HMS Terror & HMS Erebus

[jbryce1437]

On the WNSF site we had a thread covering HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.

I remember it well, as it was I who wrote the original article(s) over 10 years ago.
If there is sufficient interest expressed, I could possibly recreate the articles here, given time.

Feel free to recreate them Bill.
Many thanks

JIm

[Pelican]

More Than 275 Artifacts Recovered from Franklin Expedition’s HMS Erebus


A team of researchers conducted 56 dives over 11 days in September on the wreck of the HMS Erebus from the 1845 Franklin Expedition near Gjoa Haven recovering more than 275 additional artifacts from the historic shipwreck. The newly retrieved artifacts included a corrective lens from a pair of eyeglasses, a leather portfolio with a quill still pressed inside as well as a decorative box for drafting, a piece of paper that may be infused with metal, and a box of officers’ epaulets.

In 2020, archaeologists from Parks Canada retrieved more than 350 artifacts from the wreck site, including epaulets from a lieutenant’s uniform, ceramic dishes, wine bottles, a hairbrush with strands of human hair, and a pencil case.

All the artifacts recovered so far are jointly owned by the Inuit Heritage Trust and the Government of Canada, and many of them can be viewed online at the Parks Canada website.

Franklin’s lost expedition was a voyage in search of the Northwest passage led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed from England in 1845 aboard two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. The ships became icebound in Victoria Strait near King William Island in the Canadian Arctic, in what is today the territory of Nunavut. The entire expedition of 129 men, including Franklin, was lost. The expedition is considered one of the worst disasters in the history of polar exploration. The wreck of HMS Erebus was discovered in 2014. HMS Terror was located in 2016.

See - http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2022/12/more ... more-60060 - For links.

Note Comment: "The Parks Canada website is certainly worth looking at as artefacts from three previous dives are photographed. Such an intersting collection of items."

[Pelican]

275 Artifacts From the Legendary Franklin Shipwreck Have Been Retrieved

This year, an archaeological team headed by Parks Canada unearthed 275 artifacts, along with new imagery and survey data, from the wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, otherwise known as the Franklin expedition, Parks Canada said in a press release earlier this month.

The recent excavations come nearly a decade after the shipwrecks were first discovered, in 2014 and 2016 respectively. Due to the pandemic, the excavations were temporarily halted.

Continues at - https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/a ... 234652034/

LFT - Link from Tim.

[Pelican]

Sir Michael Palin unveils plaque to Franklin’s lost expedition at Sir John Franklin pub in Greenhithe
He famously travelled around the world in 80 days but today Sir Michael Palin has alighted at a pub in Kent on an “emotional” mission.
The globetrotting broadcaster paid a visit to the county to unveil a plaque in honour of a group of arctic explorers at the site of their last farewell.
See - https://www.kentonline.co.uk/dartford/n ... ub-300559/


And:
Sir Michael Palin has spoken of “feeling emotional” as he unveiled a plaque to commemorate an ill-fated expedition in which two Royal Navy ships became trapped in Arctic ice.
The Monty Python star, writer and broadcaster travelled to the banks of the River Thames in Kent, where Sir John Franklin’s voyage set sail in 1845.
HMS Erebus and HMS Terror left Greenhithe in a bid to traverse the Northwest Passage. All 129 men on board died, with the shipwrecks only discovered by Canadian authorities a decade ago.
Sir Michael, who has written a book about the voyage, told ITV News: “This is a story about the achievement of the Navy and the extraordinary skills of our sailors. But I suppose, most of all, it is just that slightly emotional feeling that this would have been the last place where people would have seen these ships departing from.
“I’ve become so attached to the story of Erebus and the crew of Erebus and all the people on board, I’ve read their letters, I feel all the sort of emotions they must have felt - great hope and some doubt. The spirit of this place is quite important.”
See - https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2024- ... expedition - Which contains 2 short videos.