Parks Canada News

Canada confirmed on Monday it has found the wreck of HMS Terror, the second of two British ships lost in the disastrous Franklin Arctic voyage of 1845, and said the government will work closely with northern aboriginals on ownership of the artifacts. Parks Canada, a federal agency, said in a statement it will work on "joint ownership" of the wreckage from the journey through Canada's Northwest Passage. Britain's Guardian newspaper reported earlier this month that the Arctic Research Foundation, a private group participating in the search effort, had found the ship in pristine condition at the bottom of a bay. Sir John Franklin and his…

A new, emission-free electric tour boat now plies the Rideau Canal, powered by two 80 horsepower Torqeedo electric motors. The 75-foot, 100-passenger vessel Queen Elizabeth Dr. is the first of two planned vessels to offer guided tours and host events on the canal. The second, Colonel By, is expected to enter service in the spring of 2017. “Torqeedo's high-power Deep Blue system was the obvious choice to propel Canada's largest electric passenger vessel because of its comprehensive safety systems,” said Robert Taillefer, owner of The Queen Elizabeth Dr. and operator of Ottawa Boat Cruises.

A partnership between Canadian government and private industry today unveiled high precision 3D printed models of HMS Erebus, Sir John Franklin’s lead ship found last year in Canada’s Arctic waters as part of Parks Canada’s search for the vessels of the lost 1845 expedition. The model was unveiled in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Officials from Fisheries and Oceans Canada joined with Canadian geospatial software company CARIS and geomatics technology innovation support centre TECTERRA to unveil the models.

Monitoring efforts along the Pacific Coast of the U.S. and Canada have detected the presence of small amounts of radioactivity from the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident 100 miles (150 km) due west of Eureka, California. Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) found the trace amounts of telltale radioactive compounds as part of their ongoing monitoring of natural and human sources of radioactivity in the ocean. In the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami off Japan, the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant released cesium-134 and other radioactive elements into the ocean at unprecedented levels. Since then, the radioactive plume has traveled west across the Pacific, propelled largely by ocean currents and being diluted along the way.

The ship's bell recovered from the recently discovered Franklin Expedition shipwreck, HMS Erebus, was unveiled by the Honorable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of the Environment and Minister responsible for Parks Canada. The artifact was recovered during dives and archaeological investigation by Parks Canada's underwater archaeology team in September. The bell was found on the deck adjacent to the ship's displaced windlass (a form of anchor winch), above which it was originally mounted. Since then, the bell has been undergoing conservation stabilization and additional research.

The Franklin Expedition ship discovered in early September by the 2014 Victoria Strait Expedition is Her Majesty’s Ship (HMS) Erebus. Sir John Franklin, who was in command of the Franklin Expedition, sailed on HMS Erebus, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Wednesday. On May 19, 1845, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror of the Royal Navy departed Greenhithe, England, on a much-heralded Arctic expedition in search of a Northwest Passage. Under the command of Sir John Franklin…

After more than 169 years, Canadian researchers discovered one of the two ships from the doomed Arctic expedition of Sir John Franklin, cracking one of the largest mysteries in sea exploration. The wreck was found some 11 meters below the surface using a ROV recently acquired by Parks Canada. It is unknown whether the ship is HMS Erebus or HMS Terror, though researches expect to determine its identity within several days. "Franklin's ships are an important part of Canadian history given that his expedition…

After more than 160 years of searching to understand the fate of English explorer Sir John Franklin’s fabled arctic voyage, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a Canadian team has located one of Franklin’s historic ships and solved one of the world’s greatest archaeological mysteries, informs Parks Canada. Sir John Franklin led the two ships and 129 men in 1845 to chart the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic. The expedition's disappearance shortly after became one of the great mysteries of the age of Victorian exploration. Expedition sonar images from the waters of Victoria Strait, just off King William Island, clearly show the wreckage of a ship on the ocean floor.

The Govermnent of Canada announces that with an unprecedented number of organizations from the public, private and non-profit sectors it will partner together, using state-of-the-art technology, to locate the historic ships of the ill-fated 1845 Franklin Expedition. The 2014 Franklin Expedition will also have the added benefit of furthering our knowledge in a number of priority areas, including through the collection of important scientific information about Canada's most remote region. Government partners for the 2014 Victoria Strait expedition include Parks Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard, the Royal Canadian Navy…

The Canadian government launches its largest search yet for the lost ships of Sir John Franklin's doomed 1845 quest for the Northwest Passage. This year's search, led by Parks Canada, is the fourth government-led expedition over the past five years, and is by far the biggest, involving a much larger alliance of federal departments and other public and private interests. A previous large-scale search for the Franklin ships was launched by National Defence in 1967 as part of Canada's centennial.

According to a July 28 report from the National Post, 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. This historic find 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. (Source: The National Post)

Canada requires a Contractor to supply one (1) approximately six (6) metre long fibre reinforced plastic (fibreglass) Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB) to Parks Canada, Underwater Archaeological Services, located in Ottawa, Ontario, complete with the mounting of two (2) Government supplied outboard marine commercial gasoline engines and one (1) trailer. The vessel must comply in all respects to the Canada Shipping Act, Transport Canada and International Regulations governing Day and Night Operations on inland waters. For more information visit www.merx.com