In 1850, the HMS Investigator sailed into the Canadian Arctic in search for the fabled Northwest Passage. Captain Robert McClure and his crew, after getting trapped in ice in 1853, abandoned the ship. But a team of archaeologists recently found the ship, which is in remarkably good condition. Canadian parks official Marc-Andre Bernier said:
Link | Image: University of Delaware
"The ship had not moved too much from where it was abandoned," said Bernier.
The masts and rigging have long been sheared off by ice and weather. But the icy waters of the McClure Strait has preserved the vessel in remarkably good condition.
"It's incredible," said Prentice from Mercy Bay. "You're actually able to peer down into the water and see not only the outline of the ship but actually the individual timbers.
Link | Image: University of Delaware
:rolls eyes:
Also, the Investigator wasn't found in Arctic ice, it was found in Arctic water; They were only able to find it because this area is ice free for the first time in anyone's memory.
There are a few very cool things about this story worth mentioning.
- While the precise location of the ship used high tech sounding gear, the rough location of the Investigator was established using Inuit oral stories.
- The Investigator's mission represents one of the earliest contacts between Europeans and Inuit. The Inuit in this area were known as the Copper Inuit because they had so much copper, which they had stripped off the abandoned hulk of the Investigator before it was swallowed by the ice.
-The crew of the Investigator spent four years trapped in ice before basically walking until they were rescued by another ship.
-The investigator made it farther through the NW passage than any other other ship.