Extremely complex': How the hunt for clues in the
Franklin shipwreck mystery is changing gears
Plans
to explore Erebus site this year altered after delay in preparation of research
vessel
Janet Davison - CBC News
The hunt for HMS Erebus and HMS Terror was tough enough.Now Parks Canada underwater archeologists are sorting out just how they will try to unlock the clues to the Franklin Expedition mystery that may be hidden in the wrecks of the reinforced British warships that lie in the icy waters of Nunavut.
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| diver sets up to enter Erebus's hull |
"We are ready to get into what we consider is going to be one of the most complex and challenging underwater archeological excavations in Canada," Marc-André Bernier, manager of underwater archeology for Parks Canada, said of what comes next for exploring the Erebus site in Wilmot and Crampton Bay.
For one week at the end of August, a six-person team of underwater archeologists is planning to be at the site, diving from inflatable boats and working from a base camp on a nearby island.
Parks Canada said Friday the work will include preparations for the next phase of exploration of the Erebus, which is expected to continue for several years.
But with Erebus and Terror, it
seems, little comes simply. There are ongoing questions over future ownership
and security of the site.
And even this year's exploration has
had its hiccups. The planned program isn't what Parks Canada initially had in
mind, when it first proposed an archeological investigation of up to four
weeks, with 14 people on site.
Things changed when the agency
realized its hopes to have a newly refitted research vessel on base this summer
weren't going to work out.
The RV David Thompson, a 228-tonne
former coast guard vessel transferred to the agency, is still in a shipyard in
Nanaimo, B.C.
'Preparation
is key'
Bernier said there were a number of
factors at play, including unforeseen work required on a vessel at midlife, and
more stringent requirements than were anticipated for its recommissioning.
"Preparation is key for this
vessel so we want to make sure that before we bring it up to the Arctic,
everything is in top condition."
A barge that is intended to play a
major support role for work exploring the wreck sites also won't be in place in
time for this year's season, but Bernier anticipates it will be for
next summer.
"We're not going to start until
we have all the right pieces together and [the RV David
Thompson] unfortunately was delayed but we still have a lot of work to
do," said Bernier.
"It has changed our plans but
basically … we're starting the next phase. It's going to be extremely
complex."
While Parks Canada archeologists are
at the Erebus site later this month, they hope to "try to get deeper into
the wreck" with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), Bernier
said, and boost their knowledge of just what lies inside the timbers of the
ship that was one-half of the mid-19th-century expedition led by John Franklin
to find the elusive Northwest Passage.
The ROV will have video cameras, and
archeologists hope to gain access to the engine room, along with getting a look
inside the coal bunkers with point-of-view cameras.
They'll also be laying the groundwork
for the underwater excavation they hope to do — and which many hope will reveal
key clues to understanding how the expedition came to its sad demise, with its
loss of Franklin and 128 crew.
"We're going to change
gears," Bernier said. "This involves quite a lot more of logistical
support, equipment."
Where
should the barge go?
That means figuring out — among
other things — how and where to position the barge so it can support equipment
to remove sediment, provide a place from which the divers can dress and have a
hyperbaric chamber on site in case of any diving accident.
Work will also be done for the
"Guardian" program that will see Inuit heavily involved in efforts to
protect and monitor the sites.
No further work is planned this
summer at the HMS Terror site, about 100 kilometres north in the appropriately
named Terror Bay off King William Island, where that wreck was found last year.
Underwater archeologists recorded
nearly 10 hours of video of the wreck during an ice dive in April.
As far as Terror is concerned, I
think we've reached our objectives for this year already," said Bernier.
Archeologists are assessing what
they know about the site to help prepare for further exploration of a wreck
that presents a considerably different scenario than Erebus.
With Erebus, "we had to figure
out, OK, how are the decks damaged, what is the extent of the preservation
[that] we have," said Bernier. In ways, he said, it's a puzzle that has to
be put back together.
With Terror, it's a different story.
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| Terror's helm |
'Astonishing
state of preservation'
"Terror seems to be almost lying
on the bottom as it would have been floating 160 years ago, the masts and the
rigging being damaged but the rest is in an astonishing state of
preservation," said Bernier.
"HMS Erebus is located in
shallower waters and is therefore more susceptible to storm and ice damage. HMS
Terror is in deeper water and less susceptible to damage from the
freeze-and-thaw pattern, which explains why it appears to be in better shape
than HMS Erebus."
Still, the examination of the Terror
site has presented some tantalizing hints of what might have happened
toward the sad end of the Franklin Expedition.
"There's a lot of conclusions
we already have," said Bernier. "We know for certain, for example,
that the ship was not at anchor when it went down."
There have also been questions about
whether the ship was closed up for abandonment — or winterized — but underwater
archeologists have seen some of the hatches are partly open.
"We still need to understand
the reason for it but it doesn't have that feeling of being all closed
up."
The propeller isn't in place. Nor is
the rudder — maybe it's on the sea floor. "Was it removed for
winterization — we don't know," says Bernier.
For those who watch the exploration
of the Erebus and Terror sites from afar, the anticipation of what the
underwater archeologists may discover is immense.
'King
Tut's tomb underwater'
"The thing about the Erebus and
the Terror is that it's like setting up the Hubble Space Telescope, not really
knowing what you're going to find but excited about it every day because the
potential of finding something great is there," said author and longtime
Franklin sleuth David Woodman.
"This is King Tut's tomb underwater….
So even if they find nothing that illuminates the Franklin story or the tragedy
or the mystery, which is what most of the general public want, the
archeologists are overjoyed. There's decades of that kind of work to be
done."
And so, while we suspect there will be little more diving this season, work will continue to examine what has been recovered, and prepare to next season's exploration. It would appear that the archeologists have discovered "job security" in this quest! Maritime Maunder will try to keep you posted!
Until next time,
Fair Winds,
Old Salt
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