HMS Investigator Found In Canada

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MERCY BAY, N.W.T. ? The ship whose crew discovered Canada?s Northwest Passage has been found 155 years after it was abandoned and disappeared in this isolated Arctic bay, a historic find and one that may help bolster Canadian claims to Arctic sovereignty.

The wreck of HMS Investigator was detected in shallow water within days of Parks Canada archeologists launching an ambitious search for the 422-ton ship from a chilly tent encampment on the Beaufort Sea shoreline.

?It?s sitting upright in silt; the three masts have been removed, probably by ice,? said Ifan Thomas, Parks Canada?s superintendent of the western Arctic Field Unit. ?It?s a largely intact ship in very cold water, so deterioration didn?t happen very quickly.?

Environment Minister Jim Prentice, who arrived at the camp on Tuesday, said that finding a relic linked to the discovery of the Northwest Passage represents a reasserted Canadian claim to Arctic sovereignty.

?It?s fundamental to Canadian sovereignty in the North,? he said in an interview.

?[A]nd the tragic tale of Investigator is one of the most amazing stories of Arctic history. It?s a tale of incredible determination and suffering,? Mr. Prentice said.



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