Planes, Chains and Snowmobiles: A Decade of Parks Canada Underwater Archaeology in the Canadian Arctic

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "The Wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror National Historic Site of Canada: 2016-2019 Underwater Archaeological Investigations" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In 2008, Parks Canada’s Underwater Archaeology Team launched an Arctic search program, principally to locate the wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, the ships of Sir John Franklin’s 1845 expedition. Over the years the program blossomed to the point that three British Arctic discovery ships have been found (HMS Investigator, HMS Erebus, HMS Terror), the wreck of Breadalbane revisited, and other searches and projects completed. With a little over 10 years in the Arctic now under our weight belts, 2019 witnesses the second voyage of our research ship David Thompson to the Arctic, excavation of HMS Erebus, and complex exterior and interior investigations of HMS Terror. This presentation will give an overview of this Arctic research program and look back at its major milestones, methods, and people involved, and underscore the role played by Inuit, past and present, in the discovery, management, protection and presentation of Erebus and Terror.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020   •
• The Wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror National Historic Site of Canada: 2016-2019 Underwater Archaeological Investigations

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 762