They also found a rounded piece of wood. Archaeologists soon identified the metal object as a davit pintle from a British Navy ship, and the wooden artifact as a hawse plug. On September 2, the UAT, working from its boat Investigator, shifted its search closer to the shore finds. UAT archaeologist Ryan Harris, who had led the search since 2008, was in front of the sonar screen—and watched with astonishment as the image of an intact ship sitting on the seafloor came into view.

They had found HMS Erebus.

The 2014 mission saw new partners: the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and the Royal Canadian Navy ship HMCS Kingston. Ice, always a concern in the Canadian Arctic, prevented Kingston from joining the search.

By the end of the season, the UAT and its partners had completed the sonar survey of a total of 1,601 square kilometres of seafloor. Most importantly, the mission had located HMS Erebus.

Read more about finding HMS Erebus.

The UAT planned their next moves. First, how to best study and document HMS Erebus? And, of course, where was HMS Terror?

Follow the underwater archaeology team as they explore HMS Erebus.

UAT efforts were split in two: documenting HMS Erebus, and continuing the search for HMS Terror. The search concentrated in the northern area of Victoria Strait. CHS was once again part of the team, and the Royal Canadian Navy sent HMCS Shawinigan to assist.

An unexpected discovery, thanks to a tip from Gjoa Haven Inuk Samy Kogvik, changed everything. Research vessel Martin Bergmann, sonar deployed, sailed right over a sunken ship on its way to rendezvous with the main search team. Parks Canada archaeologists soon verified that the ship was HMS Terror

Archaeologists continue documenting HMS Erebus.
Follow archaeologists as they take a first look at HMS Terror.