Dramatic Arctic Discovery

An exciting discovery of a ship involved in the search for a Northwest Passage rekindles the high adventure of the era. Thanks, in part, to global warming, the HMS Investigator has been located eight meters below the surface of the water in remote Mercy Bay.

"Investigator had sailed from England in 1850 under Captain Robert McClure to join the frantic search for the ill-fated Franklin expedition, entering the Arctic from the western side in hopes of finding Franklin’s two ships emerging from the fabled passage.

But while Investigator probed further east than any other European expedition, the ship quickly became trapped in ice, often hoisted out of the water by 15-metre-high ice ridges or threatened with hull-crushing floes.

With no sign of a thaw and his sailors debilitated by scurvy or weakened by starvation as rations dwindled, Capt. McClure ordered the ship’s crew divided into three parties, two leaving on suicidal attempts to walk to safety while the third would stay aboard in hopes of sailing free later in the year.

But within weeks of his desperate survival plan being implemented, another ship’s officer miraculously appeared on the horizon with word two better-equipped British vessels were also trapped in ice at neighbouring Melville Island.

Capt. McClure gave the order to abandon ship. The crew cleaned the cabins, emptied supplies into a massive cache on the shore, hoisted the Red Ensign and set out for the HMS Resolute where, after spending a fourth winter trapped in ice, they abandoned that ship and set sail to England aboard the HMS Northern Star.

While the captain and his crew walked part of the passage and left their ship behind, British MPs still voted to give Capt. McClure the posted reward of 10,000 British pounds for discovering the Northwest Passage."

Canada's Environment Minister Jim Prentice said that finding a relic linked to the discovery of the Northwest Passage represents a reasserted Canadian claim to Arctic sovereignty.

For history buffs, this news is archaeological high drama. Thanks to Doug for the link.