BC Team Part of Effort to Solve Arctic Mystery

Three UVic engineers are taking part in Parks Canada’s initiative to locate the lost ships of the Franklin expedition.

A map of the probable routes taken by HMS Erebus and HMS Terror during Franklin’s lost expedition. Disko Bay (5) to Beechey Island and around Cornwallis Island (1) in 1845. Beechey Island down Peel Sound between Prince of Wales Island (2) and Somerset Island (3) and the Boothia Peninsula (4), to near King William Island in 1846. Wikimedia Commons, Finetooth, Kennonv, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency

A team of engineers from the University of Victoria is heading to the Arctic to take part in Parks Canada’s latest initiative to locate the lost ships of the Franklin expedition.

This is the fourth season Parks Canada has led the search for HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, which disappeared during British explorer Sir John Franklin’s 1845 mission to chart the Northwest Passage and find a safe and reliable route from Europe to the Orient.

The expedition was to last three years, but after 18 months the vessels went missing along with the 129 men on board. Although traces of the expedition have been found, the ships’ final resting places remain unknown.

Three researchers from UVic’s Ocean Technology Lab will be using the lab’s autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to assist the Parks Canada team in its search.