No anchors were deployed, and skylights were not boarded over to protect from harsh Arctic conditions. Harris noted that the ship was upright on the sea floor, its propeller in place. "Written materials could shed all kinds of light on what happened, the chronology of events, when the ships parted company and how they got to where they were found abandoned," he said. Project director Ryan Harris told a news conference the prospect of learning its secrets from what was left behind was "very tantalizing." "Sedimentation provides the best conditions for preservation as it allows for an environment with less oxygen, which helps preserve organics, like paper," the statement said. Map showing an area in the Canadian Arctic where HMS Terror vanished in 1848 along with HMS Erebus during an expedition They believe that the captain's desk, map cabinets with closed drawers and boxes could contain charts and logs preserved by the cold deep water, which may shed light on what exactly happened to the expedition. Underwater archeologists spent seven days exploring the Terror this summer and in a statement said they were stunned to discover its "extraordinary state of preservation" during the dives. The Erebus was found in Victoria Strait in 2014, while the Terror was located under 24 meters (80 feet) of water two years later in what is now known as Terror Bay, off King William Island, Nunavut. The Terror vanished alongside the HMS Erebus during explorer Sir John Franklin's storied Arctic expedition that left Britain in 1845 to discover the Northwest Passage linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.Īfter passing two whaling boats in Baffin Bay in August of that year, the ill-fated ships would never be seen afloat again. Canadian parks department officials announced Wednesday the results of a survey of the shipwreck's near-pristine interior-and revealed that artifacts preserved in the deep might help explain what happened to the polar exploration vessel.
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