HMS Investigator (1848)

HMS Investigator (right) and HMS Enterprise in the ice of Baffin Bay, Canada

The HMS Investigator was a merchant ship, which was bought in 1848 by the British Admiralty and put into service, to search for the Franklin expedition, which had been lost in search of the Northwest Passage.

History

After two trips to the Arctic had the ship in 1853 in the Mercy Bay, a bay in the north of the island bench to be left behind in the Beaufort Sea in the ice and eventually sank. Robert McClure, the captain of the Investigator shall be regarded as the discoverer of the Northwest Passage. Coming from the Bering Sea, he had almost through the whole passage with the ship and an open waterway to 45 miles distant Melville Island found before stopping him the ice pack. From Melville Island the other route in the open Atlantic was known. From here, the survivors of the crew of the Investigator were rescued. In July 2010, the wreck in 11 meters water depth in the Mercy Bay of Island Bank, Canada's fifth-largest island, was re- discovered by Canadian archeologist. In July 2011, archaeologists from Parks Canada salvaged a lot of personal belongings from the wreckage. The mud inside the ship has well preserved the remains.