Montreal (AFP)

More than 170 years after the mysterious disappearance of the British ship HMS Terror in the Canadian Arctic, unpublished images of the wreckage were released Wednesday: they reveal a well-preserved interior that could shed new light on this mythical expedition.

The Terror is one of two ships of the English explorer John Franklin's expedition, part of Britain in 1845 in search of the Northwest Passage, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic.

Surprised by the cold, the 129 sailors of the expedition were stuck a year and a half in the ice before dying of hunger, cold and lead poisoning.

The circumstances of the greatest tragedy of Arctic exploration, which was the subject of an American television series (The Terror), have remained unclear since. The first ship, HMS Erebus, was found in 2014 in the same area.

The images taken by the divers and the Parks Canada Agency's unmanned submersible robot reveal intact artifacts of life on the ship. The wreckage was found in 2016 at a depth of 24 meters off King William Island in the Northwest Passage, east of Cambridge Bay in the Nunavut Territory.

"We had the impression, while exploring the HMS Terror, that it was a ship recently abandoned by its crew, seeming to have escaped the passage of time", said in a statement Ryan Harris, director of the archaeological project and pilot of the remotely operated vehicle used for the searches.

During 48 dives, including seven with the robot, "in water that was near zero degrees or less," the team obtained images of more than 90% of the boat's lower deck.

- Last unexplored space -

The boat was found standing right on its keel at the bottom of the sea, the propeller still in place, the anchor lifted, and the roof windows uncovered, suggesting the rapid abandonment of the ship, noted Harris.

The sediments that have covered the room of the ship's captain, Francis Crozier, have allowed the preservation of his office, in which researchers expect to find scientific instruments and maps.

Only the captain's personal quarters remain inaccessible due to a closed door. The researchers hope to find written and sealed documents that cold water and sediments may have preserved.

"The writings could clarify what happened, the chronology of events, when the boats broke up and how they got to where they were left," Harris told a news conference.

The Terror and Erebus left Great Britain equipped with an ice-covered hull for ice, steam engines and provisions for three years in the Arctic.

A boat sponsored by Franklin's widow, Lady Jane, found a message in 1859 on King William Island that shed light on some of the mystery.

Archaeological research was conducted in partnership with Inuit organizations, whose oral reports passed down from generation to generation have located wrecks. Inuit communities in the Arctic will be the first to see the artifacts of the Terror, of which they are legally co-owners.

Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer who crossed the Northwest Passage for the first time successfully in 1905, spent two winters in the ice around King William Island.

Ryan Harris and his team hope to return to continue research next year, including exploring Captain Crozier's cabin. "We never know what we will find in this last unexplored space".

© 2019 AFP