Arctic discovery places 118-year-old UAF map in mix of current events

[unhappycamper]

http://www.adn.com/article/20141003/arctic-discovery-places-118-year-old-uaf-map-mix-current-events



A portion of an 1895 Arctic map that condenses the history of exploration into a single document, including the Franklin expedition and the many others who searched for the lost travelers.

Arctic discovery places 118-year-old UAF map in mix of current events
Dermot Cole
October 3, 2014

The 188-year-old ship found in Arctic waters off the coast of northern Canada is the HMS Erebus, the flagship vessel of Sir John Franklin's ill-fated voyage, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the House of Commons Wednesday.

With that announcement, a 118-year-old map in the Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska Fairbanks has become more relevant to current events than anyone would have guessed when UAF added the artifact to its extensive collection of rare maps earlier this year.

An expedition from Parks Canada discovered the ship in about 35 feet of water off the coast of King William Island on Sept. 7. It was the sixth expedition since 2008 and the continuation of a quest that dates to the 1840s. Harper said the divers identified the wreckage as the HMS Erebus, one of the two ships on the Franklin expedition, which was stalled by ice in the Northwest Passage.

The iron-clad ship, built in 1826, is about 105 feet long, and much of it has been preserved by the cold water. Parks Canada underwater archaeologists reviewed artifacts observed on the seabed and used high-resolution photography, video and sonar. The wreckage is off the coast of King William Island, about 1,000 miles east of Alaska.

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The entire map:

[marym625]

1. Cool! n/t

[defacto7]

2. Reminds me of...

"The Idea of North"... CBC broadcasts by Glenn Gould.