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Canada and the Inuit are now officially
co-owners of the two long-lost ships from the Franklin expedition.
The deeds to HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, along with all their
remaining contents, were signed over to Canada and the Inuit Heritage Trust
after nearly two years of negotiations with the British government over which
artifacts Britain would retain.
"This is a really extraordinary announcement,"
Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said during Thursday's signing
ceremony with British High Commissioner Susan le Jeune D'Allegeershecque.
Britain retains ownership of 65 artifacts already discovered
— both on land prior to the discovery of either shipwreck, as well as
onboard Erebus itself after it was found in September 2014.
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| HMS Erebus in better times |
Parks Canada archeologists, guided by Inuit experts, located
Erebus in relatively shallow water off the coast of King William Island in
Nunavut in September 2014. HMS Terror was found in waters off a different
part of the island almost exactly two years later.
In May 1845, Sir John Franklin and his crew left
England on an exploratory and scientific mission through the Arctic. They
disappeared sometime in 1846 after the ships became trapped in the ice,
their fate and the locations of the ships becoming one of Canada's
most enduring historical mysteries.
Because they were commissioned Royal Navy ships, they and their
contents belonged to the U.K. under international law. But in 1997, long before
the ships were actually found, Britain agreed ownership would eventually be transferred
to Canada. Negotiations to do so officially began in May 2016 but hit some
road blocks that necessitated high-level intervention last summer.
In her first week on the job as the new British high
commissioner in Canada last August, le Jeune D'Allegeershecque had a meeting
with McKenna in Ottawa.
"She asked me if I could get it sorted out and we've done
it," le Jeune D'Allegeershecque said Thursday.
She said informal agreement was reached when Prime Minister
Theresa May met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa in September.
Britain announced in October it would transfer ownership of all but a handful
of artifacts to Canada and the Inuit. Still it took many more months for the
final arrangements to be made, culminating Thursday in the signing ceremony at
the Canadian Museum of History.
The museum is currently hosting a special exhibit on the
Franklin expedition with many of the 65 artifacts Britain is keeping,
including the ship's bell from HMS Erebus, the ship's wheel, some bowls and
dinner plates, and even a handful of lead shot from navy guns.
Everything left on the ships — thousands of artifacts remain on
board — will be co-owned by Canada and the Inuit Heritage Trust, an Inuit
cultural preservation organization mandated under the Nunavut land claims
agreement.
It was only with Inuit historical accounts and assistance that
Parks Canada finally found the ships. Thursday's ceremony paid tribute to Louie
Kamookak, who was instrumental in helping to locate the ships
and who died last month of cancer.
Kamookak's work unravelling the Inuit oral histories of the
shipwrecks was critical to Parks Canada ultimately being able to locate the
lost ships, said Torsten Diesel, the Inuit Heritage Trust's project manager.
"Each and every one of us are only here today thanks to
Louie Kamookak," said Diesel.
The only artifacts to be recovered so far have come from
Erebus, which will be the focus for Parks Canada when a team of nine underwater
archeologists return to the site this summer.
Jarred Picher, director of archaeology and history at Parks
Canada, said Erebus contains the cabin once occupied by Franklin himself
and is the best bet to uncover some of the biggest secrets about the fated
expedition.
"We often talk about the holy grail being captains logs
and journals and things like that and in Arctic conditions it is entirely
possible they can be preserved," said Picher.
The sites of the two shipwrecks are national historic sites,
with protected status keeping out anyone daring enough to make the dangerous
journey to King William Island, which is more than 200 kilometres north of the
Arctic Circle in Nunavut.
However, Picher said one day it is hoped there might be some
public access to the sites. While some of the important artifacts will be
removed from the ships and preserved, many of the contents will never be
touched, and there is no plan to raise the ships themselves out of the water,
he added.
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So - good news for Canada and the Inuit Heritage Trust. I look forward to hearing more and seeing more artifacts recovered, perhaps giving a clue as to what went awry with the expedition, causing the disaster, the loss of two ships, and the death of two entire crews.
Until next time,
Fair Winds,
Old Salt
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