Fabled Franklin Arctic ship found

A painting titled “The End in Sight” on Sir John Franklin and his crew. Photo: BBC

One of two British explorer ships that vanished in the Arctic more than 160 years ago has been found, Canada's prime minister says.
Stephen Harper said it was unclear which ship had been found, but photo evidence confirmed it was one of them.

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.
"I am delighted to announce that this year's Victoria Strait expedition has solved one of Canada's greatest mysteries, with the discovery of one of the two ships belonging to the Franklin Expedition," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement.
"Finding the first vessel will no doubt provide the momentum - or wind in our sails - necessary to locate its sister ship and find out even more about what happened to the Franklin Expedition's crew."
The loss of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror prompted one of largest searches in history, running from 1848 to 1859.
The mystery has gripped people for generations, in part because no one knows for sure exactly what happened to the crew.
Reports at the time from local Inuits say the men, desperate for food, resorted to cannibalism before they died.
Sir John Franklin's wife spearheaded an attempt to find him, launching five ships in search of her husband and even leaving cans of food on the ice in the desperate hope he would find them.