Northwest Passage Exploration Ship Found

Kittenman writes: The BBC (and several other sources) are carrying the news that the Canadian government has found the sunken remains of one of Sir John Franklin's ships (either the Erebus, or the Terror), that went missing in the 1840s, causing sensation in Victorian London. Sir John and his entire crew were never seen alive again. The search for traces of the expedition went for over ten years in the 19th century, partly led by Sir John's widow. The discovery has been called the biggest archaeological event since the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb.

Comments

Biggest archaeological event?

[grouchomarxist]

I'm no archaeologist, but I doubt most archaeologists would claim this discovery ranks that highly. The person making the claim is an expert on the Franklin expedition, so he's bound to be a bit biased. It certainly sounds interesting, but we know a lot about Britain in the 1840s. I think the bigger archaeological discoveries involve civilizations we don't know much about.

Re: Biggest archaeological event?

[rHBa]

I'm not saying finding the Titanic wasn't important but archaeologically speaking it is far less important than the Mary Rose.

On the one hand we have the Titanic which sunk in 1912, we know virtually everything about, it's design, it's passenger list etc. Heck we even have film footage of it.

On the other hand we have the Marry Rose which sank in 1545 and (according to Wikipedia) "The surviving section of the ship and thousands of recovered artefacts are of immeasurable value as a Tudor-era time capsule. [...] The finds include weapons, sailing equipment, naval supplies and a wide array of objects used by the crew. Many of the artefacts are unique to the Mary Rose and have provided insights into topics ranging from naval warfare to the history of musical instruments.".

Re:Who names those ships?

[Talderas]

They were on an exploration mission with a pair of ships named Darkness and Terror.