“This is truly a historic moment for Canada. We have found one of the two Franklin ships,” says Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a small room in Parks Canada’s underwater archeology headquarters in Ottawa. “For more than a century this has been a great Canadian story and the subject of scientists, historians, writers and singers. I think we have a really important day in mapping together the history of our country.”

The ship was found in what appears to be good condition in the Queen Maud Gulf, south of the primary search area. A sonar “tow-fish” which scans the seafloor while being towed behind a ship captured the first images of the ship, which was found in about 11 metres of water on a relatively flat stretch of seafloor. Then a remotely operated vehicle equipped with a camera was deployed to capture the first detailed images and videos of the wreck. It isn’t yet known if the ship is HMS Erebus or Terror, but Ryan Harris, a senior underwater archaeologist with Parks Canada, says some features on the deck of the ship are still intact, which hopefully means the interior is also in similar condition.

The original plan for this summer’s search had been to scour the Victoria Strait, but challenging ice and weather conditions forced the hunt south. “The ice was unusually thick this year, says Jody Thomas, deputy commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard. “We weren’t able to get into the search site because of the ice.” But what at first seemed like a setback turned into what Thomas describes as “serendipity,” as the ice forced the search south of Victoria Strait into Queen Maud Gulf, where archeologists found some artifacts on an island that helped further narrow the search area. Within days the discovery of the ship was made.