Sir John Franklin led failed expedition to find passage through the Arctic. One of two ships were found where Inuit said.
Inuit oral history is strong, says Louie Kamookak, Inuit historian.
Ryan Harris, the Parks Canada marine archeologist who led the ship's search, describes the discovery of the Franklin ship to Prime Minister Stephan Harper. He says both the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, appear in the Inuit oral tradition. The Inuit, however, provided a more detailed description of one ship said to have been found south of King William Island off Grant Point on the Adelaide Peninsula in an area known as Ootloo-lik "the place of the bearded seal."
GJOA HAVEN, NUNAVUT-One of Sir John Franklin's ships has been found off King William Island in what is today Nunavut. The two ships in the Franklin expedition disappeared during a search for the Northwest Passage that went terribly wrong in 1846.
Inuit oral history says that they saw two ships near King William Island. One that was crushed by the ice and the other drifted south.
"It's proving the Inuit oral history is very strong," Louie Kamookak, a historian in Gjoa Haven, Nunavut. He informed Parks Canada in 2008 where the ships would likely
be found.
Kamookak told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), that according to Inuit oral tradition, the two ships "appeared on the northeast side of King William Island. One was crushed in ice and the other drifted further south."
It was afloat for two winters before it sank. Elders said there may have been people living on it during the first winter, but there were no signs of people during the second winter.
"For us Inuit," Kamookak said, "it means that oral history is very strong in knowledge, not only for searching for Franklin's ships but also for environment and other issues."
According to CBC, Dr. Doug Stenton, archeologist and director of heritage for the Government of Nunavut, was aboard the vessel that made the discovery on September 7, 2014. He stated that it's quite possible that they wouldn't have found the ship without Inuit knowledge.
"It's very satisfying to see that testimony of Inuit who shared their knowledge of what happened to the wreck has been validated quite clearly," Stenton said.
