Ship located after 170 years

Canadian explorers say they have found one of two British explorer ships that vanished in the Arctic nearly 170 years ago.

Last seen in the 1840s while under the command of John Franklin, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror were seeking the fabled Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans when they became stuck in ice. There were 129 men between the two ships who all died.

The mystery has gripped Canadians for years, with suggestions that the victims were forced into cannibalism before they perished.

Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper’s office said the well-preserved wreck of one of the vessels was found 11 meters below the surface with the help of a remotely operated underwater vehicle.

“I am delighted to announce that this year’s Victoria Strait expedition has solved one of Canada’s greatest mysteries, with the discovery of one of the two ships belonging to the Franklin Expedition,” Harper said.

“Finding the first vessel will no doubt provide the momentum — or wind in our sails — necessary to locate its sister ship and find out even more about what happened to the Franklin Expedition’s crew.”

Dozens of searches by the British and Americans in the 1800s failed to locate the wrecks, and some of those expeditions ended in tragedy, too.