A team of archeologists have captured video footage of an ancient shipwreck which has seemingly been left frozen in time.
Divers from the team made a series of seven dives to the wreck which left England nearly 200 years ago.
Sir John Franklin led a British voyage which was searching the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic.
At the time the crews left onboard two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.
But they became trapped by ice near King William Island now in the Canadian territory of Nunavut.
The ships remained icebound for more than a year but by this point, Franklin and 23 others perished..
Despite its discovery in 2016, the wreck of the Terror had not been thoroughly studied until two years ago.
But a team of archeologists from Parks Canada made a series of dives to the fabled wreck in August 2019.
Lead archaeologist Ryan Harris told National Geographic it was as if the ship had been frozen in time.
He said: “The impression we witnessed when exploring… is of a ship only recently deserted by its crew, seemingly forgotten by the passage of time.
“The ship is amazingly intact. You look at it and find it hard to believe this is a 170-year-old shipwreck.
“You just don’t see this kind of thing very often.”
The Express reports that when ship was abandoned, new expedition leader, Francis Crozier, tried to venture across the ice to reach the mainland with more than 100 remaining crew members, but none of them survived.
Divers surveying the ancient wreck used small remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs) to venture inside the vessel’s interior.
The cameras were sent through openings in the main hatchway and skylights in the crew’s cabins, captain’s staterooms and various other parts of the ship.
And archeologists could not believe what they saw.
Mr Harris said: “We were able to explore 20 cabins and compartments, going from room to room.
“The doors were all eerily wide open.”
The picture was one preserved for posterity with dinner plates still on shelves, beds and desks still remaining as they were order
And Mr Harris believes early photographs could have even been preserved giving an insight into history.
He said: “Those blankets of sediment, together with the cold water and darkness, create a near perfect anaerobic environment that’s ideal for preserving delicate organics such as textiles or paper.
“There is a very high probability of finding some clothing or documents, some of them possibly even still legible.”
The team were able totake images from more than 90% of the vessel’s lower deck, including living quarters.
It was the captain’s cabin which proved to be a real treasure trove where closed map cabinets, a tripod and a pair of thermometers were among the artefacts identified.
A closed door on the ship leading to the captain’s sleeping quarters was the only part which could not be explored.
How the ship sank, however, remains a mystery to Mr Harris and his team.
He said: “There’s no obvious reason for Terror to have sunk.
It wasn’t crushed by ice, and there’s no breach in the hull.
“Yet it appears to have sunk swiftly and suddenly and settled gently to the bottom. What happened?”
The excavation process will be a slow and difficult one, as the water is extremely cold, and the diving season is limited sometimes to days.
DNA analysis of bones found at Erebus Bay on King William Island allowed one of the crew membersto be identified.
The bones were excavated in 2013, and in May 2021 , analysis found they belonged to Warrant Officer John Gregory, an engineer on the Erebus.
His remains were found 45 miles south of the ship along with two of his comrades.
They died in 1848 after trying avoid an icy death, but were unsuccessful.
The excavation mission continues, but Mr Harris is determined to uncover the mystery of the shipwreck.
He said: “One way or another, I feel confident we’ll get to the bottom of the story.”
